Quest for the Moon Orb: Orbs of Rathira Read online

  Suddenly the door burst open, startling Karma into breathing at last. She stared as a tall, dark haired man with pale blue eyes marched into the room. He wore a red pleated kilt low on his hips, leather sandals and an open leather vest. The pleats of the kilt were split from the middle of his thighs to his knees, the bottom edges of each pleat trimmed in gold so that they swung with each step he took. His sandals were dark leather with thick soles, and long ties that wrapped around his calves. The vest was dark like the sandals, and decorated with myriad symbols. The man also wore wide bands of gold around his wrists, and a golden torc around his neck.

  Karma had seen naked men before. Not many, but enough that she knew what they looked like. Aside from a normal curiosity about the opposite sex when she’d been a teenager, she’d never felt much one way or the other about men’s bodies. Some were nicer to look at than others, but she’d never had a physical reaction to seeing a man before.

  Until now. As she watched the man enter the room, the long, hard muscles of his legs flowing beneath the smooth, golden brown skin, she felt something in her belly tighten. Her mouth went dry as she gazed at the broad shoulders, the arms bulging with muscle, the flash of flat brown nipples displayed when the vest shifted as he walked. She raised her eyes to his face and very nearly gasped aloud. Never in her life had she thought of a male as beautiful before. Until now. There was simply no other word to describe this man. In her eyes, beautiful was the only word that came close.

  He had a strong, masculine face with a wide, sensuous mouth, sculpted cheekbones and a bold, straight nose. Karma’s eyes lingered on his mouth for a long moment, but it was the eyes that really captured her attention. His golden tan skin and thick black lashes intensified their pale blue color so that they nearly glowed, capturing Karma’s gaze as though hypnotizing her. It wasn’t until the man lowered himself to one knee before King Rhobar and bowed his head that she realized she’d been staring.

  She jerked her eyes from the man and focused hard on King Rhobar instead, mortified by her reaction. Fortunately, the man was far too intent on his own business to have noticed Karma at all.

  “Rise, my son,” King Rhobar said as he moved toward the young man. The man rose to his feet in a graceful and practiced motion and stepped forward to clasp arms with King Rhobar

  “Father, I returned as quickly as I could,” the man said. “What news of my sister?”

  “None as yet,” King Rhobar replied. “Bredon leads two Hunter groups in pursuit.”

  “The runner told me that the evil ones used off-world machines that travel at impossible speeds,” the man said with barely controlled anger. “Bredon has no chance of catching them.”

  “No, he does not,” King Rhobar admitted. “However, Captain Singer brought shifter men who can fly like birds. They also hunt.”

  The man’s jaw clenched tightly as he seemed to struggle with himself. After a moment he turned to face Captain Singer and bowed shortly. “Your assistance is appreciated,” he said tightly.

  Captain Singer bowed her head. “I have done nothing, Prince Zakiel,” she said. “However, if any can find and return Princess Kapia, the Gryphons can, and will.”

  Karma sensed that the Prince was not altogether pleased, and it wasn’t only because his sister had been kidnapped. He didn’t seem to like either Captain Singer, or the idea that her help had been needed.

  “I will take my Hunters and follow Bredon,” Prince Zakiel said, turning back to King Rhobar.

  King Rhobar stared at his son for a long moment before replying. “As you wish,” he said finally. “Before you go, I would speak with you alone.”

  Prince Zakiel hesitated so briefly that Karma nearly missed it. Then he raised his left fist to his forehead and bowed. “As my King commands,” he said.

  “Captain Singer, if you would be so kind as to open the door, Talet will be pleased to show you to the dining hall,” King Rhobar said without taking his eyes off of his son.

  “Of course, Highness,” Captain Singer said. She bowed briefly, then gestured silently to Karma before leading the way to the door. The Sphin stood up and stretched slowly, then glanced at Karma over one shoulder before turning around to follow her out of King Rhobar’s Audience Chamber.

