The Gathering

Chapter 10

Sky’s sudden shocked intake of breath caught everyone’s attention and he cried out “taam!” “What is it Sky?” Anna asked, eyes wide at his sudden horrified gasp and expression.

“Pos powt stub! Pos subsc demor posal ona Richard oca sae draismew. Pos pilrob albe deater.” Lance’s head snapped to them ”why did he just say Rick’s name? What’s going on Anna?”

“What do you mean by that, Sky?” Anna frowned “who’s here? Why do we need to hide Richard somewhere?” Sky jumped to his feet and was out of the room with only three words “Hawko powt stud!”

“Oh god!” Anna gasped and rose, looking to Lance “sound the alarm.”

“Why?” Lance didn’t move but the horror in Anna’s voice made Cathy, Payton and Tommas rise, alert to danger. “Hawko’s here for Rick” Anna said as she started for the door “he must have got sick of being blocked by Sky and came to get Rick himself. Hurry or he’ll get away with him before we can stop him.”

Lance was instantly on his feet and at the alarm built into the wall before anyone could follow him. Lance had never moved that fast in all the time they had known him. As the alarm started to blear through the centre the group of two mutant men and teenaged girl, human man and half-Idar headed for the boy’s room.

The closer they got the louder they heard snarls and growls, smashing objects and the occasional cry of pain. They reached the door just as the others did and Steven wordlessly ripped the door from its hinges when it refused to open.

Blinded by the smoke that billowed out after the door was removed they were unable to see inside for a few minutes in which time it became suddenly quiet. At Tommas’ order C.C sucked the smoke out through the air vent, allowing them to enter and look around.

“NO!” Cathrine cried, seeing inside first and spurring Lance to push his way desperately inside first, afraid of what would or would not be there. The room was nothing but broken furniture and chunks of wall and roof. It looked like a bomb had gone off inside and not knowing the abilities of the Renegade or even Sky that was a possibility.

But the most shocking was that only Sky was inside, on his side and unconscious. He was covered in blood and his legs had been ripped to shreds, bone showing.

Payton rushed to examine the man while Anna, Tommas and his daughter went back to the lab and medical room. As she went past them Cathy grabbed Paul and pulled him with her, telling him they would need his help when he protested.

This shut him up and he followed. Less than a minute later they were back with various medical objects and a gurney. While Payton and Tommas knelt by his side Anna got them back and then moved to the wheeled hospital bed. Payton found himself one of the well oiled machine that the group was when it came to caring for one of their own, examining the man and pointing out wounds in order of severity while Tommas bandaged or patched or stitched. Anna meanwhile prepared the gurney and Cathrine a backboard so they could get him onto the bed.


Once Payton and Tommas were done they moved so Paul and Tommas could lift him high enough and allow Anna to push the board under him. After lowering him down Tommas and Payton carried the board to the bed and slid the man onto the soft sheets.

He was then wheeled away so they could better examine him for any serious internal damage while the others tried to figure out what had happened. “Why don’t you try the security cameras?” Payton hesitated in the doorway to which they asked him
“What?”

“You said there was security camera’s everywhere. Are they always turned on?”
“Yes they are, constantly.”
“Then go to C.C’s command room and tell her you want to see what happened inside this room.”

They realized he was right and headed back to the huge computer central room, Johnathon following Tommas and the others so he could help with examining the man internally. Lance went with the others to the control room but was back ten minutes later in time to see them putting the man in his room and bed to heal and sleep. He was quiet and thoughtful as he watched them.

Sky suddenly stirred awake, eyes full of pain and weakness. Tommas frowned “he mustn’t be too weak from helping Rick and Anna and fighting Hawko to heal himself properly.” Cathy frowned and asked her father “Why?”

“Watch his wounds. ” He answered them. They were about to ask what exactly he was trying to show them when they noticed it. The long deep cut on the man\creature’s left arm was seeping blood, which would suddenly stop, start to close and then open again, as if it was trying to heal but couldn’t manage the energy.

Sky moaned slightly and his face convulsed in pain and the effort of recovery, body shuddering as hunger filled his eyes and sight. “He needs blood to heal” Cathrine said softly “if we don’t help him heal he won’t be able to rescue Rick for us. Only he can do it.”

“Cathy’s right” Lance said and stepped forward, face filled with a sudden determination to follow through with his thought “we need to help him, to heal him. I’ll give him my blood.”

“What!” they chorused, looking at the man with shock at his sudden change of heart towards the man. “What brought this on Lance?” Payton asked “first you don’t want to trust Sky in any way despite our efforts to convince you and now you’d trust him with your life?”

“It’s must simpler than that,” Lance said “as Cathy said without him we won’t get Rick back.”

“No” Payton frowned “if that was the case you’d let one of us do it, not volunteer. It’s something else.” Lance looked uncomfortable “he’s hurt, he needs something to heal. If he needs blood then so be it.”


“Lance…” Cathy started with a frown.

“All right!” Lance exclaimed at them. “He risked his own life to try and stop Hawko and his slaves from taking Rick! What we saw on the video proves what Payton’s been saying about his good soul and will all along and I thought if I give him my blood it will be as good an apology as any since I wouldn’t be able to say it to his face. Especially when he will know it means I would not suspect him of any underhandedness with Rick in the future!”

We can’t use your blood Lance” Tommas said and when they looked at him he added “think about it. When and if we get Rick back he’s likely to be in much the same state. Using Lance’s blood may not only reinforce his own strength of DNA but help him heal quicker.” Tommas looked back to the man “wouldn’t you rather give it to Rick and help him then Sky?”

Lance tried not to look so eager as he nodded in agreement “I see what you mean but what about Sky? He needs it or he won’t be able to heal and help Rick.”

