The Rings of Hesaurun Read online

  Guyidian looked around the ship with new eyes. This new tactic was a wake-up call, a game-changer, with ominous implications. The Boecki had never acknowledged their enemies, let alone cared what they knew. But now they were taking prisoners! This change in tactics was a significant shift in methods by an enemy that, until now, never changed anything. Their arrogance precluded them from change. They were above it.

  BRU Command believed it meant the enemy was finally beginning to take them seriously, were desperate for resources—or both. It was a disturbing development when one understood there wouldn’t be a BRU without Valerie Dunne and her unique vessel, The Dreamer. Without these two assets, many of their worlds would have been destroyed a thousand years prior. Was it any wonder why The Ring Bearer was widely regarded as the savior of the galaxy?

  What worried Guyidian most was that, according to the BRU message, the Boecki knew about The Ring Bearer and was now focusing their resources entirely on capturing her— alive. He didn’t know why the enemy wanted her alive, but the thought chilled his blood. He was determined not to allow anything to happen to Valerie Dunne or her ship.

  As additional status reports came in, most were encouraging. The damage to the ship was turning out to be superficial and the crew was resuming their duties. Reassured by good news, the pressure in Guyidian’s head backed off a notch. The flickering lights continued indicating control systems were out of sync. A complete reboot would be required to reset the system. After moving to the vacant systems engineers’ workstation, Guyidian made a ship-wide announcement of his intention to do the reboot.

  “This is Commander Thetis. I am going to do a hard re-start on the power system. A reboot should solve the problem we are having with power fluctuations. In a moment, power will be off in its entirety for approximately thirty seconds. Please wait patiently while the systems restart.”

  Finishing his announcement, Guyidian pulled himself together. Although he’d done a credible job of projecting confidence, he wasn’t nearly as confident as he sounded. In truth, he was desperate to get the ship operational and off the ground. He couldn’t allow the crew to know the truth about the danger they were in, or of the uncertainty he felt.

  Guyidian considered the situation to be dire because he suspected the Boecki might have orchestrated the onboard instrument failures, controlled the ship’s deceleration, and forced a hard landing. In his mind, there could be no other suspect. It seemed the Boecki were onto them, and as long as the ship was on the ground, on a potentially-hostile planet, they were vulnerable.

  Guyidian flipped the switch, which plunged the ship into darkness for what seemed like an eternity. When Guyidian restarted the power system, lights and ship systems on the bridge sprang to life all at once. Ventilation came on, clearing smoke from the air and heat, for the ship had grown cold, causing Guyidian uncertainty about conditions outside the ship.

  ________________________

  As Valerie Dunne, The Ring Bearer, stepped onto the bridge, every head turned. The room went silent as each individual stared at her appraisingly, then the crew let out a collective sigh of relief. Everyone aboard needed assurance that The Ring Bearer was unharmed by the hard landing.

  Eyeing the crew, Valerie gave them a lopsided grin. The old woman wore a flowing gown that descended to her ankles. Her long silver hair was pulled back into her characteristic ponytail. But it was the eyes that defined The Ring Bearer; mirror-like orbs that reflected her surroundings perfectly. That alone was enough to give them confidence that everything was as it should be and that the dire situation they were in was manageable.

  The Ring Bearer was accompanied by the Proxian, Hafian Tohm, her personal aide. The hairless yellow man was immediately followed by Zena Ipekk, The Dreamer’s doctor, all of whom wasted no time turning their attention to the wounded. Meanwhile, Guyidian asked Doctor Ipekk if she could provide him with an injury report.

  “Commander, of the forty-eight aboard, we had two deaths and five seriously injured. Of those injured, three were life-threatening. But thanks to The Ring Bearer,” she said, gesturing to Valerie, “most of them have already returned to work.”

  “Who did we lose?”

  “Besides Engineer Kenzil here,” she said, motioning to the dead Tholian on the floor, “we lost Alesia Zama in engineering.”

  Poor kid! Guyidian’s mind cried out. It took a moment for the pain of losing one of The Dreamer’s newest crew members to subside. “Put them in storage; we will be taking them home with us,” Guyidian ordered, then added, “Who do we have left in engineering?”

