See part one for explanation and disclaimers. Hallmark & James Gurney still own the characters and I’m
still not profiting from this. Hope you’re enjoying this. Still recommended for teens and up for
action/violence and mild language.
There was another flutter of
wings, but much smaller and lighter wings this time. Alano looked up and saw a very tired-looking messenger parrot
bobbing through the trees. The bird
spied the human and landed with great relief at Alano’s feet. “Finally!
Message for Gabriel Dane.”
Alano was suspicious at
once. “I’m Gabriel Dane.”
“Are you sure? I was told to look for a man who was tall,
blonde-haired, and skinny,” the bird
emphasized the last bit.
Alano picked up the bird by
its neck. “Listen up, little birdie,
you give me my message or---well, my off-worlder friend tells me that birds
taste real nice if they’re plucked and cooked over a fire…and I’ve got me a
fire right over there.”
“Well, I never!” The bird
tried to regain its composure in the face of such barbarism. “Ahem.
Message from Payden Boreal: Have taken captive and sent message. Barrett won’t be making the trip with you,
as requested. Wish you a safe
journey. May we succeed in our mutual
endeavors this night. End of
Message. If you have a reply, it will have to wait until morning. I’m off-duty.” Alano released the bird.
The parrot took off to roost in the safety of the tree-tops.
The outsider cursed every
foul word he knew, and then invented a few new ones. “I knew it! Didn’t I warn
him? Bloody hell! All right, think man…”
Still concealed by rocks and
brush, Alano managed to get Le Sage’s attention without alerting Gabriel, who
had his back to the undergrowth and the husky outsider. Le Sage didn’t react with anything but the
slightest arch of her eyebrow, but she watched the careful set of hand signals
Alano made (something David felt it was important to teach the pack for---well,
for just this sort of occasion---from the off-worlder sport called
‘baseball’). She scratched the brim of
her nose in answer. Alano waited behind
the rocks while she said something that caused Dane to nod. She rose from the campfire and made her way,
unhurried, to join Alano. He filled her
in on the bird’s message.
As it turned out, she knew a
few curses that he didn’t. When he
finished, she pursed her lips and was silent for a long while. Her thoughts were obvious in the way she
looked from Alano and Freefall to the submarine and the rising water of the
cove. As the silence dragged on, he
grew more and more certain she was going to say “So?” or something like that,
and go on her way. She had the sunstone
medallion---and why in God’s name David had trusted her with it, Alano couldn’t
fathom---and she had the submarine. It
wasn’t like she was above walking over David to get off the island. Alano didn’t even know if it was possible
to get to David before Payden now, but he intended to try with or without her
help.
“How
long before the tide comes in?” she asked.
It
was so out of the blue that the question took a second to sink in. “The tide?
What---the boat can wait until---”
“How
long?”
Alano
heaved a major sigh. “Another hour, I’d
guess.”
“Not
enough time.” She’d reached the same conclusion he had. He braced himself to refuse her orders to
abandon their friend. “I guess we’re
leaving tomorrow instead.”
Alano
gaped. “What?”
“I
said: Go get David,” she clarified. It
was a simple decision, and she was sure she’d regret it. But, she’d made her deal with David before
the two of them had made their agreement with Gabriel Dane. Even if their agreement didn’t take
precedence, Le Sage would much rather be stuck on the sub with Barrett than
with Dane. And even if all that weren’t
a factor in her decision, David was under her protection, one of her pack by
virtue of his deal with Le Sage.
Double-crossing him was double-crossing her. Whether she was to be on the island one more hour or the rest of
her life, she would have the respect befitting her station. Murdering one of her pack or someone under
the protection of her pack wasn’t respectful at all, and, as a pack leader, she
simply couldn’t allow such treachery to go unanswered.
“But, it’s getting dark.
I’ll never be able to reach Waterfall City before Payden gets to--.”
Le Sage nodded to the albino
pterosaur. “You can if you fly. If you don’t mind the smell.”
Flying through carnosaur
territory with night approaching? That
sounded like suicide. But she was
right, it was that fastest way. Besides
which, Alano had no idea where Payden had taken David, but Freefall always
seemed to be able to find Barrett no matter where he was. Must be that empathic ‘of the Sky’
connection David had with the pterosaur.
Alano asked Freefall, “You
up for it, beastie?” The pterosaur
bobbed its head. “I guess that’s a
‘yes’. The carnies…”
She yanked the pendant from
her neck. “This should discourage
them…” The sunstone flared bright as a star against the fading afternoon
light. She pressed it into Alano’s hand. “And don’t even think of double-crossing me,
or you and Barrett are both going to be hanging for T-Rex bait in front of my
castle.”
This Alano believed. “What about Dane?”
“I think he and I need to
have another chat.” There was something
in her eyes that made Alano wonder if he wasn’t going to be safer tangling with
the carnies than Dane was going to be answering to Doris Le Sage.