  Chapter 1

  Karma sat at a low table in the palace dining room, ignoring the plate of food in front of her for the more interesting view of the room around her. She felt as though she’d stepped into the pages of a history book, albeit one that was slightly confused as to what culture it depicted. For the most part, the room reminded her of Ancient Egypt, especially the brightly painted murals on the walls, though there were oddities.

  There were only a few other people in the informal dining area, mostly guards, attendants, clerks and other palace workers, which suited her fine. She’d slept poorly the night before, and had awakened just at dawn. She’d been surprised to see Nikura curled up on a large cushion in the guest room she’d been given to share with Captain Singer. After dressing quickly and splashing some water on her face from a pitcher and bowl left for that purpose, Karma had quietly left the room, careful not to disturb Captain Singer.

  Nikura had followed her, but she hadn’t minded. Especially after she realized that he knew his way around the palace quite well. Her sense of direction was notoriously bad, so having a guide, even if it was an oversized cat with an oversized attitude, was very helpful.

  After wandering up and down many long corridors with what seemed like miles of paintings, carvings and murals, Karma asked Nikura to take her somewhere that she could eat. Once she got some food and found a place to sit, her mind returned to the problem it had been worrying at all night. Why was she here?

  After the Gryphons had returned to the palace with the rescued Princess the previous afternoon, there had been an impromptu celebration. Karma had met the Princess briefly before the girl had begged to be excused. She looked dusty, battered, and very tired, which was certainly understandable. No one minded when she slipped away a few minutes after the party began.

  King Rhobar had invited the Gryphons to remain on Rathira as his guests for as long as they wished, in return for rescuing his daughter. But the Gryphons had politely declined, agreeing to stay only the night.

  So, with only one night to figure out why she’d been drawn to Rathira, Karma had nearly panicked. How could she leave without knowing why she was there? It wasn’t like any other world where she could stay for awhile, then catch the next transport off-world whenever she was ready to leave. There were no transports on Rathira. Only a tiny handful of people on this world were even aware of the concept of travel among the stars, let alone the interstellar alliance known as the Thousand Worlds. Rathira did not have technology. No vox, no vid terminals, no ground-cars, transports, or food regenerators. There were no tele-fabricators, healing tanks, bone annealers, or age controls. If she didn’t leave with the Gryphons, she’d be stuck here until the next Welfare ship visited. That could be months, perhaps years. She had to figure out why she was here, and she had to do it fast. Time was running out.

  “Your pardon, milady,” a young voice said from behind her. She turned to see a boy wearing gray palace livery bowing to her.

  “Yes?” she asked.

  “King Rhobar requests your presence in his private sitting room, if you please,” he said nervously, his large dark eyes darting back and forth between her and the Sphin who sat beside her.

  “All right, thank you,” Karma replied. She took a last sip of her drink, put her napkin on the table and stood up.

  “Shall I show you the way?” the boy asked.

  “Nikura?” she asked the giant cat.

  “It is not necessary,” he replied.

  “Thank you, we can find our own way,” Karma said to the boy. The boy bowed again, unable to hide his immense relief as he glanced at Nikura once again before hurrying away.

  “Why is that boy afraid of you?” she asked Nikura.

  “As I am unable to converse
with him, I cannot tell you,” Nikura replied.

  Karma frowned at him, his wide innocent eyes convincing her of his guilt, but of what she didn’t know. She reminded herself that she was not responsible for the Sphin, or his behavior, just because he followed her around .

  “Let’s not keep King Rhobar waiting,” she said. She followed Nikura as he led the way through the palace to King Rhobar’s personal quarters. He paused at the door and glanced over his shoulder at her.

  “Since you are the only one of the two of us to possess opposable thumbs, I believe you should be the one to open the door,” Nikura said.

  “Shouldn’t we knock first?” Karma asked nervously.

  Nikura’s tail twitched irritably as he stared at her in silence.

  “Fine.” Karma reached for the door latch, hesitated a moment, and slid it back. As soon as the latch was released Nikura pushed against the door with his shoulder and entered the room.