  “Maxim and Barton,” Ipekk said dutifully, then continued. “Maxim was one of those seriously injured, although he has already returned to duty.”

  “We’re lucky we didn’t lose two of our engineers,” Guyidian exclaimed.

  “What about you? Are you hurt, Commander?”

  Wordlessly Guyidian shrugged. Ipekk noticed the Commander had a knot on his forehead and favored his right arm. She guessed the bone was broken, but the commander seemed steady enough, so she assumed for the time being that he wasn’t concussed. Zena knew Guyidian to be the sort of man to put his ship and crew ahead of himself. She allowed him that privilege knowing he would have it taken care of when the time was right.

  “I’m alright. My arm hurts, but I’ll live,” Guyidian winced, then continued without pausing. “We need to do a structural integrity assessment as soon as possible. Since we’re short on engineers, I want you to take the lead on that. Put a team together and report your findings back to me within the hour. We are vulnerable as long as we are on the ground. I want this ship off this planet as quickly as possible.”

  “Yes, Commander,” she responded, then left the bridge smartly.

  Guyidian turned his attention to The Ring Bearer, who was attending to Cresson, the injured Navari. He did so just in time to witness something he had heard about but had yet to see for himself. She was about to heal the wounded navigator.

  Perfect timing! he realized. Rumor has it that The Ring Bearer is a witch!He acknowledged that she fit the part in some ways. Certainly, her eyes met that definition, but that was about all, in his opinion. So far as he could tell, she didn’t walk, talk or act as one might expect of someone described as being a witch.

  Guyidian noticed she wore her long gray hair pulled back in a ponytail, which seemed youthful, and out of place at the same time. In his experience, powerful women wore their hair short in a more androgynous way. Maybe, he thought, that was a concession to power or the men they worked with. The same was true of the clothes she wore. Again, women of influence typically wore form-fitting clothes or uniforms, but her choice of robes was a concession to nothing and no one, and he admired her for that.

  He saw Valerie Dunne as confident, capable though serious, and pleasantly unpretentious considering her stature. He liked that she put on no airs. She was tallish for a woman and seemingly athletic for someone everyone described and an old witch. She had a reputation for staying fit, which he admired. Those who knew her well soon forgot her age, status, and position, which is how she liked it.

  Then he spotted her rings, the Five Rings of Hesaurun, one on each finger and thumb of her right hand. The sight of them reassured Guyidian. Those rings were unique, a calling card no one could duplicate. Consequently, her name was synonymous with rings, any ring at all. Everyone anywhere knew of her and those five legendary rings. Her reputation was unmatchable—yet whenever Guyidian saw those rings, they puzzled him. They just seemed so unremarkable, so crudely made—so cheap, he thought.

  He was pretty sure the rings’ recycle value was virtually nothing. They looked worthless. Rather than gold or silver, they appeared to be made of copper or bronze and were devoid of decorations and precious stones. He guessed that no one would bother bending over to pick them up if they found them lying on the ground. Although modest, in a way, they fit her because she was modest, too. That modesty was the one feature that made her unique in a world where people
fought for prominence. Guyidian liked that about her.

  In his opinion, the only physicality of any note was Valerie Dunne’s eyes. Many people feared her because of them. While her face had soft feminine features, those dark mirrors of reflected images for eyes disturbed everyone until they became used to them. More than a few were intimidated, even fearful, when seeing themselves reflected in her gaze. Some referred to her as a witch, others an oracle, but Guyidian knew those opinions had no basis in reality. With so many believing one’s eyes are windows to the soul, it was no surprise to him that many saw her as a witch.

  Guyidian stood back warily, watching as the Praxian Hafian Tohm spoke softly to Cresson. The Navarian was still immersed in its strange hibernation, keening in a low-pitched tone. He wondered if Tohm knew that he was in mortal danger if he startled her. As Guyidian was about to warn Tohm, the keening stopped, the Navari luminesced and opened her eyes.

