Uncharted Read online

  “What reason did they have to return?” Nirobe demanded. “They were shunned by the rest of the Kindred—disavowed by the Council. Some even compared them to the Scourge.”

  “Not all disavowed them. There were some who…studied their ways.” Terex felt his face getting hot and had to look away. His beloved mate, Solange, had been such a one—a scholar of the forbidden way of life the Lost Kindred had adopted after their genetic exchange with the Nix people. That had been just before they disappeared into The Blind over a hundred and fifty cycles ago.

  “Look, I don’t know anything about the ‘Lost Kindred’ or anything like that,” Elaina said, frowning at both Terex and the priestess. “All I know is that you’re asking me to leave my terminally ill sister and go thousands of light years away into an uncharted area which is generally believed to be extremely dangerous. And you’re asking me to do this on the strength of a weird prophesy-poem which doesn’t even seem to make any sense. Have I got all that right?” she asked, looking at Nirobe.

  The priestess nodded gravely. “That is the essence of it, my dear.”

  “Can you guarantee I’ll find what I need to cure my sister and get back to Earth in time before she…before she…” Elaina choked for a moment and Terex felt his heart trying to melt at the obvious pain in her eyes. He hardened it at once. “Can you promise I’ll get back in time?” Elaina finished at last, her eyes wet.

  “Alas, my child, I can promise you nothing. I only know the Goddess loves you and has your best interests at heart. Sometimes she wants us to trust her—to step out on faith and go where she leads even if it doesn’t seem to make sense.”

  Elaina took a deep breath and looked at Terex.

  “Are you going?” she demanded. “Are you going into this uncharted sector—this Blind?”

  Terex thought briefly of lying to put her off—surely it would keep her from coming with him and then he could seek Two’s scion on his own without having to worry about getting her home safely. But the moment the idea entered his mind, he felt ashamed and pushed it away. Telling falsehoods was unworthy of a Kindred warrior.

  Instead, he nodded shortly. “I am going,” he said. “Though I do not know if I will be able to get back to the Mother Ship again. This is the only clue I have to the whereabouts of my enemy—I must follow it.”

  “And…forgive me but, priestesses are never mistaken?” Elaina asked, glancing at Nirobe anxiously and then looking back to Terex.

  “They are often oblique and mysterious—sometimes positively baffling,” Terex told her. “But I have never yet known one to be mistaken if she is truly led by the Goddess.” He looked at the priestess who nodded.

  “You need have no fear on that account, Commander Terex—the prophesy came to me in a true vision, one from the Goddess herself.”

  “Well, then…” Elaina lifted her chin and squared her shoulders. “I’m going too.”

  “You are?” Terex looked at her in surprise. He’d been certain that all the talk of the Blind and the Lost Kindred had frightened her off.

  Elaina nodded. “I’m going,” she repeated firmly. “The doctors have tried everything else to help Gina and this is the only thing left. So I’ll go and see what I can find. Only…” She looked at the priestess. “Only can I go back down to Earth and tell my sister goodbye first? In case…” She cleared her throat and went on in a choked voice. “In case I don’t…don’t get back from this mission in time?”

  “Of course, my dear. Commander Terex will be happy to take you down to say your farewells,” Nirobe said calmly.

  “Wait a moment,” Terex protested. “If we’re going into the Blind there is much I need to do. Preparations to make—”

  “Commander Terex doesn’t have to be the one to take me,” Elaina said quickly. “I’m sure the nice warrior who brought me up here—”

  “I said, Commander Terex will take you,” the priestess emphasized sternly, cutting both of their protests off. She looked at Terex. “Your preparations can wait. Go with Elaina and see. Understand that your pain is not unique.”

  “I…” Terex couldn’t think of a way to answer her rebuke without being uncivil. So he simply nodded his head. “I thank you, priestess,” he said briefly. Then he jerked his head at Elaina. “Come. There is much to do.”

  * * * * *

  They put on their shoes—or in Terex’s case, huge black boots that looked like a size fourteen at least—and Elaina followed him out of the Sacred Grove, all in complete silence. Neither one of them said a word. She watched the stiff set of his broad, muscular shoulders and wondered what she’d done to piss him off.

  Of course, it could just be that she was butting into his mission which he clearly wanted to be a solo operation, but she didn’t think that was the only thing making the big Kindred upset. He’d been cool to her even before the priestess had demanded he take Elaina with him. Cool almost to the point of rudeness which was not the Kindred way. From her time spent working in the HKR building, Elaina knew most Kindred warriors bent over backwards to be courteous and polite to females. It was one of their principles—the belief that all female life was to be revered and respected.

  So why was Commander Terex acting like such a colossal jerk? His mood seemed to have darkened to match his new hair color and the beard he had grown. Rather than being polite and charming, he was brooding and intense in a way he hadn't been before.

  He was striding ahead of her, his long legs eating up the ground so quickly, she almost had to run to keep up.

  “Hey,” she called, finally catching up to him. “Hey, Commander Terex.”

  “Yes?” His voice was a low, irritated growl. “Is there a problem, Ms. Benet?”

  “Yes, there’s a problem.” Elaina didn’t like confrontation—she couldn’t stand it, in fact. But she didn’t want to start a long, possibly deadly journey with someone who hated her. Or at the very least was irritated by her presence. “I want to know what’s going on with you,” she said, still almost running to keep up with his long strides. “Why are you so angry that I have to come along?”

  “I told you.” He stared straight ahead as he spoke. “I’m hunting a killer.”

  “Who did he kill? Who is he?” Elaina asked, panting a little in the effort to keep up.

  “He attempted to poison every male, female, and child aboard the Mother Ship—and he very nearly succeeded. He must be stopped and I am going to stop him.”

  “He…you…” Elaina shook her head uncertainly. “That happened since the last time I saw you?

  “That and more.” He bit out the words and cast a cold glare at her. At least his eyes were still the same—that dark blue that was almost purple.

  “More? What else did he do?” Elaina asked.

  “That’s not important,” Terex growled. “What’s important is that no matter how you protest that you can ‘take care of yourself,’ if I take you with me, the ultimate responsibility for your safety falls squarely on my shoulders. I don’t have time for that.”

  “It’s not just that,” Elaina objected. “I know it’s a pain in the butt to have me tagging along, but you were being…not yourself before the priestess ever told us we were going on this journey together.”

  “Not myself?” He stopped abruptly, turning to face her in the growing gloom as the green sun overhead dimmed almost completely. “Tell me, Ms. Benet—what do you know about me? How would you know if I was being myself or not?”

  “Well, I…I mean…” Elaina faltered, uncertain of what to say. “You…you were just so different when I met you before. And I'm not just talking about the new hair color and the beard. I mean you seemed to have a…a different temperament—a different demeanor the first time I came up to the Mother Ship with Commander Kerov. You know, when he was in his fiancé’s body?”

  That whole situation had been really strange and was still confusing but one thing Elaina wasn’t confused about was that Terex was acting like an entirely different man now than he had when she’d