Intro | Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 Silay gazed into the Eye of Ler, a vision of an approaching army played in its depths. They were strong, the strongest she'd ever faced, she watched the vision with pleasure. Silay had been bored in her fortress, with no challenges, surrounded by great power she rarely wielded. They came in secret but the sound of their dying screams would be heard throughout the universe, her name would once again be spoken in fearful whispers.
~|~
The war had done something to Horizon. She was not normally a moody person but lately she shifted rapidly from a giddy joy to a morose darkness where she painted scenes of death. War had done something to Storm, too, it had made him hard. It was part of Horizon's darkness, her beloved was different and so was she, she feared the war would change them beyond recognition, beyond knowing each other. She feared the war was going to kill them even if they lived.
She spent her dark moods painting pictures of Storm's kills, dark moods that came suddenly and lasted for days, days she didn't want him near her. He walked the ship alone those days, worried, sleepless. The worst of the war was yet to come, it had already wrought a terrible work in her, he feared losing her before it ended. Perhaps she wouldn't die but she would be gone, lost in a world of death. Death was rare in their universe, Horizon had never felt it's sting and now her world was filled with it. He knew why she didn't want him near when death was darkening her mind, she saw him as a dealer of death, then, and that was the hardest thing for her to bear. It wasn't fear of him that he saw in her eyes, it was loathing, she hated what he had become. He only killed when necessary, to protect them, but it didn't matter, he killed. The paintings didn't show the danger they'd been in, didn't show the need for what was done, only the act, and it's impact on her. Every gruesome scene showed Horizon in the distance above, falling, wings limp, dead.
~|~
In the distance she saw the lights and headed for them, always following the river. Days went on and it seemed as if they were getting no closer, then she was there. She gazed out across the water at the lights and one seemed to beckon to her. She'd seen Jestr go into a light, perhaps that was the way out, Dugree waded into the sea.
~|~
The fool lay on his cot and thought of a girl. He didn't understand why she left and wondered if he'd done something wrong, he didn't know what school was.
~|~
The girl lay on her cot and thought of a man. His beauty floated above her head.
~|~
Arleen knew her dreams had been prophetic, images of her life to come. Her fate was inextricably entwined with the Snail's, accepting that gave her the peace she would need to see.
~|~
His wounds hadn't healed enough to get up which told Paintr that he hadn't been out long. He wanted to know what happened to Mae but he saw no one to ask. He fell into a nightmare. To his right was the raven-haired Mae with eyes of midnight and to his left Zach Packer. He looked back and there, wreathed in shadow, was Stalking Cougar. All around him were legends of the mercenary world. In front of him the thralls were advancing at a run. Their silence was eerie. He fired into them continuously but where one fell, two rushed in. When they were almost on him Stalking Cougar attacked the head of their column, single-handed with nothing but a knife and a hatchet in his hands. He did terrible damage to the thralls before he went down but there were just so many of them. Nothing Paintr had ever seen could match the horror of what he was experiencing. The eyes of the thralls were so dead, it felt like he was killing empty bodies but he knew there were people trapped in there somewhere, hating everything they were doing. They could not hold them back, Zach fell and finally Mae. She had fought heroically and when she died something inside him died, too. The thrall's blade bit deeply into his left shoulder. He staggered back and dropped to his knees. He felt a burn of energy in his right shoulder and rose to his feet. He pushed forward and continued to fight. Blood ran from his shoulder down to the ground but every time he began to weaken the energy burned in. Another blade got past his defenses and sliced into his side. Darkness came upon him.
~|~
She sensed Paintr awake and felt his nightmare, she wanted to go him but it wasn't time. Soon, he would come for her.
~|~
Mae was growing stronger at a time when Dancr needed strength. The burden of command, the worries about Shadow and the struggle to stay herself were becoming too much. Something had to give and she knew it would end up being her. It was the only logical choice, Mae was more suited for command and Shadow was almost Paintr, that left Dancr the loser. She walked the decks of the ship, her choice clear, on the verge of giving up, when she thought of Aki. She never made the connection before and she wondered how he learned to live with his other minds. What was destruction for her was strength for him, she saw a glimmer of hope.
~|~
The leaves were falling when she left and they fell three more times before she returned, she brought the mobile with her. "School is over, Baka." she told him and put it up in his room. He laughed a little, it had been long since he'd seen her and he felt shy, "Your room.", he thought she should put his gift to her in her own room. She smiled, "Yes, my room." she said and walked in his. He didn't understand until night came and she was still there, then there was a sweet time of further misunderstanding. When they lay quietly together she murmured into his chest, "Why did you make it, Baka?"" When she called him fool he didn't feel so, he felt something he had no words for, something safe and warm. "For you." he told her. "Why war? Were you in a war?" she asked. He shook his head, "I saw it." "Where?" "In my head."
~|~
As he slept she lay staring at Baka's creation, at night it took on new perspectives, things seemed more clear. The center of the mobile was dominated by a huge rock in the shape of a planet, on it was a steep cliff. Floating slightly above its plateau was a fortress made from bits of bone tightly fused together. A cloud of shadows darkened an area below the cliff and out of it streamed an army of darker shadows with eyes that glowed red in starlight. Above the fortress flew tiny ships disgorging jumpers, blaster fire sliced through the air and from below came a green mist that just reached the first jumper who was disintegrating. On three sides of the planet, unseen from the fortress, three ships were dropping more jumpers, several were nearly on the ground. A feeling of anticipation suffused the mobile, it's tight movements through the air gave it a tense life on the edge of death.