  “It’s okay, Cresson,” Tohm quietly reassured her, then helped ease her to the floor until she was comfortable, in a resting position. Once he had her relaxed, Tohm asked her a few questions, then stood and faced The Ring Bearer.

  “She says she impacted against something sharp when the ship set down. She is in a good deal of pain. I think there is internal damage,” he said, pointing to the affected area. Then added, “And there may be internal bleeding.”

  Valerie squinted at the Navari, then nodded. She knelt beside the prone creature, whispering something undetectable to the onlookers, then took her time locating the wound with her hands. Then the navigator closed her eyes and tried to relax. To those watching, it seemed as if the two were praying together.

  What does she know about Navarian anatomy? Guyidian thought.Although it probably doesn’t matter. She isn’t a doctor, and what happens next isn’t likely to have anything to do with medicine anyway. But this should be good.

  Again the Rings of Hesaurun flashed into Guyidian’s field of vision. There they are, all five of them on her right hand, he thought excitedly. His eyes were riveted to them, his heartbeat quickened, and breaths came fast and shallow, anticipating, believing he was about to see something extraordinary. Maybe they will glow or something. He didn’t know what to expect. But one thing was sure; he was about to be party to something others only heard rumors of—witnessing The Ring Bearer’s magic and the Rings of Hesaurun in action.

  Gently Valerie Dunne pressed her hands into Cresson’s chest. Guyidian was vaguely aware that she whispered something. Suddenly the room shimmered as if a desert mirage swept through the room, enveloping everyone there and carrying them away. Guyidian felt he was inside a moving bubble that was completely out of his control. It seemed as if time had come to a screeching halt, stopped, backed up a while, turned around, then charged forward again. His mind spun; he felt dizzy for a moment—and just like that, it was done.

  Guyidian blinked and rubbed his eyes. It happened so fast he wondered if he had missed something. Valerie moved a hand to Cresson’s head as her eyes fluttered open. When their eyes met, Valerie smiled warmly. The Navari ran digits from all six appendages over the affected area as if to be certain The Ring Bearer hadn’t missed something. When she was sure everything was as it should be, Cresson scrambled to her feet and nodded graciously. Guyidian guessed that if the Navari had human lips and hearing organs, she would have been smiling ear-to-ear.

  “How do you feel?” Valerie asked.

  “Strange,” Cresson responded, her voice a highpitched chirp. “But it feels like nothing ever happened! Nothing at all!”

  Valerie smiled, then turned her attention to commander Guyidian. “You’re right,” she said to Cresson while gazing at him with a wry twinkle in her eyes. “Nothing happened.” However, her penetrating gaze stayed where it was, those dark pools of obsidian locked directly on the Commander’s eyes. What she saw there he couldn’t know. For a fleeting moment, he felt like a child and remembered the warmth of his mother’s embrace—and shivered.

  Guyidian wanted to know how The Ring Bearer had healed the Navari, and she seemed to know that! He sensed she had given him a valuable clue as to how she had done it, but there was more—a strong sense of déjà vu. It wasn’t like he had relived witnessing Cresson healed by The Ring Bearer. No, it wasn’t that. It was her saying, “You’re right, nothing happened.” Guyidian was certain he had heard her say those words to him before. But when?

  Allegories and rumors, thought Guyidian, realizing he had personally witnessed what many considered nothing more than fantastic stories. Regardless of the circumstances, he regarded the experience as a privilege, counting himself lucky to have seen it. But he couldn’t shake the feeling of déjà vu. Did she know his thoughts, or had she merely picked up on his emotions?

  Guyidian’s thoughts were interrupted by a message from Ipekk, who was outside the ship with an inspection team evaluating the ship’s hull.

  “Commander, do you have visual outside the ship? You might want to see this.”

  “Give me a moment to bring it up,” he said as he switched on exterior monitors. “Got it, I can see you. Is there a problem?”

  Guyidian’s eyes scanned the monitors. Ipekk stood alongside three crew members wearing cold-weather gear. The wind wrestled with their clothing as they continued working with hand-held instruments pressed against the hull.