“Sky was a mutant like me. I’ll donate. Besides, I owe him for helping Anna and this is my way to repay him.”

“No!” For some reason Anna didn’t like that idea. “No Payton, don’t! Please it’s too risky in Sky’s condition! He may be too hungry to stop before you are too exposed or suffer too much blood-loss!”

“Darling I owe him this much. Besides I believe he would-despite his condition-not go too far and know when to stop.”

“That’s why I’m going to do this” Steven was in the doorway, his pig-headed barbarian expression all over his face-the one usually reserved for making enemies afraid of him and allies not too sure about defying him or trying to change his mind. “I am used to loosing blood in battle. I would have a higher tolerance to the loss and could probably be strong enough to even reject the virus. Our new ally needs it to save Rick-so he needs a lot of strength. Through my blood he could get it.”

“Are you sure Steven?” they asked him. “Of course I am. As Lance said we need Sky to rescue Rick before that guy and his slaves do any real damage to him.”

They nodded and Anna moved to kneel beside the bed to look the man\creature in the eyes. Softly she asked “Sky we will feed you. But can you only take what you need and stop or is the hunger too strong?” The creature’s eyes were dull with pain as he blinked blankly at her. “Sky can you hear me?” He blinked at her again. “Try to transfer your thoughts into his head through your link” Payton said to her. But she frowned “I don’t know how.”

“Close your eyes” Cathrine spoke out “and concentrate on making that one thought the only one there and the most powerful. If your link is as strong as father and I he won’t be able to help but pick it up.” Anna frowned but did so. After a few minutes Sky blinked again and looked up at them. There was still hunger and pain filling them but also understanding and consent. They realized he had heard the thought and was telling them in the only way his battered and weak body would let him.

So Steven moved forward to sit on the side of the bed, offering the creature his right wrist. With weak and trembling hands that were tightly bandaged he guided the other man’s hand around so he had the right spot directly in front of him. He licked the wrist slowly at first-as if trying to taste the right place-then he pulled it closer.


Steven could feel the graze of the sharp teeth over the skin-once, twice. Then the hooded eyes seized his and they suddenly dug deep. He didn’t even jump, frowning that he hadn’t felt it-only the numb sensation and the knowledge he should have.

“There’s a kind of sedative in his saliva” Payton explained when he mentioned it. “So when he licked your wrist he was allowing it to soak into your skin and flesh to numb it so you wouldn’t feel the pain. His way of thanking you for the donation to him.”

They heard a moan and looked down to see Sky gulping hungrily at the spurt from the first pierce. Then his mouth locked to the flesh and sealed it off, preventing any leakage. He sat there and didn’t move, not even his throat moving to swallow. It looked like as if he was just too weak to drink it.

“Why isn’t he drinking?” Cathy asked a little fearfully “can’t he do that?”
“He’s feeding” Anna said to them “ask Steven.” They looked at the warrior who nodded.

“Then how? His throat isn’t moving and he’s just laying there.”
“He IS feeding.” Anna repeated.

“Through the fanged incisors.” Payton said when Cathy opened her mouth again. “The first lot he swallows activates muscles in the gums and around the prominent teeth. They fangs are not only retractable but also hollow so they react to his state of hunger. After a certain point of hunger they slide out of the normal position and stay that way until the hunger pains and need is gone. The blood is first tasted to activate the muscles and he can them absorb it directly into his body via the veins and such in the flesh of the top jaw. Once the hunger is done they slide back until next time.”

“But like any meal drinking works too” Anna added. “Directly through the gums is processed quicker then through the stomach.” Gwin spoke up “So through the gums is a necessary meal and mouth is purely for pleasure.”

“Yes” Anna said to her. “Sky told me earlier that Hawko swallows so he can draw out the victims pain and terror. The adrenalin and other chemicals released by the body during such fear and pain infects the blood like cordial would with water. Sky and his people only swallow in two separate situations.”

“When?” they asked.

“First is when they turn others-the gel from the teeth and saliva MUST mix together inside the wounds to work. Second and only other time is when they’re making love to another-or even a human or mutant.”

“Why then?”

“Pure pleasure. Apparently an Idars’ pleasure centers and what turns them on is only vaguely different to us. They make love like us-except in order to orgasm they need to taste blood and there is another thing.”

“What?” they asked.

“Do you know what a G-spot is?” Lance said yes, so did Gwin and Johnathon. Tommas answered with ‘of course’ and Veronica blushed. Cathrine stuttered she knew but had never experienced sex before, Steven and Paul shrugged. “It’s a small area inside a woman’s vagina highly sensitive to such stimulation as being rubbed by the penis during sex and even causes a woman higher than the normal pleasure they would have-even doubles it.”

“So?” Lance asked and Payton added “Few people know some men have the same spot-only in their rectum.” Lance spoke out “Explains what gay guys see in each other,” motioning Steven and the other’s questions away for later “so what has that got to do with it?”

“An Idar or even a rebel like Hawko have it in a different place. It’s in exactly the same place for both males and females.”

“Where?” Cathrine whispered.

“On the back in the very center, over the spine. In order the fully orgasm during sex and Idar like Sky or even Rick now would not only have to taste blood but feel their partner pressing on that spot. However perverted guys like Hawko only need the taste and smell of blood as well as feeling their victims’ pain and fear. Which is what would have happened to me if Rick hadn’t have heard my cry of pain and awoke to fight him off me.”

“You mean Hawko would have raped you?” Anna nodded solemnly and Cathrine added “What about Rick? Did he do it that way to Rick? Is that why his clothes were so torn and he was almost mad?”

“He wasn’t going for sexual pleasure with Rick but blood-lust. Like any syco he gets excited at the sight and smell of blood-especially other people’s.”

