The Balance (The Stone's Blade Book 2) Read online

  “Then I’d better destroy the other one.”

  “What other one?” Renloret asked. He didn’t release the notebook.

  “The one in which I wrote down all that stuff about the Ceremony of Passing and my thoughts on all you told me about Lrakira and why you needed Ani and who she really is.” He hesitated at the horrified look on Renloret’s face. “It’s in a safe place, I assure you. Not even Daneeha could find it.”

  Ani scorched Renloret with her own scalding look but schooled her voice to stay calm as she asked, “What is this Passing?” What else did Taryn know about that she didn’t?

  The pilot looked like a child telling secrets to his best friends as he leaned forward in excitement. “I can only tell you what I’ve read because the Ceremony of Passing is usually held in seclusion and only Stone Singers and the next candidate are present. In my research I found one of the older manuscripts, which contained a series of illustrations. So when Dalkey said he’d seen your mother’s body turn into smoke and disappear into the blade box, I assumed a Passing had taken place.

  “What I’ve read describes a Passing as the internal spirit of the Singer physically traveling from the decedent’s body to take up residence within the blade, to share the recently deceased Singer’s experiences and knowledge with the next Singer. However, nothing I read gave examples demonstrating that any of the Singers actually benefitted from that sharing or that any knowledge sharing had ever taken place, so I don’t know how true the statement is.”

  “So what you’re saying is that my mother’s spirit is inside the blade?” Ani asked as she leaned back into her chair.

  “Well, I don’t know for sure. It may have passed from the blade to you during the Song of Healing.” Renloret glanced at Taryn.

  Taryn nodded his head. “I did see a greenish smoke-like wisp appear from the blade and cover your body almost like a blanket. You mouthed ‘Nana’ when that happened.” He shifted in his chair. “It seemed harmless and like it knew what was needed, that it cared about you … as if it was alive. Can smoke be alive?” He cleared his throat as if almost embarrassed. “Then it went inside you through the wound, and you seemed … less distressed … in less pain.”

  Kela added in Ani’s head, That was just before you left me. He put a paw on her thigh. I felt your mother’s presence, briefly. I thought you had died and her spirit had come to take you away. They kept singing and you started to breathe again, but you were gone from my mind.

  She rubbed the base of his ears. I’m back now … and forever.

  Ani looked at the men in turn. “Kela says he felt my mother just before our telepathic contact was severed by the coma device.”

  Renloret pushed away from the table. “I’m sorry I did not know at the time what had happened. Remember, Taryn, all we could see was the physical wound. That implanted device was rather ingenious. It has scientists all over Lrakira in a whirl. They cannot believe it came from Teramar.”

  “What device and why not from Teramar?” Taryn asked.

  “Well, some of them still don’t understand that your technology is twenty years further along than they expected or planned on. Both the medical and technical fields on Lrakira are working on what, how, and why the device did what it did. The completeness of the disconnect it created is astounding. Evidently, it has ramifications previously not considered.” Renloret shook his head and started to reach for Ani but let his hand drop to his lap. “Not that it matters now that you are safe.”

  “So the assailant in the cavern was the person who developed this little machine?” Taryn asked.

  “Well that’s one of many possibilities,” Ani said.

  Taryn scrunched his face. “Would you recognize him if you saw him?”

  Ani shook her head. “He was wearing a full body mask, and we were in a poorly lit cavern at the time, if you remember.”

  “I assume you asked him some questions while you were waiting for us to appear.”

  “Of course,” Ani said testily. She knew Taryn was in full sheriff mode and was digging for answers, but her memory of the incident was becoming less clear with each passing day. “Listen, Taryn, he’d managed to cut my cheek with a poison-laced blade just as I arrived in the cavern. He spent most of his time running me around, waiting for me to succumb. So whatever questions I may have asked or answers he may have given after that are disappearing from my memory. However I do remember him saying something about his wife and Shendahl.”

  Taryn leaned forward. “He knew your family?”

