CHAPTER 25
S’samph
S’samph was long finished conversing with Minio by the time he was able to finish the required paperwork and head back to his nest. He’d grab a few things he needed and bring them over to the clinic if he intended to stay there for as long as it took for Aglao to awaken from their stasis.
When he arrived home and found his nest in disarray, he realized S’kasia must have rifled through all his things when she was here the day before.
It didn’t matter. The whole place would have to be rearranged and redecorated as soon as Eleri came to live with him.
S'samph hurried to dress for the weather outside, the suns were at the peak of their scorch cycle right before they retreated in favor of the torrential rains to come. Even his tough skin was apt to burn without proper protection. He layered on a loose-fitting pale beige outfit and then rushed out into the sun-high heat. First, he stopped at S’kasia’s home.
Ever since Eleri had found out about his clutch sister’s predicament, she’d been stopping by most days either before or after visiting him.
S’kasia had made unprecedented progress with Eleri’s visits.
She’d moved the clutch of dead eggs out of her sleeping quarters and had started talking about having a proper set of rites for them to send them back into the cycle of rebirth.
S'samph pushed open the door to his clutch-sister’s nest without knocking and found her on her datapad. “I’m going to spend my time with Eleri at the clinic until she is ready to join me in my nest.”
“Good. If you had listened to me, she would already be living in your nest. But I am glad you finally came to your senses,” S’kasia flicked her wrist, and a holo flashed to life over the screen. S’samph moved closer to get a better look.
“Is that T’salya?” He asked as he recognized the familiar face of one of his clutch-sister’s fellow warrior priestesses. The three of them had grown up together on the training grounds of the Goddess’s temple.
“She is alive.” S’kasia placed a single fingertip on the forehead of the image. “All this time she’s been alive and living in Abwele. I just never dared to search before.”
“Will you go meet her?”
“Yes. After the rains.” S’kasia met his eye and lifted her chin to reveal her throat in an uncharacteristic display of vulnerability. “Your mate recommended I search out my sisters in flame. She is wise and far braver than I gave credit for. I was too afraid to do it without her help.”
“Eleri is more than any of us deserve.” S’samph lifted his frill. “So I must become a male worthy of her affections.”
S’kasia’s tail flicked with amusement. “Tell me I chose well, clutch-brother.”
S’samph’s frill rippled with humor and annoyance. “Do I need to say it?”
“Say it.”
“You chose well, S’kasia.”
“Of course, I did.”
“My mate will be waiting for me. But I came to ask you about our egg mother’s mating bands.”
“I have preserved them for you. We can have them sized for Eleri whenever you wish.”
“Thank you.” He left his sister with the holo of T’salya and rode toward the clinic, contemplating the best way to ask Eleri about their mating ceremony.
Blue dust heaved up around his face. It was the driest part of the season, so although he wasn’t looking forward to the impending several weeks of rain, he knew they would be beneficial.
If all went to plan, Eleri would be happily mated to him, and they could spend the dreary wet days establishing their bond inside their shared nest.
He was halfway to the clinic when another levibike pulled up alongside his. K’kaen lifted the screen of his dust visor, and S’samph took that as a sign for him to pull off the track.
“What is so important it can’t wait for us to get to the town?” He asked.
“Eleri is missing. There’ve been raviks spotted out near the river. Pyo is rallying everyone with any weapon proficiency. Are you coming?”
“What do you mean Eleri is missing? You were supposed to be watching her!” S’samph kept his own dust visor firmly in place, but despite the heat of the day, he couldn’t ignore the coldness spreading through his limbs. “She isn’t at her appointment?”
“No. She never arrived.”
“She’s not at the clinic?”
“The clinic? She left the clinic. She was supposed to be waiting at the levibike charging station for me to give her a ride to her appointment.”
S’samph steeled himself, trying to avoid acting rashly even though his tail lashed with anxiety and anger.
“We will go to the clinic first and see if she went back. If she isn’t there, then we will go to join the others at the canal.
And once she is accounted for, you and I will be having words.
” He flared his frill at K’kaen as he pressed the ignition and sped toward town.