“Not that that isn’t what Rick is hiding from us all” Payton spoke out to them and they asked in confusion “What do you mean by that Payton?”

“Rick’s big secret about what happened to him when he was nine. I figured it out. As for wether I should tell you or not-I think that’s Rick’s decision. He may not be ready to tell you yet. Or maybe he doesn’t want you all to know, that’s up to him.” They knew he was right and had to respect Lance and Rick’s desire for privacy, but it was hard not knowing when the clues or implications were constantly right in front of them.

There was a sudden noise and they looked at Sky and Steven in time to see Sky pull away from Steven’s wrist, lick it clear of blood and then look him in the eyes again and say thickly “Shar beea, Thank you.”

“Sky?” they were shocked by the English words. But the creature just licked his lips and closed his eyes, blacking out. Payton immediately had a theory for that though. “We know they can taste a person’s memories through the blood they take.”

“So?” Payton looked at Lance “can Rick speak any other language but English?”
“Not that I know of, why?”
“Neither can Anna, except Steven does doesn’t he.”

“Our native tongue Kelan yes, why?” Johnathon said. “Don’t you see? Because Anna and Rick have never learnt another language they wouldn’t have the slightest idea about how to start translating Sky’s tongue. So although Anna could understand his and he ours it is only the thought behind it. However with Steven having once been forced to learn how to speak English he was able to use that to translate the basic terms. When he wakes up he should be able to talk sparingly to us.”

However when they next checked on him he was sitting up in bed having long a long fluent and unstuttered conversation with Payton in English about his origan. “They were our father race,” he was saying as easily as if he had been speaking it all his life and not the last fifteen minutes. “We came from them.”

“So you ARE vampires like the legends speak of.”

Sky shook his head “they are our father race” he repeated patiently but Payton frowned “What’s the difference between you and them?”

“I am the first and most powerful of the Idars-my people. I have the primary power and none who come after me can hold even a 1/6th of my abilities, except perhaps Richard. He has the potential to be an extremely powerful and great man.”

“And you were a mutant before vampire like Rick. Passive or active?”
Sky thought about it for a few seconds then said “both.”

“Both?” Payton was confused “how can you be both? You can’t, one or the other.”
“My abilities were passive and active. It IS possible.”
“How? What abilities do you-DID you have?”

“I was immune to any sickness that came and went in our village and anyone close to me or whom spent regular time with me was immune also.”

“Who spent regular time with you?” Payton looked thoughtful.

“My mate Dove and my blood-brother and first fledgling Eagle. We were childhood friends and the adults or even the elders could keep us apart for long.” Payton grinned knowingly at him “a couple of pranksters were you?”
“I do not know what you mean” Sky grinned back “but we were kids.”

“Were Dove and Eagle like you?” Payton asked curiously “did any of them show or have abnormal abilities like you did?”

“I was the only one in my village-at least that was known about. We were isolated from other villages so our tongue was different to them, we didn’t know about mutants then.”

“One mutant among so many humans” Payton was speaking softly, awed “Imagine being the only one among those who would fear or shun you. How did you survive it?”

“I did not,” Sky said smoothly and the negro looked at him harder “What do you mean you didn’t?”

“Just so. When a plague came to our village and they started to die the chief convinced most of the others it was MY fault and the only way to appease the Great Spirit would be for them to kill Dove and I. My and my mate’s parents had died long before the sickness came and Eagle was protected by his own, so no one but Eagle-despite his parents protest-could defend us.”

“Did they do it?” he asked in shock and the man\creature nodded gravely “Yes. They stabbed us both then left us in a field to die and rot. When the sickness continued those left beat the chief to death for his lies and killing their possible future cure and now Eagle was exposed and dying without me to protect him.”

“Who saved you? How did you and Dove live to cure the sickness?’

“One of our father race was traveling our land on his way to the humans he protected hundreds of moons away and heard me moaning and felt my pain. He found us close to death and made me his blood-child, as Richard is now mine. Only instead of becoming like him I became something different and when I changed Dove to save her she became like me.”

“The disease mixing with your mutant biology must have seriously changed it on both a genetic and cellular level” Payton said thoughtfully and Sky blinked blankly at him “Of course.”

“What happened next? What did you and Dove do? You obviously couldn’t go back to the village…”

“No. We moved into a cave in one of the mountains surrounding our village. There HE taught me-taught US-what we could and could not do, what our strengths and weaknesses were. How to control our abilities and powers and ourselves, and even though we were different he seemed to know what we could do differently to him and how to use and control them.”

“How do you mean?” the Biologist asked and the Idar answered him “Using mutant standards we were now active while he remained passive.”

“How so?”

“You saw how I destroyed Little Snake. We can make fire by thought alone as well as use our mind to make other than our own kind do what we wish without they knowing it. We can summon a storm by will and make the earth shake-or worse. We can fly like the birds or run like the wolves and kill as easily as well. We can change our forms into that of any of the Great Spirit and mother earth’s children who we are named from. Unless our heart is torn from us and completely destroyed we survive. The earth gives us her strength and heals and nurtures us of a night or when we are badly injured just as blood does in desperate situations.”

“And your father race?”

“They are faster and stronger than us. They walk without discomfort in the daylight while we sleep like the dead. They drink blood while we do not have to. They can hypnotize and must be staked; decapitated completely and burnt before they are destroyed fully and even then there is no guarantee.”

“What do you mean?”

“If the body is not surrounded by the proper runes while it burns and the humans are far enough away the spirit escapes and possesses the one nearest. He or she lives on in that body, slowly taking control and pushing out the other soul until they own it fully and changing it their original form.”

“Had your…had HE ever done that to someone?” Payton asked, thinking he would never like to be faced with one of these guys.

