Stolen - Nhys Glover Page 0,76

more hindrance than help out there.

But I could direct Meida and Nial to their brother’s location. Thank God for Mind Speak!

22

LAIN

“Remember that time we went climbing with Maica, and Meida got the bright idea to throw rocks over the side?” The Theran panted out as we climbed the mountain, taking me further and further away from my podmate.

The memory brought a burst of nostalgic pleasure that surprised me, diverting me from thoughts of my brothers enjoying pleasure with our podmate while I wandered around with the unwanted intruder.

“One hit some guy lower down the mountain,” I recalled with a smile. “And we had to help get him off the peak so he could be airlifted to the medical center. Good old Meida and his stupid ideas.”

“That seemed quite sane at the time. Until they weren’t,” Rian said with a chuckle.

“Thank the heavens you were on my side most of the time, or we’d have been in even more hot water than we were,” I said, remembering the many times Rian and I sided against Meida and Nial in one fight or another.

Most people saw fraternal pods as closer than brothers, and in some ways they were. But we were also Danan, and fighting was part of our DNA. So fighting each other was the norm.

Was that what I was still doing with Rian?

I pushed the unacceptable thought away. Rian was dead. This was not my brother, no matter how he acted or what memories he brought forward for us both to enjoy.

“It must be hard, dealing with us. Your biology tells you one thing, your heart another,” Rian said reflectively.

We’d somehow come to a halt about a hundred feet above ground level. Rian had picked up a few pebbles and thrown them over, much as Meida had done with much larger stones back in the day. I watched his longer, slender fingers with horrified fascination. They were so different to Rian’s own.

“My heart isn’t the issue. My heart says you’re no longer my brother but just an echo of him,” I answered gruffly.

I wasn’t sure just how true these words were, but they were as good an argument as I could find to support my out-of-control emotional response to the Theran.

“An echo might explain my memories of our past exploits,” Rian said thoughtfully, throwing another stone over the edge. “But how does an echo initiate a search for a podmate?”

“The Theran did that,” I argued staunchly. “Your echo told him what you had last seen before death, and he acted on it.”

“An echo followed the Keeda to their ship and saw where they planned to take Jenna? Isn’t that an independent act?”

He had me there. I just couldn’t accept this other version of my brother. My heart ached from his loss. If I accepted this was him, what happened when he moved on? How could he remain for a lifetime sharing a body with another being? It was a temporary fix, built from Rian’s desperate need to save his podmate. He couldn’t continue as he was once the danger was passed.

If I let him in and then lost him again it would destroy me.

“Lain, look…” Rian said, pointing off into the sky to the west.

I followed his finger and saw a dark shadow forming on the horizon. No, it was a lot closer than that. And it shifted and changed in a way that told me it wasn’t a cloudbank. Prickles ran up and down my spine.

I’d never seen Vargeez, only heard stories of them from Savannah and her pod. When I’d said I’d hoped we’d find some, so I could work off my annoyance, I was joking. No, not a joke. I was acting out like a child, I realized with a start. Ever since we found Jenna I’d been acting like a spoiled child who hadn’t been getting his own way.

Now my wish was being granted. Be careful what you wish for…

“Vargeez!” I breathed.

“Tell me they aren’t heading this way,” Rian said, his voice high with panic I understood all too well.

“Maybe. They’re too far away to tell.”

But I knew. They were coming to me. Punishment for my selfish arrogance.

Rian lifted his makeshift staff and flexed it nervously. “We need a better spot. A flatter spot, with room for us both to fight. Back-to-back, the way we were trained to do it.”

I nodded mutely, fear having closed off my throat. My eyes wouldn’t leave the shadow growing darker with every passing moment. Getting bigger and closer with every