When they arrived, K’kaen remained on his levibike.
“If Eleri is in trouble, it makes no sense for us to stay together. You check the clinic, and will I start searching for her near the canal.”
“She had better be safe.”
“Eleri is my sister. If she isn’t safe, we will raze the planet to find her.”
“I expect no less.” S'samph held his breath steady as he ascended the ramp leading to the clinic. One of Eleri’s changes. There used to be stairs, but she had pushed for a ramp to be built for better accessibility. A rush of cold air greeted him as he entered.
“Eleri?” He called through the empty atrium.
It was past morning clinic hours, but she was usually here in the brutal afternoon heat, doing paperwork or programming the pharmacy unit if there wasn’t an urgent need to visit a patient.
No one answered. Maybe she was asleep. It would be the first time she had slept through an alarm.
S’samph hurried upstairs, uninvited and rapped on the door of her sleeping room.
There was no response from inside her sleeping room.
S’samph knocked again, pounding harder on the door this time.
“Eleri. If you are there, you must answer me.”
No response. He couldn’t get inside since his identity chip wasn’t keyed to her door, but he knew she would respond if she was there.
Frustrated, S’samph rushed down the stairs and did a final sweep of the clinic before hurrying back outside.
The main street was eerie in silent emptiness.
No doubt an alarm had been raised, and everyone was either huddled in their homes or at the scene of the ravik incursion.
Wherever she was, if she wasn’t inside someone’s home, Eleri was in danger.
And if she was in danger, he was wasting time.
The raviks’ arrival and Eleri’s disappearance were too coincidental.
If they had her, he would raze their settlement to the ground.
He would destroy every last klatch if that was what it required to get her back safely.
S’samph jumped back on his levibike and accelerated as fast as the irritable engine would allow.
It wasn’t fast enough by any measure. By the time he reached the canal, several of the residents were already dispersing, weapons holstered.
K’kaen waved him over with his blaster in the air.
A move like that would have sent him to mandatory leave for at least a fivenight back on Latilla, but he was no longer in command of anything, and K’kaen was free to be a safety hazard on his own terms. Eleri was nowhere in sight, which could only mean one of two things.
Either she was somewhere else in Laurus entirely, or she’d been taken or killed.
Still, S’samph hissed a reproach when he was within earshot. “You are going to kill someone waving your blaster around like that.”
K’kaen flicked his tail in dismissal but holstered the plasma blaster.
“These things are totally nonlethal. You’re going to want to see this.
” He led S’samph over to the far end of the bridge and down by the canal bank.
Eleri’s sun hat lay sodden on the banks of the sluggish water.
Ever since the fateful shopping trip to Indras, S’samph had never seen her outside without it.
S’samph bent low to collect it from the shallows.
“Where is she?” He asked K’kaen in a low, dangerous rumble.
“One of the others said they saw the raviks carrying someone off.” K’kaen glanced skyward with his eyes flashing dangerously. “They said she was screaming until they hit her over the head.” His frill sagged flat against his spine. This is my fault. I should never have left her.”
“Who saw her?” S’samph glared over at the group dispersing in the distance. A few of the townspeople were still gathered, talking to Pyo. He didn’t wait for K’kaen’s answer, instead stalking over to intercept the group.
“Who saw Eleri?” He repeated his question without bothering to provide context.
“S’samph!” Pyo’s wingtips arched behind him as he registered the other male’s presence. “We were wondering where you were.”
“Who saw my mate get taken?” If he had to repeat the question again, he might lose the last vestiges of his civility. S’samph flexed his fingers, trying to avoid the rough scrape of his claws against his palms.
“I did.” Iulia turned toward him; her bulbous eyes were unblinking. “I was getting some water for my pichari,” she gestured toward the two small, silver-feathered creatures on the other side of the canal. “Eleri was crossing the bridge with her medkit when she was ambushed by a swarm of them.”
“And you didn’t help?”
Iulia puffed up to her full size. “Of course, I helped! I went straight to the village and called for assistance. I can’t fight off a swarm of raviks alone.”