“Once. His creator had charged him centuries before with guarding his human line. At the time the current of that line was a king of a large land and the woman he loved and planned to marry. Just after the two’s children were born a waring country tried to invade and there was a huge and bloody battle, the people of that land wishing to protect the good king with their lives. Only the king felt it would be wrong to let his people die for him and joined in.”

“What happened?” Payton was hooked on the story.

“He had to protect the king in battle until he was suddenly hit in the back with a fire-arrow. While he burned, the king was cut down in front of him. He was forced to enter a nearby enemy soldier in order to save the queen and her son and daughter. After wards he contacted his creator and told him he had failed him and was going to leave and travel the world to find himself and the reason to go on. He told him he should have one of his other ‘children’ guard them-someone he could trust. His guilt was so strong his creator couldn’t change his mind. My creator had gotten close to the king and his family during the time he was their guard and he felt it was his entire fault the king had been killed. His grief and guilt was all he could feel.”

“That’s why it’s always better not to get emotionally involved in the life or affairs of others. That’s why people such as Bouncers, Body Guards and Doctors don’t get emotionally involved in clients. It’ll only lead to emotionally stressful situations not to mention trouble. He was returning to them when he found you and Dove?” Sky nodded.

“What was your creators name? What did he ask you to call him?”

“We didn’t have names to each other-except Dove and I. He called us son and daughter and we called him father. In the very short time he was over he WAS our father. But once our training was over he left us-no word or goodbye. One night we awoke and he was gone. I have never seen or heard or even felt him since.”

“What happened to the village to make them the same as you?”

“I had been watching the village for a while, missing Eagle. I couldn’t stop thinking of our times together and missing his friendship and companionship. Finally Dove persuaded me to go and see him and so that night I sneaked in.”

“What did you find there? What did you see?”

“The village was filled with the dying and dead. Those who had died lay were they were when the life left them as even the hunters and warriors were too weak to move them out any longer. When I saw no one was around-not a soul-I became afraid and ran the rest of the way to Eagle’s Tepee. He lay shivering under his furs, not even the strength to wipe the vomit from himself, so fevered he did not know me even when I shook him and screamed his name.

I examined him as I had been taught closely and found his heart struggling to beat and I knew he wouldn’t even last the next few hours. I had no choice but to do what I did or loose him. His blood was foul because of the sickness but I forced myself to take it. He was my first and his change was not as skilled as mine had been-as painless as it should have been.”

“If Eagle was your first what about Dove?” Payton asked him.

“Dove was my mate, my wife. When I changed her it was not only instinctive from deep down in my soul-a desire not to lose her but to me it was finally making her my mate and a part of me. This with Eagle was different.”

“I think I understand but why didn’t you make it so Eagle was your heir, not Hawko?” the other frowned at him and the creature answered for him “Eagle is my blood-brother, he is only what would call two years younger than me not just that but he can not be a leader-it’s not his nature. He would be too passive, what you call a follower.”

“Go on” Payton nodded in understanding.

“Eagle’s first need was to clean himself up when he realized what he looked like and as he finished his change I could see the sickness going from his body, becoming healthier in front of me. Now except for his different looks like me he looked normal. His first feed-when I taught him to hunt and catch a deer-was impressive, he learned fast. To my surprise he then suggested we turn the rest of the village-everyone who still lived that was. When I asked why he said that the three of us wouldn’t last long by ourselves and we were a village after all. When I reminded him about our murder he said that as the most powerful I would rule and they would never be able to hurt us again. “Besides” he shrugged “if you want you can think of it as revenge. You rule, make them think you saved them but control them forever.”

Although I didn’t want to admit it I agreed with him for that and did so with his help. We all moved into the caverns where Dove and I were living. I was the most powerful of them all and became the unquestionable leader and I think the villagers accepted me out of gratitude for saving their lives.”

“How did Hawko come into this? Was he one of the villagers turned?” Payton asked and when the creature answered that they had been outsiders the man mutant frowned at him harder “Then how did they get into this?”

“Dove and I wanted children but discovered we couldn’t and as the years went by we became desperate and because of the friction between us because of it we began to avoid the subject and drift apart mentally. I think we blamed ourselves for it but couldn’t admit it out loud to each other in case the other denied what we felt was true.

One night a scout returned to our home to tell me that there were intruders in the old village. What we found was five teenagers boys almost dead from exhaustion in the only tepee still standing.

As we nursed them back to health I thought maybe they were on their spirit walk-or the trail of manhood. But when they were able the oldest told me that strange men in animal skins and with flesh the color of the clouds had taken the land from their village and killed everyone off and nearly them. They were orphans now who had taken it on themselves to travel to other villagers and warn the people of the land so the same wouldn’t happen again. They had been on horse-back just before they had reached our mountain range except they had been ambushed by a group of the strange skinned men who had had strange thunder sticks which had killed three of the other boys with them before they were able to flee on foot into the mountains.

As far as they knew the men hadn’t followed them in but the idea that they were had made them continue on in terror of the thought that they were. When they had found what was left of our village they were near-collapse. Even though it was filled with rotting bodies and skeletons but they had had enough strength left to find the closest standing tepee and go inside. They had been there, too weak to move, only a few days before we found them.

What I didn’t know was that he and his gang were going around to each village and infiltrating it, working their way up until they had the chief then either convincing or forcing the village and chief to give their land to the white men, even though we didn’t own the land-we felt it owned us.”

“How was he forcing the villagers to give it up?”
“Various ways but their favorite was hostage situations, as in kidnapping the chief’s children or love.”
“What happened to finally make you realize the truth?”

“Dove and Eagle sensed it wasn’t right from the start but I was too blinded by the excitement and desire to have him as a my son so I ignored their suspicion. We drew close for the next five years, at least I thought we were.”

