Page 58 of Etched in Stone
“Possibly. You have a problem with Erlend?” Ray asked.
“You're already tired as it is. He's right. He's kinda big. I'd rather you didn't plummet to your death right before we leave.”
Ray kissed her. “I'll be careful, but just in case,” he said, pulling the sigil out of his shorts. “You hold on to this, because if something happens to me, this is probably the only way you're getting off this mountain alive.”
“But what if they transport me without you by accident?”
“Sweetheart, you just tell them to wait and come for me. Scream bloody murder. I'm sure someone will listen.”
“Right,” Jesse said half sarcastically, but Ray just smiled and took a dive off the edge of the cliff.
She was once again left alone to face the upcoming alien beam out by herself.
2 2
FR E L INR AY
It was unnerving, seeing the large man, the halfling, so close to his unprotected mate, but Ray hadn't let his first instincts color his second opinion of Erlend. He was young and stupid, but he deserved every benefit of the doubt. Ray could take him under his wing and show him the world of his father, since his own must not be able to.
Jesse was right. Ray was tired. His body begged for a stone sleep, but he was not willing to let exhaustion claim him yet. He would struggle with the large half breed until they were both on the ledge. It was the only thing he could do, penance for leaving Tas behind decades earlier. Had he known Tas was still alive, he could have returned and pulled him to safety or tried to rescue him from whatever clutches the Rose Syndicate had placed him in.
He would not, could not abandon Erlend.
Ray looked down to see that Erlend had climbed another fifty feet in his absence. He was now sitting on a small ledge, barely big enough for two Khargals. Ray fluttered down and crouched beside him. Erlend just surveyed the mountain below.
“Who is your father?”
“Faso. A bit of an old curmudgeon. Never figured out how to dial a rotary phone, nevermind a cell phone, but he was my old man.”
Ray knew him well. He was small for a Khargal, quick and light on his feet, and smart as a whip.
“Your mother must have been a very large woman,” Ray stated.
Erlend threw back his head and laughed. “I like you,” he said. “You actually have a sense of humor.”
“Where is Faso?”
“The Rose Syndicate smashed him to pieces,” Erlend responded, gritting his teeth.
Ray's heart twisted a little. “I hope that you made them pay.”
“I'm good at that,” Erlend grinned humorlessly. “You know what I suck at? Climbing mountains.
I'm a city boy. Now, I want to ask you a question. This space ship ride, is it a two way? Or a one way trip?”
Ray shrugged, but he pretty much knew the answer.
“It's my guess that after a thousand years, they're not going to just say, oops, my bad, and plop you
back down on the mountain.”
“That's what I was figuring. When I started this gig, I thought, hey, doing the world a favor. I wasn't thinking, oh yeah, I'm leaving on a space plane. Don't know when I'll be back again. I mean, I got a cat. How am I supposed to just abandon the poor thing?”
Ray nodded. “You don't want to go. I get it.”
“No hard feelings though?”
“No. In fact,” Ray said, reaching for his belt. He took off his perception filter and handed it over to Erlend. “This is a handy bit of tech. It'll keep you under cover. It only works on people, not machines and mostly from a bit further away.”