  “Evidently, but I can’t remember enough of what he said to put the pieces together.”

  She realized she was crying in her frustration to remember and brushed her cheeks. “I wasn’t thinking straight to begin with, Taryn. After I figured out who had taken Mother’s body from the grave, all I could think about was finding Dalkey and getting her body back. That man in the cavern stole my revenge by killing Dalkey. That’s why I ran after him. I had to find out why.”

  More tears blurred her vision as she wiped her nose across her sleeve. She reached down and clutched the fur around Kela’s neck. He sent her comforting thoughts. “To tell the truth, my memory of what happened in the cavern is slipping away, Taryn. Sometimes all I remember is what others have told me I said just after waking from the coma. Could my memory be altered or damaged by that device?”

  Taryn sat back in his chair shaking his head. “I don’t know about that. It seems to be a very sophisticated machine, but that sounds improbable. Perhaps it was the poison.”

  He paused. “I will just have to accept that you can’t remember though the lack of definitive information is not going to help the investigation we started. My report lists your assailant as ‘unknown.’ I really was hoping you would return and be able to identify him. At the moment, we’re looking for a phantom.” His sigh was heavy with frustration.

  He looked at Renloret. “That’s not the only reason you returned, is it?”

  Renloret ran a hand through his hair. “No, but Ani should explain that.” He dipped his chin at Ani, giving her a chance to tell her side of the past six weeks and explain why they had returned to Teramar.

  She shifted uncomfortably. “Taryn, there is a more important problem.”

  Taryn locked eyes with Ani and waited for her to continue. But she just held his gaze silently. “Another disease?” he asked. How many more people were going to die? Was Star Valley in danger?

  “Not exactly.”

  He sighed. Was he going to have to handle more than one problem at a time? Well, no matter, it was always best to get everything out so it could be sliced up into manageable pieces. “Go on.”

  “We thought you might be able to help with a family matter, unofficially.” Ani glanced at Renloret, who gave her an encouraging smile.

  Taryn raised his eyebrows. “Unofficially a family matter? What are you dancing around, Ani?” He turned his notebook to a blank page and glanced at Renloret. “Can I take notes on this?”

  This time Ani placed her hand on the notebook. “I’m not sure you need that yet. Let’s outline the problem first. You can make your notes later.”

  Taryn put down the notepad and folded his hands. What could be so important that it needed explaining before she garnered his agreement to help? Didn’t she know he would do anything for her — even believe in aliens? He shifted to a more comfortable position. “So, outline.”

  “You know about the Stones?”

  “Generally speaking. But since I have no solid proof, I’m not sure I believe in them. Still, I have an open mind. Go on.”

  Her green eyes sparkling, Ani whispered, “They’re real, Taryn. They sang to me. I couldn’t not believe.”

  “This is about them, then?” His tone was wary. Had they brought one of them to Teramar? Had they stolen a priceless alien object?

  Renloret interrupted. “One of them is injured.”

  “A rock can be injured?” Taryn choked on his laugh. “I’m really trying not to judge,
but give me a little help!”

  Ani slapped his shoulder. “Yes. Someone stabbed it.”

  Taryn looked at their serious expressions, gave up, and let the laugh bubble over. Ani threw her napkin at him.

  Renloret shrugged, gathered up the plates, and took them to the sink. “I told you he wouldn’t believe us.”

  Ani rolled her eyes.

  “Yes, someone stabbed the Anyala Stone. We’re fortunate it’s still alive, though it is weak and has difficulty communicating,” Renloret said.

  Taryn held his hands over his head, surrendering to the preposterous idea that a rock was not only alive, but had been stabbed. “I apologize, but can you be serious?”

  “We are serious, Taryn,” Ani said gravely. “One of the guardian Stones is dying. My Stone is dying.” She retrieved the napkin from the floor and slapped the back of his head as she returned to her seat.

  “Ow!” He rubbed the spot.

  Ani glared at him. “Stop being such an idiot.”