“What happened to change it?”

“A villager from another turned up and recognized them. I was told if I didn’t believe him to go see for myself and so I did, leaving Dove and Eagle in charge of our people without telling Hawko where I was going.

When I saw what the white men were doing to our mother earth I was horrified. Even more so when I listened to their conversations through their thoughts and kept getting images of Hawko and his companions as allies and the knowledge THEY had caused this, plus they were two steps away from claiming more for them. Then I got an urgent mental message from Eagle telling me to return to them as fast as possible.”

“What was so important?”

“I started to return home when I realized I could no longer feel Dove’s mind. I searched desperately as I flew home over the mountains and white men homes, not caring if I was seen. One white man even took a shot at me with his ‘thunder stick’ but must have missed because of my speed.”

Payton knew what a thunder stick was and knew his speed must have been incredible to avoid the bullet. He had to ask though “what did you find when you returned home?”

“Dove had been killed by Hawko, only he blamed it on the villager who had told me about Hawko and his people, telling me I should have known better than to trust someone’s word over his. Then I found out that this villager also had captured Eagle and was holding him hostage for our land. Hawko then told me that he had loved Dove as well even though she hadn’t returned it and that her murder was an insult to him and his friends as well as me. He told me if I gave him the power and strength he would hunt down this rogue and kill him for the crime against us and bring Eagle back to me alive and well. All I had to do was trust him with the strength and power of our kind.”

“It wasn’t the villager was it” Payton said “Hawko’s men had Eagle and he wanted you to give him the power and abilities so he could lord over other people.”

Sky nodded “and when I turned him I made the greatest mistake I could or would ever made in my existence. I created a monster. When I followed him and watched him enslave his gang and then that innocent villager, then kill Eagle who until then had still been half human...well I lost it. I attacked him, fought off his slaves and grabbed Eagle, taking him back to the village. I found not only was I more powerful then he but when faced with him and his slaves my people all banded together to force him away and reject him for his actions. When Eagle finally awoke, a living dead like I was I found I couldn’t forgive Hawko ever for his act and not only exiled him and his slaves from our land but formally announced to the others from that day on, for his crimes Hawko and his slaves-and any others they made were Renegades and to be killed on sight. He would no longer be my heir.

And then I left them to sleep that of the emotionally and physically wherry. A few times over the next few hundreds of years I awoke but found the world outside no better so I soon returned to my sleep.” The mutant nodded in understanding and asked curiously “How did Rick waken you?”

“His blood. After he was taken from you all after Hawko came for him he was taken to their cave home where he was chained to a wall so they could feed from him. He was merely a tip-bit for them, something to toy with.” Payton shuddered in horror and asked, “How did he escape them?”

“What you would call a rush of adrenalin. The pain, being unable to move or escape, his clouded state all caused him to break the chains and flee them. Although he was weak and the broken chains weighed him down the desire to flee was so strong it lasted him quiet a while. When it started to wear down he knew he had to hide. He found the nearest cave and entered. He found a iced over tunnel, dug into it and replaced it to hide where he had been and crouched in a corner of the cave, watching the tunnel and waiting to be found. While he did his neck continued to bleed and the blood melted the thick layer of ice that surrounded me while I slept. His blood awoke me.”

“And tasting his blood allowed you to see who he was inside and just how much a truly good soul he was. You realized he wouldn’t be corrupted like Hawko and decided he would make a better heir. So you started to help him. When we arrived you had neither the time nor knowledge of how to tell us you were helping him, so did it by being passive after Hawko fled. You could have easily gone after Hawko or even taken off with Rick but instead stayed passive so we knew you were no threat while we discovered just who and what you had done to help him.”

Sky nodded.

“Where were the chains?” asked a voice from the doorway and they turned to find the group there and listening, Cathrine having spoken out. “There weren’t any chains on him when Payton and father examined him after wards, although there were marks.”

“I HAD noticed that too” Payton acknowledged “you were using them to keep Rick from struggling when we entered but they were gone when we examined him.”

“I removed them before I caught you” Sky said “I pulled them off, threw them into a corner and looked up to Hawko in time to see him rush towards you. When I saw him I realized what he was about to do and rushed to stop him, but had to catch you first.”

“And then catch the other one and throw him back at him as a distraction” Payton added and he nodded. They were about to speak when Sky suddenly hunched over and gritted his teeth in pain, clawed hands tearing his sheets as they convulsed. Immediately they all became concerned and rushed into the room to his side, Payton reaching his side first and taking his shoulders in his hands and asking softly “what’s wrong Sky? Do you hunger or did we miss something?”

He only managed to shake his head, gasping as more pain went through him and claws flexing open and closed, back arching “Tell us what it is, Sky” Payton said soothingly “so we can help you.”

“I…” was all the man creature managed before more shudders of agony went through his entire body. “Lay him down on his stomach” Anna said to them, stepping forward to take Payton’s place and with Steven and Tommas’ aid Payton got the man onto his front and stretched out, clawed hands now digging into the mattress as his pain increased.

“What is it?” Cathrine,s voice trembled in concern in fear “is it Rick? Is he picking up Rick’s pain or something?”

“No, this is entirely his own” Payton said softly, Anna nodding in agreement “probably last-minute healing. He can’t take pain-killers like Rick so it’s his body.” Gwin suggested, “Perhaps the ribs are moving back to reset in the proper place” concerned also.

“No, it’s the wings” Anna said softly, knelt beside the bed and eyes locking to Sky’s urgent pain filled ones. She suddenly blinked and stood up, looking at them “Rick’s blood is changing him slightly, he’s growing his wings.”