  “Nothing significant,” Ipekk hollered over the howling wind. “The hull looks good so far. I just wanted you to know there are people out here.”

  People out there? Guyidian’s heart leaped in his chest. Horrified, he imagined waves of four-armed Boeckian raiders swarming toward the ship. Was his worst fear being realized?

  “How many?” he managed to ask.

  “Just a couple. They seem to be humanoid, about two hundred yards out on the port side. One of them is building a shelter. The area around the ship has been entirely cleared of vegetation by our landing. You should have no problem seeing them. It seems odd to me anyone would build a shelter so close to the ship.”

  “Do they appear dangerous?”

  “I don’t think so; they look like primitives to me. They’ve built a small fire. One of them is lying down while the other, a boy perhaps, is working on the shelter. Can you see them?”

  As Guyidian panned the cameras, he saw the barren landscape and was shocked at the destruction there. He had never considered what would happen if a ship the size of The Dreamer tried to land. The Dreamer was a starship intended to space dock, not land planetside. The ground had been cleared in every direction as if a tremendous blast had occurred. The question of Could the ship be safely landed? had been answered succinctly enough. But so had the question of What would happen if you tried it?

  “I can see them now,” Guyidian observed. “You’re right, that does seem odd—but don’t let that slow you down. Complete your scan. We’ll keep an eye on them from here.”

  “Thank you, Commander,” Ipekk said, then went back to work with her team.

  “That man is injured,” Guyidian heard Valerie say over his shoulder. “I am going outside to see if I can help them.”

  Going outside? Woman, are you mad??Guyidian’s first impulse was to lash out at her for wanting to do something so foolhardy. But he caught himself in time to stop from saying something he would later regret.

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” He said to her, carefully measuring his words. In his opinion, it was a fool’s errand. The Ring Bearer was far too important to be wandering around outside the ship in a snowstorm. What was she going to do, drop in on the natives for tea?

  “We don’t know if they are dangerous,” he continued. “And there could be wild animals in the area. I recommend against it.”

  “I’m sure,” Valerie responded with a note of finality.

  I’m sure? What kind of answer is that? Guyidian was baffled by her response. Was she sure they were dangerous or that there were wild animals out there?

  In a flash it hit Guyidian: he couldn’t stop her, it was her s
hip, and it was his duty to follow her orders, no matter how dangerous or ridiculous those orders might seem. She had made her mind up, and this wasn’t the first time he’d heard that tone in her voice. Arguing with her was pointless, so he relented.

  “Alright,” said Guyidian reluctantly, “but armed security personnel will be accompanying you.”

  Guyidian worried she would refuse his recommendation but was relieved when she didn’t object. “Mr. Tohm,” she finally said without taking her eyes from Guyidian, “let’s take a look at the Commander’s shoulder before we go.”

  Guyidian let loose a heavy sigh. Great. I should have expected she’d notice my injuries. Oh well, let’s get it over with. Tohm asked him a few questions, checked the lump on his forehead, and probed his upper arm. Guyidian winced in pain at the Proxian’s touch.

  “The Commander’s head wound seems superficial, but I suspect the upper humerus has a break.”

  “Would you like to be seated, Commander?” Valerie asked attentively.

  Guyidian shrugged. “Yes, thank you,” he said, flashing a smile as he eased into a chair.

  “Alright. Relax and stay still; I’ll do the rest,” Valerie said soothingly.

  The Commander shrugged, then complied. He considered the opportunity to be healed by The Ring Bearer too good to be true. This was a story he was sure would be worth telling his grandchildren.

  Guyidian immediately felt drawn in by the healer’s eyes, which remained mirror-like as she softly touched his injured arm. Just then, he realized it was a first; she had never touched him before. As she leaned in close to him, he caught her scent as she whispered—

  “I know you want to know how it’s done, so I am going to tell you. But you must promise to tell no one; it will be our secret. Alright?”

  Guyidian’s eyes widened. How did she know? He nodded wordlessly, his mind still on her fragrance and the warmth of her touch, which he found unexpectedly sensual. Until that moment, he had never thought of her that way.