  “I’ll try. But you’re the ones talking about living rocks being stabbed.” Trying his best to get back into his sheriff’s mode, Taryn started drawing on the paper. At least that made him feel like he was doing his job.

  Renloret harrumphed, obviously unconvinced, and moved back to the sink to wash the dishes.

  “I need you to think, really think, about this, Taryn.” Her tone was as imploring as her stare was intense.

  “What does the wounding of a rock on Lrakira have to do with us? Isn’t that your problem?” Taryn tried not to smile, pointedly looking at Renloret. “I still don’t understand the whole intelligent pebble thing.”

  Ani swiped at him again. “Stones, Taryn, not pebbles. I assume Renloret told you a little bit about the Stones. I mean, he told you about the Ceremony of Passing — which he didn’t tell me.” She glared at the pilot.

  “I just know that these Stones have something to do with government or religion or some such thing,” Taryn admitted. “Renloret said he’d explain in detail later, if he had a chance to come back.” There was a slight pause as he raised his eyebrows. “So, you’re back.”

  Renloret returned to his chair. “First, let us agree that there are such things as alien life-forms — some very different from our own or what we might suspect or expect.”

  Renloret pointed at Kela. “Take him for example. To many, he is an alien. He can converse in at least two languages that I know of and he is learning a third.”

  “Excuse me, but how do you know?” Taryn asked.

  “By his reactions to speech. Any intelligent being would react the same way. Body language is universal, with some exceptions you do not need to know about. And the two languages he is fluent in are Northern and his own species’ method of communication. The third is Lrakiran. I started working with him on the trip to Lrakira while you, Ani, were in the coma. But we ceased the lessons when we arrived, and events on Lrakira distracted us from that process. On the way back, I thought it would be better to do everything in Northern for your comfort, Ani, in part because you are still struggling to think of yourself as one of those alien life-forms you have been told do not exist. And they are far more numerous than you could have guessed.”

  To bring the conversation back to the topic, Taryn interrupted. “Do you know who committed the crime?” He saw Ani’s face immediately bloom into a blush.

  “My grandmother,” she whispered.

  Taryn stared at her. “I assume the culprit is in custody.”

  “Yes, she is being cared for appropriately,” Ani said.

  Silence settled between them while Taryn considered the information, rubbing his forehead, as if that would improve his thinking. No wonder she was hesitant to talk about this. “This still doesn’t answer my question about how Teramar can help a wounded being on a planet we cannot even see in the night sky.”

  Renloret pointed at Ani. “The solution is also related to her, actually.”

  “What? Did you bring your grandmother here?”

  “This is not about Selabec, Taryn. It seems I have a twin.”

  “What? Now I’m really confused. Again, what does that, even if it is true, have to do with saving an alien’s life or you coming back?

  Ani shrugged. “Well, it’s a bit confusing on our side, as well. Evidently, my father didn’t know about a twin, either.”

  “Your father? So you met the old bastard? Why didn’t he come back for you?” The look on Ani’s face told Taryn he had opened a barely healed wound.

  “You knew he was alive?” Ani snapped.

  Renloret and Taryn shared looks.

  Taryn spoke first. “You two have not done enough talking, have you?”

  Renloret grimaced. “We’ve been interrupted too many times, and it’s kind of hard to decide where to start.”

  “What about Kela? Couldn’t he have done some of that explaining?” Taryn asked.

  Kela growled and glared at Taryn in warning. Apparently, he wanted to be kept out of it.

  Ani shushed the canine with a wave of her hand.

  Renloret turned to Ani. “Kela was not there when I told Taryn that your father is alive. I believe we were at the cemetery, just before you escaped from Melli and Gelwood’s home.”

  Taryn fended off further accusations. “Things kind of got out of hand after that, Ani. There wasn’t time to tell you much of anything while we were trying to save your life.”

  “Oh, all right,” Ani said, the sputter and edge in her voice having turned to begrudging defeat.