“Are you sure Anna?” Payton asked and when she nodded the mutant man and Steven immediately started to tear urgently at the bandages, not bothering with trying to unwind them, just remove them as quickly as possible. When they were finally gone they heard Sky cry out in relief and they moved back quickly as the growing wings almost hit them.

They stretched out from the spine to their full size, almost touching the stone roof and as wide as twice his body length. They watched them in awe, the membrane and skin growing together, bone setting and veins and nerves in the fragile membrane flowing together until finally they were perfect. Then they fell limp on either side of him, touching the floor as he panted and went slack from the effort.

Cathrine, who had moved to the head of the bed at the start gently whipped at the line of bloody-sweat on his forehead for him looked at Anna “is it over? Is he all right now?”

At first Sky’s eyelids fluttered closed then they snapped open again as if forcing himself awake and he managed to speak to them “I am fine now. They where just the most painful.” He started to struggle up to sit but Payton stopped him by pressing him into the bed “don’t try to get up yet, just let your body recover that little episode first.”

When Sky went to protest Cathrine changed the subject “When do you think you’ll be able to go find Rick for us?”
“A few hours” Sky let her have it “then I shall go to my people and we will all search for him.”
“How do you know you’re people will accept Rick instead of Hawko? They may treat him the same.” Veronica asked.

“Because I wouldn’t allow them too. Besides Eagle will see the good in him and accept him.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I am sure. If Rick is truly the one I see him as my people shall readily accept him.”
“But he’s not your race.”

“But Rick has American Indian blood in him, even before Sky, isn’t that true Lance? So do you.” Payton spoke out, looking to the man “both Rick and Sky told me one of his ancestors has been an Native American.”

“That’s right” the blond man nodded “so you think they’ll know or sense it and accept him because or it?”

“It can’t hurt” Payton nodded. “True” Tommas agreed with him “do you need blood meanwhile, Sky? Or are you fine for now?”

“I am fine for now” Sky said with a moan as one wing cracked and then they both folded behind him. “I have healed fully. It will just take a few hours for the wings to gain all their strength and be able to take my weight. Until then I am confined to the ground as you are and our caves are only accessible by the air.”

“Then why don’t we go by Jet….” Lance started but Sky shook his head “if you did things that way you would need mountain climbing equipment and other such things but by the time you got it all together I’d have become ready for the flight. When my creator choose our new home he choose it for it’s near impossible accessibility. So no matter the circumstance we were safe from humans or such.”

“And some of us are going with you” Paul said. “Rick’s our friend and we want to help. Besides, we could get Rick out while you fight Hawko and those guys, which would leave him out of the situation and you wouldn’t have to worry about protecting him during the fight.”

“But Paul he could get in and out of there quicker without having to worry about any of us” Payton said to the teenaged boy. “If any of us go he’ll have to worry about us as well.”

“We can take care of ourselves” Paul sniffed in pride “we’ve been doing it longer than you’ve been around here.”

“I know that but these guys are near immortal and Sky is the only one who truly knows how to kill them. What if you go and fight and they don’t die? What if they go on and on and manage to kill one of you? How will Rick react if you get him back here and safe and sound and finds out you sacrificed one of your number to save him? How will that affect his fractionating mind?” They knew Payton had a point but they were determined to go as well.

Sky suddenly came to Payton’s aid on the subject though “you do not understand. Our cave is only open to those who can morph their body shape. You must be able to become something small and able to fly to enter. From the outside it merely looks like a home for bats for we use that form to enter. You are all humans in form and shall always be so can not enter with me.”


“I can morph my body shape” Johnathon said “by spell. And I can use the same spell for any other who chooses to come along.”

“You are not our kind and my people will not accept you.”
“I’m sure with you with us they will not move against us for fear of punishment from Eagle-or yourself.”

“Besides, Hawko and his gang were human and they never moved against them.”
“Because they were under my protection.”
“And we are not?” Sky didn’t answer that one.

“You can not change our minds” Johnathon said. “We are going to come with you.”
“All right” Sky finally sighed at them “as long as only a couple and I choose who.”

“Agreed” Tommas said before anyone else could. “Who will you take?” Lance asked him, eyes showing he put up with none other than himself going. “Anna for her medical knowledge” Sky said softly “in case I need her aid, and with being part-Idar she also will be able to change her body form into a bat as well.”

“Will Rick be able to?” Cathrine asked curiously and Sky nodded “he and Anna will have my abilities. Except the effort to use them will be harder and need more concentration.”

“Who else?” Lance asked impatiently. Sky motioned at Paul “your strength may be needed while your father would be too…intimidating.” And Paul drew himself up proudly in his father’s barbarian stance “you can count on me.”

“And who else goes!” Lance was getting angry that Sky was ignoring his look purposely. “You” Sky looked at Tommas “although I sense there is more to you then what you are willing to show, your speed might be need against Hawko’s slaves.”

Tommas nodded to show he would help and sent his daughter a look when she opened her mouth, whether to protest and insist on coming as well or say something about what Sky had sensed they didn’t know. Slowly she closed her bottom jaw and stayed silent.

“And who else!!” Lance glared at the man, eyes saying ‘you know I’m coming so say my name!’

“Johnathon of course” Anna said out “otherwise how else will Paul and Tommas be able to morph their forms to get inside?” The sorcerer bowed his compliance. “And me” Lance gave up trying to give them the subdued hints and just came out with it. “No Lance” Tommas said “you, Cathrine and the boys are too close to Rick and it will make you careless. We can’t afford to worry about you as well as Rick.”

“Well I don’t care, I’m coming whether you like it or not. Even if I have to follow you,” Lance said stubbornly. When they went to argue with him Sky motioned them silent and called “Lance look at me.”