  “Rude cat,” Karma muttered, following him into the room and closing the door behind her.

  “I am not a cat,” Nikura said. “Whatever a cat may be. I keep telling you that, but it doesn’t seem to stick. Are you deliberately ignoring me?”

  “No,” Karma replied in a hushed voice, glancing around the large, rectangular room. At first she thought they were alone, and wondered if Nikura had led her to the wrong place. Then she saw King Rhobar at the far end of the room, standing before a tall, narrow tapestry.

  Karma was at a loss. She didn’t know whether to wait patiently for him to notice their arrival on his own, or if she should make some further noise beyond what they’d already made upon entering.

  “I thank you for consenting to meet with me, Hara Baraka,” King Rhobar said, turning away from the tapestry.

  “Hara?” Karma asked, reaching up to tap lightly on the language transmitter in her ear, wondering if it had malfunctioned.

  “Hara is a term of respect,” King Rhobar explained, “much like Miss in your own language.”

  “Oh, thank you,” Karma replied.

  King Rhobar looked at her for a long moment, his expression unreadable, then slid his gaze to the Sphin at her side.

  “Nikura seems to have taken a liking to you,” he said, walking towards her, his footsteps echoing against the stone floor.

  “Liking?” Nikura said, one ear cocking backward.

  “I don’t think he likes me much at all, to be honest,” Karma said. “I don’t know why he keeps following me around. He says it’s because I’m able to understand him.”

  “You don’t believe that?” King Rhobar asked.

  Karma raised one shoulder in a half shrug. “I think there is some truth to what he says, or he couldn’t say it. But I don’t think it’s the only reason, or even the biggest one.”

  King Rhobar stared at Nikura for a moment. “Do you mean to say that he cannot lie to you?”

  Karma frowned, suddenly realizing what she’d said. “How about it Nikura? Is it possible for you to tell me a lie?”

  Nikura sat down, lifted one forepaw to his mouth and began licking it as though he hadn’t heard her.

  “Nikura, answer me, please,” she said.

  “No, I cannot tell you a direct lie,” he admitted with studied nonchalance. Karma knew without asking how difficult that admission had been for him.

  “He says that he can’t tell me a direct lie,” Karma said. “I have no doubt that he can make the truth do a fine dance, however.”

  “I have no doubt either,” King Rhobar said with a wry smile. “Come, let us sit and be comfortable.”

  Karma followed King Rhobar to a cozy sitting area with several deep, cushioned chairs, two sofas and small tables scattered about. He waved her toward a chair and she sat, not surprised when Nikura sat down beside her.

  “Hara Baraka,” King Rhobar began after taking the chair across from her. “I must begin by telling you that my purpose in requesting this meeting with you is to ask you to stay here, on Rathira, after your friends depart.”

  Karma took a few moments to decide how to respond to such a shocking statement. She’d spent hours trying to understand why she’d felt compelled to come to Rathira, but it had not occurred to her that she was supposed to remain here. She thought she was supposed to do something, and then go on her merry way.

  Suddenly, she remembered the words of the Spirit Guide, Riata, when she had been given the strange winged ankh.

  “It is known that your friends are very important to you, Karma,” Riata said, her voice sweet and gentle. “However, your destiny lies apart from Jasan, and the women who have come to mean so much to you.”

  Karma stared down at the ankh in her hand, torn between relief that her feelings were not so wrong, and regret at the thought of losing the only true friends she’d made in years. “I suspected as much,” she said.

  “Of course you did,” Riata agreed. “It is most important that you keep this object with you at all times, Karma. Without it, events may not unfold as they are meant to.”

  Karma sighed at the memory, then cocked her head slightly to the side as she studied King Rhobar. He looked tired. Tired and worried. She didn’t think it was because of Princess Kapia’s kidnapping either. There were deep lines of tension and worry carved into his face; around his eyes, his mouth, his forehead. Lines that had not sprung up in only one day.