~|~
Arleen dreamed of a planet, a cliff and a fortress. Deadly power waited behind the walls, waited for their coming. Many were going to die.
~|~
Shadow awoke in a med unit, for a moment he didn't know who he was then he remembered the caves. Something broke in his mind down there and Paintr's memories flooded in. They threatened to sweep him away and he struggled for a part of himself to remain. He was two people as he fought in the caves, he was two when he ran through the tunnels but when their way out was up an airshaft he could no longer withstand the flood. Memories of Paintr's climb for freedom kept him off balance, as he searched for footing he felt as if at any moment he'd fall, then he did. He kept falling until he awoke in the med unit. He was on a ship and had an idea where they were headed, it seemed that the Old Man had caught Shadow in his web of plans.
~|~
A dirge met Dancr at Aki's door, the song stopped when she announced herself. When she stepped in she saw a holoimage of the cave ceiling falling on those trapped beneath, the Old Man was in the foreground. "It's not your grief your feeling." Aki said when he looked at her. She'd wondered why she felt so strongly about the scene, she knew many who died but mercing had inured her to the face of death. "How do you know that?" she asked. "I see someone else in your eyes." Mae, grieving for her father, Dancr knew she was right in coming there and was about to ask Aki to help but he had anticipated her, "Have a seat." he told her. "There are things I can teach you but they won't help." Aki said and then explained, "People who go to Nhl are willing recipients of their minds, you and Shadow aren't. Acceptance is a key to being a successful multi-mind, until you're at peace with whoever's in there with you nothing else matters. Come back with Shadow if you make that step." When Dancr left she didn't know whether to feel defeated or hopeful, even if she could accept it, Mae would have to cooperate and Dancr didn't know how to make that happen.
~|~
Paintr needed her and she would do whatever was necessary to be with him, even cooperate. They had nearly three months before Leviathan, Mae had time to try it Dancr's way.
~|~
They were together for seven nights and then she told him she had to leave again. "Why are you going, Takako?" Her eyes were sad, "I can't stay, Baka, I have a job." He didn't understand, her job was to help him, it was what she always did. He could come to only one conclusion, "I did something bad?" Her eyes grew sadder and she took him into her arms, "Baka, you could never do anything bad. I need to leave, Baka, locked behind these walls isn't the life I want." He understood a little, there were times he looked beyond the walls and wondered what life below was like but the monastery was his home and he couldn't imagine leaving. He wished he had the words to tell her his feelings, to convince her to stay with him, but he didn't so he held her tight.
~|~
Takako liked her job at the Sakura Inn, the pay was fair and it came with a room but the part she liked best was that it was in view of the monastery. She imagined Baka looking down on her and she felt safe. She knew he was sad but she needed to live and he seemed to understand that, he smiled when she left and told her, "I will always be thinking of you." It was the most lucid thing he ever said, she knew he'd been working on it for hours. She wished she could tell him that she would be back soon but she didn't know how to explain the reason why, yet. She knew he would be happy to see her but she didn't want him confused and afraid, she would need his quiet strength.
~|~
Arleen awoke, she needed to see the Snail. She didn't know how but she sensed him near, sleeping, dreaming, he was hurt and needed her by his side.
~|~
"Dancr to visit." the med unit announced, when he accepted the unit told him he had fifteen minutes and it slid open. Her eyes searched him, worry and fear mixed with a hint of hope in them. She needed to know who was awake, she wanted to talk to Shadow. He knew what she was looking for, "I don't know where Paintr is right now, I don't sense him." "There's a possibility we might come through this, Shadow.", she was speaking of their personal battles. He looked the question and she answered, "Aki." He hadn't thought of that, she could see the understanding and rising hope so she went on, "There's a problem." He raised an eyebrow, "We have to cooperate with Paintr and Mae, allow them to share us." she told him. He shook his head, hopes dashed, "I can't do that." Dancr's heart fell, too, she needed Shadow at her side, as whole as possible.
~|~
Baka's joy knew no bounds, Takako wished she could feel it with him. She waited a week, gave him that time of pleasure and freedom from worry, soon his world was going to change. Finally, she could delay no longer, "We're having a baby, Baka.", she hoped her smile didn't look as forced as it was. He didn't understand, "How can that be? We're not married." She respected his innocent confusion but it only made things harder, "Baka, don't worry how it happened, just know that soon you will have someone else to love and it will be yours." "Gaka." Baka said. She didn't understand, "What about a painter?" "I will call him Gaka," he said, "because that's what he'll be."
~|~
When Dugree stepped into the shallow sea a distant light beckoned to her, she followed its drawing, hoping it would lead her out of the gloom.
~|~
Horizon knew one day she would fall from the sky and plummet into an abyss, she felt as if it had already begun.
~|~
Silay gazed into the Eye of Ler, lately the visions were suffused with a sense of impending doom. She thrilled to the feeling, eager for something new.
Excerpt from Shadow Stalkers by S.E.Estes
It's my time to really write but preying on the back of my mind is a dirty house. If I win the lottery cleaning and maintainance services are near the top of my list of things to spend money on. Right after buying a house, of course. I don't know what my top thing to spend money on would be yet, just piddly things like doctors and dentist. What's at the top of your list?