When the man’s eyes snapped automatically to his Sky seized his eyes with his own and he said softly and evenly in a low voice “you will not follow us. When we leave you will go to your room and remain there until we return with Richard. You will not think about leaving or following us unless in case of emergency or if one of us call you” he motioned at Paul, Tommas and Johnathon “we will save Richard and that knowledge will be enough for you.”


The man creature suddenly blinked and so did Lance, both faces going back to normal. But instead of the stubborn and determined look of before Lance showed acceptance and he nodded to them “Bring Rick back to me guys.”

“We will” Paul promised and when the man left the room they all looked at Sky. Before they could speak, before they could ask him what had happened Tommas spoke out “must be a higher form of Johnathon’s hypnotic ability.”

“Higher? Why higher?” Anna and Payton asked him.

“Because except for occasionally being able to sooth him Johnathon has never been able to hypnotize Lance like he can Rick. We think it’s because Rick lets him, Rick knows inside himself that Johnathon would always have a good reason to do so but Lance is suspicious by nature.”

“Because there is something different about his mind, something that stops his ability to do so” Sky said softly. They looked at him in shock “you mean Lance is a mutant and immune to the hypnotic control?”

“No, not like that” Sky said “his mind is damaged, not like Richard’s was by the things he has experienced but since his birth.”

Anna suddenly spoke out “I HAD noticed that when I look at his mind.” Payton suddenly realized what he meant, “Lance has a mental disability, doesn’t he and somehow it allows him protection against certain level mental invasions from outside sources.” Anna suddenly got it, “I have it! Autism! It explains why sometimes he is far away for so long inside his mind and has trouble controlling his emotions!”

“If it is it must only be a minor case” Payton said “or he wouldn’t be so almost normal. As far as I’ve seen he only occasionally goes into the withdrawn state and loose control over his emotions that kids or people with autism are known for.”

The others were shocked more about Lance being disabled then mutant. After all, with having a mutant son they had somehow expected either he or Dale to have even a little chance of being that, whether they knew it or not. But to be disabled? It also explained something else.

“Can you inherit that sort of condition?” Cathrine asked thoughtfully and Anna asked her “You mean could Rick have it also as well as being mutant?” When they nodded she looked thoughtful “It’s possible. It would explain a few things with both. Namely why Lance seems so unwilling to trust anyone else to protect or keep Rick safe, why they need each other so badly. If it’s true about them both then they rely on each other to keep control or know when some emotion is necessary or not.”

“Which is why they seem reluctant to part or even why they are willing to both give their lives for each other” Payton said then added quickly “not that loosing Dale and their past together hasn’t enhanced that.”

The others felt they now knew the father and son much better than before, knowing another reason for their relationship being so tight. It wasn’t the curse and legend of their line that caused them to put each other’s lives over their own but their common disability making them over react.


No, they didn’t like this. The idea that a disability caused the two to be so close and over protective of each other made them sound like they didn’t love each other as much as they did and hadn’t been through the things they had that brought them so close together.

So they decided to forget about the idea of a disability until Cathrine suddenly asked; “what does this Autism do to a person’s mind? How are they different from other people?”

“Autism is usually in childhood and requires intense training so they can develop properly. It makes it so they have no control over their emotions whatsoever and an inability to communicate.”

“In other words…” Veronica started, confused. “In other words they can not control what they feel and how intense they feel and do not know how to just talk to others-not like any normal person may be unsure how to talk to another they like but they honestly do not know and can not.” Johnathon spoke out; looking at Anna “you said it requires intense training during childhood to become almost normal later on in life.”

When Anna nodded he spoke “then there is our reason for his difference now.”
“You mean his parents never trained him when he was young?” Anna asked.

“No, Lance’s parents were killed by a hit and run when he was eleven. He ran away from his first foster home and ended up on the streets, stealing to survive. He was always a wild child, like a little tiger I was once told and so when the cops found him the could never hold him for long because he always found a way out or got away again.”

Anna remembered the bare basics of this from Rick, but was never told how he ended up at a respectable job and home when he met Dale. So she had to ask “what happened to get him off the streets? How did he end up as he is now?”

“Apparently he tried breaking into some guys apartment. Instead of pressing charges this guy-David-told him if he did these courses to control his emotions and then went to do some basic high school ones he wouldn’t tell the cops. For some reason Lance stayed with him and did each and every one he wanted willingly when he wouldn’t stay with foster homes.”

“We think it was because he gave him a choice” Gwin said “instead of forcing him as the cops did by shoving him into foster homes and expecting him to accept it.”

“After wards David talked to a friend of his who was the manager of a Supermarket chain and got him a job there which Lance stuck to and was one of the best employees there.

Only a few months after he started there Lance met Dale who would come in twice a week to shop for her flat. She would always stop and talk to him and him alone which made him feel special and more determined to be a good employee and he started looking forward to seeing her, even working extra shifts. One night he came home to find David gone. When he spoke to the neighbors they said they had seen him being taken away from the apartment by three Ambulance guys.”

“What happened?” Anna asked in horror.


“Apparently David hadn’t told Lance he had advanced cancer and had been dying when he got Lance back on the straight-and-narrow. He had had an attack of weakness, called an ambulance not long after he had left for work and died in hospital. Lance almost went back to the streets, partly for guilt for not noticing his change with his desire to see Dale but something stopped him.”

“What did?”

“First was one of the ambulance guys gave him a letter that David had written for him before he died, telling him he was sorry for not telling him but he felt Lance was more than street thug and knew he could be anything he wanted too if he only tried. Second was he knew if he did he’d only be throwing David’s past efforts to make something off him back in his face and he didn’t want to do that after all he had done for him. And Dale helped him decide as well, he wanted to continue to see her.”

“How did they get together?”

“They didn’t happen for months, first Lance had to grieve David and seeing Dale and her kindness when she found out helped. One day when he got back from work there was a message on the answering machine from David’s lawyer.”