  “And since you woke up, we’ve been a little distracted with everything that has happened,” Renloret added, still defensive.

  Ani raised both palms to the pair of men. “I said all right!”

  Taryn returned to his seat on the couch. “That brings us back to why you’ve returned. You have a twin?”

  Ani sighed. “That’s what I’ve been told by three rocks.”

  “Do you believe these rocks?” Taryn asked.

  She rolled her eyes. “Taryn, I realize this sounds absolutely unfathomable, but I absolutely believe the Stones. They say that there is a twin who is alive, or at least was alive a few weeks ago. The Stones are adamant that only The Balance — that’s what they call her — can pull the blade from the Anyala Stone.” She held up her palm to Taryn, forestalling his question. “Perhaps I should explain what happened after we arrived on Lrakira.”

  Taryn nodded, more than ready to hear her story.

  “It’s my understanding that Renloret and Kela had difficulty explaining why I was twenty years older than anyone was expecting when they arrived on Lrakira. At the time, no one but the Stone Singers knew about the time-song. Evidently, to ensure I was old enough to provide the correct hormones, I needed to be in early pubescence. And when my father arrived at Lrakira and announced that I had been born and was a healthy five-year-old, the Stones had their Singers bring them together so they could twist time around Teramar to age me and everything else on the planet.

  “Of course, the Stones didn’t fully explain what they were doing or why, just that the song would ensure the success of my retrieval. From what I was told, the Anyala Stone’s Singer, my grandmother, was unhappy with her assigned Stone because my mother left without her permission and brought the Stone’s blade with her to Teramar. I’m not sure I have the whole story straight on what happened. In short, suffice it to say that my grandmother stole one of the other Singer’s blades and interrupted the time-song near the end by stabbing the Anyala Stone. This threw off the time shift attempt, and instead of being about twelve or thirteen, I was twenty-five before the song ended. Fortunately, I was still young enough to provide the hormones needed in my blood to create the vaccine against the plague that was killing all the women. At least I was not beyond childbearing. And no one knows if my blood would have worked if I had already gotten pregnant or had children.”

  She paused and Renloret took up the story.

  “And it was this warping of the time-song that
caused my crash. The injury to the Anyala Stone now inhibits full communication between all three of the Stones and their Singers, and it is assumed that the injury will eventually kill the Anyala Stone, thus crippling Lrakira’s way of life. Ani and I both tried to remove the blade without success. Actually that’s when we were informed of the twin.”

  Taryn felt overwhelmed by all the information.

  “Even the Singers were surprised to hear that The Blood and The Balance were two different people,” Ani said. “The Blood and The Balance are supposed to become Stone Singers, so they had always assumed the legend referred to one girl — me.” Her laugh took on a nervous edge. “Yeah, Taryn, I’m a legend on Lrakira. More like a prophesy. Can you believe that?”

  Taryn chuckled. “That’s more believable than talking rocks. Do you realize that you’re a legend in Star Valley as far as the blade ring goes?”

  “So I’ve heard. But seriously, Taryn, even if you don’t believe this twin thing, I am fairly sure something like a twin is here. We could use your help to find her and convince her to go to Lrakira so she can pull that damned blade out of the Stone. Then perhaps we all can go back to our real lives, alien or not.”

  Taryn could barely keep up with the questions caroming around in his head. “Why didn’t your parents take you home to Lrakira after you were born? Surely, the Stones could have made a much smaller bubble to age just you. Wouldn’t that have been safer and more accurate? I mean, your father had two ships available. He used one to escape in when the research center was attacked. Why didn’t he take you with him? What was or is so special about Teramar that you had to grow up here?”

  “These are all good questions, Taryn,” Ani said. “I don’t know the answers.”

  “Perhaps your father does. Can you ask him?”

  “We’re only supposed to contact the main ship if we need help or we’re on our way back with the twin,” Renloret stated. “Any other communication is deemed an unnecessary risk of detection.”