Dragon in the Dark (Kindred Tales)

FIFTY-FIVE

“Warrior, listen to me—your fate hangs in the balance and it is almost too late to avoid disaster.”

Dra’vik jerked and nearly knocked his horns against the golden metal side of his ship.

He was loading it up, getting ready to do a long-distance scouting sweep of the far side of the universe. It was a trip he had volunteered for when Chief Commander Rarev had asked for warriors to be scouts. He was hoping it would clear his head of Iyanna—because so far, nothing else had helped him stop thinking of the curvy little Elite.

“Who…who is that?” he asked, looking around the Docking Bay in confusion.

“The same one who warned you that your female was in danger at the spaceport of Lix’dor Prime. The same one who saved you from death and caused your secondary heart to start pumping—the one who healed you that you might save her again from despoilment. Do you still not know me?” the voice demanded.

“Goddess?” Dra’vik asked hoarsely. He had heard of the Goddess speaking to others—but he had never put much stock in such tales. And somehow he had never connected the idea of the all-knowing deity that all Kindred worshiped with the little voice that had spoken to him twice during his mission to Lix’dor Prime.

“Yes, it is I—the Mother of All Life,” the voice answered, confirming his thoughts. “Warrior, I am most seriously displeased with you! Do you think I saved your life in order to watch you drive away the female I chose for you and lose her forever?”

“But…but Goddess…” he began, but then the weight of her displeasure fell upon him. It felt like a heavy pressure—an intolerable burden—pressing down on his shoulders.

Though Dra’vik was immensely strong, he was no match for the divine anger. He stumbled and fell to his knees, his head bowed in anguish and pain.

“Goddess, forgive me!” he cried. “Don’t crush me with your anger! I know I drove Iyanna away but it was because I couldn’t give her the life she wanted. All I could offer her was something she didn’t want or need!”

“How do you know what she did or did not want when you did not even have the courage to tell her what bonding with you would entail?” the Goddess thundered. “You simply assumed that she would reject you and so you took the coward’s way out and rejected her first, to spare yourself pain!”

Dra’vik knew that she was right. He had been a coward—he had hurt Iyanna to avoid letting her hurt him. It was a truth he had avoided facing until now but when the Goddess herself pointed it out, he could no longer deny it.

“Yes,” he whispered, bowing even lower. “Yes, I was a coward. Yes, I hurt Iyanna to avoid pain to myself. I have acted most shamefully, Goddess—please, forgive me!”

At once he felt the terrible pressure that had been bearing down on him ease considerably.

“I am glad to hear you acknowledge your mistakes, Warrior,” the Goddess said, sounding less angry.

Dra’vik dared to look up—though of course there was nothing to see. The Goddess rarely manifested herself visibly to her people, though her presence was all around him.

“What must I do to make things right?” he asked raggedly. “I will do anything you ask of me, Goddess. I love Iyanna with all my heart—I was wrong to push her away.”

The last of the pressure bearing down on him disappeared as he further admitted his guilt and his feelings for Iyanna.

“There is little time,” the Goddess told him. “Even now she stands at the altar, ready to be Joined to another. You must go to her and interrupt the Joining before it is too late.”

Dra’vik could barely believe what she was saying.

“She’s getting Joined to another? Who?” he demanded, feeling a possessive growl rising in his throat. “Is it that no-good ex-fiancé of hers? The one who refused to pleasure her properly?”

“The very same,” the Goddess agreed. “He is not worthy of her—neither are you, Warrior, but you at least will strive to be worthy. Iyanna is special—a Viridi Femma—she is the one I have chosen to help you carry on the line of the Drake Monstrum.”

“But what if I interrupt her Joining ceremony and talk to her and tell her what happens when we bond and she tells me she doesn’t want that? Doesn’t want me?” Dra’vik asked, speaking his biggest fear.

“It is a chance you must take, Warrior.” The Goddess’s voice was stern. “I do not promise you that she will accept you, I am only giving you a chance—this one chance—to win her back. If you refuse it, you will not be given another.”

Dra’vik didn’t even have to think about it.

“I’ll take it!” he said quickly. “What must I do, Goddess?”

“Get into your ship and leave the Mother Ship,” the Goddess instructed. “Fly into the wormhole I will provide for you. It will take you directly to a landing area outside the house of worship where the Joining Ceremony is taking place. You must not hesitate an instant—go directly inside and stop the ceremony. If you wait even a moment, it will be too late.”