“What about?”

“He wanted him to come in and see him and Dale told him she would come. Lance was convinced the man was going to tell him he had to move out of the apartment and find somewhere else to live but to his shock it was almost the opposite.”

“What do you mean?”

“The lawyer read David’s will and told him the man had left everything to him. The apartment, his belongings, his bank account…”

“Everything?” Anna questioned and the man nodded. “But how did Dale and Lance really get together?”

“Even though he had money now Lance continued on in his job and at the apartment he had been left. One day he was talking to Dale when the store was held up. Because of a bungling cashier the gunman ended up taking a shot in Dale’s direction. Terrified he’d loose Dale’s friendship if she was hit he jumped in the way and took the bullet in his chest instead, ending up laying over Dale like a human shield and refusing to let her up until the ambulance arrived despite the fact he was bleeding badly.”

“How badly was he hurt?”

“Not that bad, the bullet bounced off a rib and grazed his lung but the most damage was from the blood loss. Doctor Sanderson said though if he had of moved around instead of laying still it would have been worse. He and Dale were in hospital a while since the bullet had exited his shoulder and grazed hers and they had more time to get to know each other. Dale told me once that it was where she realized she was in love with him, when she couldn’t bare the thought of him maybe dying from his heroic act. After she got out she continued to visit him.


Once he was out she came to see him at work and there she invited him to an opera. Although Lance thought he hated opera’s the idea of them going out together outside work and that one time to the lawyers made him lie to her and say he did enjoy them and would like to come with her. Watching the opera with her and hearing her explain what was going on changed his opinion of them and he sat back.

She had another surprise for him. Her family owned a chain of gyms and he had free membership. Not just that but when Dale’s mother met him and saw what an excellent gymnast he truly was-from learning how to get into high and hard to reach places and elude and twist out of the cops control he was offered a better paying job there as an aerobics instructor, after a few basic lessons of course.

At first he was reluctant to leave his first job-especially when David had got it for him but finally he agreed because it meant he would be working beside Dale. Their relationship got closer and stronger and they even started to sleep together and Lance soon realized his true feelings for her so he started to save all the money he could spare, adding it to the money from David. Finally he took her to dinner one night and proposed to her, giving her the ring he had brought with part of the money he had saved. When she laughed and said yes he told her the other part of his surprise.”

“What was that?”
“He had sold the apartment and belongings and brought them a farm house and land.”
“The place Rick grew up and you all appeared five years ago” Anna guessed and they nodded.

“It also explains why Lance was worried so much about loosing the farm before” Steven said “part of the money used for it was David’s inheritance to him.”

“After the marriage they went on their honeymoon then moved to the land. It was on the plane over there that Dale gave him her own surprise, she was pregnant.”

“Rick” Anna said and again they nodded “and because he grew up in those teens alone he swore that he would always protect them both so he wouldn’t loose anyone else. They named the baby after Lance’s father and when there were complications in the last month he thought he would loose both. But Dale knew they would both be fine and convinced him so. Everything worked out fine so when there was signs of higher intelligence in the child from the moment he was born both didn’t worry about what it might or might not mean.”

“Being a mutant” Payton said “and one of this curse and legend. If Lance lost his parents when he was eleven how does he know about it?” Cathrine answered this with “Apparently Lance has had it drilled into him since he was born, he told us earlier. He said it was one of the first things his father taught him.”

“Both this man David and his father must have been great men,” Johnathon said to them “to have made him into this heroic soul he has become to us.”

“Of course they were” Sky said and there was another crack from his wings as he stretched them. “How could you know?”

“Two ways. First when I made Richard I saw his and his father’s life through his eyes, things he saw and knew long before you came into his life. The merge is complete; he knows my life as I know his. Second is I glimpsed his own life when I was in his mind planting that command earlier.”

“So you knew he was disabled before we did.”


“Of course. Although what you would call it I did not know.” Paul spoke out to the others “should we not prepare? We do not know what we will need and we have to get our suits and everything.”

Tommas nodded in agreement and the four left to get whatever they felt they would need. It was when Paul was trying to carry their trunk of suits to them in Sky’s room and he dropped it that they discovered something else that surprised them. The bottom inside of the trunk had a false bottom that came out when it hit the stone floor. Inside were more suits, four of them nearly folded underneath where the others had been and spilled out when the others were pulled out.

Payton pulled them out one at a time and handed them to Steven as he did, reading the names on the labels “Corin, Alex, Eagle and Sky. How did Rick know about Sky and these others let alone they joining you-Like Anna and I?”

“What about when we were in the past?” Cathrine suggested. “Tieka and her father had the ability to see the future. Maybe that time they all spent together while Johnathon was healing one of them had a vision of us all in the future and told him so he could get these suits together and ready for us.”

“Possible” Steven said “unless Johnathon saw it like he did us getting the Sword Of Virtue.” The sorcerer shook his head “No, that has never happened again. Some of us can see the future and some of us have powers in other fields.”

“It must have been Tieka and Sassel then” Paul said “although they told me once that was not allowed. They probably only told him who was joining-or showing-and what the suit would need to do.”

This made sense to them all.

Sky meanwhile rose, taking the suit Payton held for him “I may not be able to fly yet but it doesn’t mean I must stay in bed. I have been frozen in an ice wall for a few hundred years; I have had enough sleep or rest. I wish to bathe.”

“I’ll come with you and show you how to use the bath or shower,” Payton said while everyone scooted out of the room to give him privacy. “I do not need it” Sky called back from the bathroom doorway “I have Richard’s memories, remember. I know how to use it.”

“Alright then I’ll leave you. The towels are…”
“Behind the door on the rail, I know.”