  “Please, go on,” Karma said softly.

  King Rhobar returned her steady gaze with one of his own. “I do not know what the life span is of the people you come from, Hara Baraka, but here, on Rathira, my people live perhaps as long as 80 if they are healthy and well cared for.”

  “In the age we now live in, with the science and medicine available to us, we live much longer than we otherwise would,” Karma replied. “However, without those benefits, my people share a life span similar to what you describe.”

  “There are some races on this world who live longer, but humans do not. As you are familiar with such a life span, perhaps you can appreciate, or at least imagine, how long a span of a thousand years can be to us.”

  “Yes, I can easily imagine the gulf of such a span of years, Highness.”

  King Rhobar nodded solemnly. “It is rare enough for a child to know two generations of his, or her, ancestors. Even rarer to know those generations when he or she becomes an adult. To hear a story that goes back thirteen generations or more is counted as no more than a fable. It is impossible to know how much, if any, of the story’s elements are true.”

  Karma remained politely attentive, having no idea in the world what the man was talking about, but certain that he would soon explain himself.

  “A thousand years is too long,” he said, shaking his head wearily. “Too much time has passed and, with it, the truth of our world has been forgotten.”

  “What truth?”

  “The truth that we are doomed,” King Rhobar replied. “lf we do not act soon, our world, and all of the peoples who live here, everything, will come to an end.”

  “Doomed how?” Karma asked. “By what?”

  “As I told you when we first met, there is a legend that speaks of a woman who can converse with the Sphin. It is the first of three signs, and the most important. Without this woman, the demons of the otherworld, Skiatos, will overrun Rathira, devouring everyone and everything. We will cease to exist, and evil will own our world.”

  “Oooo-kay,” Karma said slowly. “And what has speaking to a ca....er...a Sphin, have to do with demons?”

  “I do not know,” King Rhobar said with obvious frustration. “Too many years have passed, too much has been forgotten and lost to the ages. I have bits and pieces only, most of which are meaningless to me. I know only that our time is short, and that your appearance, here and now, is not a coincidence. It cannot be.”

  Karma frowned as she struggled to understand what King Rhobar was talking about. “You said there were three signs,” she said after a moment. “What are the other two?”

  “The second
sign is the ability to speak for the dead,” King Rhobar replied, watching her carefully.

  Karma’s heart skipped a beat but she showed no outward sign of her feelings.

  “The third sign,” King Rhobar continued, “is the ability to draw on the power of the Ti-Ank.”

  “Ti-Ank?” Karma asked, remembering that Nikura had used that word before. “What is a Ti-Ank?” She had her suspicions, but wanted to hear what King Rhobar had to say about it.

  “Ti-Ank means roughly staff of life,” King Rhobar said, repeating what Nikura had told her the day before. “It is a device which, when wielded by the Techu, magnifies her powers.”

  “What does it look like?” Karma asked, her heart pounding so hard now that she feared it could be seen beneath her jacket.

  “The tapestry that I was looking at when you came in depicts the Ti-Ank,” King Rhobar said gesturing toward the far end of the room.” He sighed heavily and leaned back in his chair. “The Ti-Ank has not been seen for many hundreds of years, though. Without it, nothing else matters anyway.”

  Karma rose and walked down the length of the wall until she came to the tapestry that King Rhobar spoke of. She gasped softly as she gazed up at a woman who stood holding a staff with a dark blue, winged ankh headpiece. The headpiece was familiar, exactly as she had suspected. Behind the woman was a gigantic bird, so big that it filled the tapestry. It was bright red with blue markings on its face, neck, chest and wings. Its golden beak was short and sharply curved, and there seemed to be a light of intelligence in its pale blue eyes.

  What really shocked her was how much the woman in the tapestry looked like her own mother with the same golden brown skin, large green eyes and long, rippling dark hair. The biggest difference was that her mother had been delicate and gentle, whereas the woman in the tapestry looked strong and bold, like a warrior.