Dimar: Lost Waters
(you can order a paperback copy or ebook here)

Table of Contents

Intro
Prolog

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33

Glossary
Dimar terms
Arrallin terms

Map

Lost Waters - Chapter 19

     Luuko crowded into the Water with other survivors from Telka. It was dangerous, as the Water might confuse one Telkan for another and start rebuilding each incorrectly. Luuko's cousin got a green patch of scales mixed in with his original blue ones when he had to be healed in a crowded pool after a particularly nasty day in the fire lines. He was lucky...others have been known to receive limbs in the wrong places. His cousin...he wondered if he had survived. Luuko tried not to think too loudly about the dead, or the possible trouble with the healing pool. Most of the others in the pool had severe internal injuries and would die if the Water failed. He had only a little more time to go before he could continue his healing outside the pool, and could find time to think then.

     An Ekal healer nudged him from above, requesting that he move to the left. Her mind-tone was resonant with confidence in her abilities, even as she added yet another twisted Telkan body to the pool. Luuko turned to peer at her from beneath the green-tinged water. She wore the honor silks of the first rank of the healing class for Ekal, as well as the graduate band from the Ekaokai Barryd. Ekaokai was the premier healing Barryd, and competition for space in their healing classes was intense. Luuko no longer feared for the residents of his pool, and broadcast a wide, confident beam to those in the throes of recovery.
      Luuko, we have a friend of yours here to see you. You can come out of the pool now. Your injuries are no longer critical. The voice of the healer sounded in his mind, and he wondered who he knew who may have survived the massacre and escaped enslavement.

     Curious, he popped his head above water and looked around the edge of the pool. Where? Who? Grabbing the pool ledge with his recently regenerated forelegs, he miscalculated and slipped back down into the water. Ach! It's going to take me quite some time to get used to these new limbs. I hope I don't fail your beautiful work, Healer.
      He opened his wings...one which was also completely reconstructed. Even with the disadvantage of the new, untrained wing, he could feel the Wind flowing through the Water and through the stones. He rose smoothly from the pool and set himself on the edge.

     You seem to have taken to those new wings, I see. The healer's approval was partially suffused in pride in her own craftsmanship.

     He stretched the silvery-white expanses of glossy membrane open for her inspection, noting that she had even done some color work to hide the places where new membrane had grafted itself to the old. He warbled happily, broadcasting the quality of this healing team's work to those still underway in the pools. Relieved echoes filtered back to him through the water.
      All honor and grace to you, Healer. Telka is honored by your skill, and is in your debt. Luuko bowed his head to the healer before he rose into the air to find this friend on the levels above. He wondered if he could bring Tara here to finally have her discolored side treated by a true master in a proper pool. He shook the thought from his head...now was no time to be thinking of appearances or the nila needed for luxuries.

     
      All honor and grace to you, Telka. I'm sure we can find a way to repay the debt next fire season. Our healers are good, but your Tinar ranks are the best. The healer whistled a farewell to him and turned back to her work.

     Luuko rose up through the central passage of Ekal's single spire. It was still an immature Barryd, and would develop it's second set of healing pools and second spire in the next 10 cycles, when Ekal's population had risen to the point where it needed it. He stopped at the courtyard level as instructed by the healer, and glided down the passage to the third dining hall, not sure if his new legs would be willing to walk him there. Coming down the hallway, the familiar babble of colonists caught his attention. He sped headlong down the hallway, almost bowling over one of the Ekal coming out of a side chamber.

     Into the hall, he swept up, bellowing greetings to the colonists crowded into the huge room. "Hello! Hello! Nice to see you again!" His cheerful greeting was met with less enthusiasm. Injured colonists, Arrallakeeni and humans, were laid out on tables and on the floor as other humans poured lita after lita of Water on them.

     
      "Luuko! I heard you were nearly killed..." The familiar voice of Tara made Luuko swoop in mid-hover.

     "No, Leader Tara. I survived and healed well." He stretched his wings a little wider, trying to show the greenish patches. He landed, chiding himself inwardly for this silly sympathy ploy, realizing that without use of full Water pools, the colonists would have a much more painful times healing, if they survived the first day at all. He felt a probing presence in his mind, and quickly shielded images of the Water pools lying below the ground levels of the Barryd. Ekal knew from discussions with the Great Mother that there was great concern about the colonists knowing about the Water, even if they did become full Barrydmates eventually. He tried not to think about the Great Mother, dragged aloft by her throat by one of the winged, armored Mulkol death vehicles while still holding her position guiding the defense of Telka. Something inside of him pulled at him, wanting to review the images. Maybe there was something he had missed...some clue that could help them rescue her before she was executed. The image of her, frozen with concentration even as the tractor arms jabbed barbs through her throat to get a firm grip pushed itself into his mind. He hung his head down unconsciously, feeling guilt at his own inability to dislodge the barbs. Her firm commands still rung in his mind, cluttered with the echoes of hundreds of other orders ringing out from her to all Telkans, but as he grabbed the barbs, they reacted to him, dissolving his flesh. He worked fervently with Tewi and Liur, exactly as she had instructed, but she was still dragged up into the ship and out of mind-reach. He was still alive when the Mulkol peeled him off the side of the ship and cast him toward the sea, but Tewi and Liur were dead. He remembered how he had half-consciously caught the wind, following the only safe path he knew to Ekal's border.

     Tara was staring up at him intently, looking sad. He shook away the thoughts, cursing himself for having so much trouble pushing them away. He had the colonists to think of now.

     "She's still alive, isn't she." Tara patted his neck and stroked his mane soothingly.

     "Yes." Luuko sighed, marveling at the colonists' ability to sense trouble just through bodily expression. "She will be killed, and Mulkol's Great Father will claim Telka as his own."

     "When is this going to happen, or is it too late?" Tara looked off into the distance with that peculiar look of hers, and Luuko felt his hope rise.

     "No, no...it won't happen for two days. It's a big ceremony, the transferring of Barryd leadership, and usually takes place when a Leader is old and about to die naturally. They'll take their time with this. They've been waiting for this day since the other Barryds went Starborn. Telka has always been a thorn in their side, and they've been wearing us down for hundreds of dozens of cycles." Luuko waited for Tara's reply anxiously.
      "I don't have enough information...can you get me schematics of the Mulkol complex? Can we get in there, get her and get out?" Tara strode over to one of the colony hovercars, now working as a medical power station for the humans' healing and monitoring equipment.
      "We can give schematics to Harmon...and Ekal's craftspeople can make real representations of Mulkol for you." Luuko regretted now more than ever that Tarrin had been lost defending the Alpha pairs. He was Inner Circle, and would not pose as much of a security threat as Harmon. He sent a hurried request out to the Craftsmaster of Rank First Ekal to commission the schematics of Mulkol in some visual form for the colonists, disturbing him as he worked. Echoing and understanding the nature of the situation from Luuko's excited tone, the Rank First sent back an abrupt agreement.
      "Have them start right away. I need to know more about Mulkol custom in these situations. We've got small size and plasma firepower to our advantage, and with luck, we'll even have the Pride back..." Tara stopped, glancing at the burnt out communications console in the hovercar. "Damn..."
      "I can reach Kiralla, if she's still on this side of the space hole, Tara." Luuko reached out the moment he realized what Tara was looking for. "And the artisans have begun creating a visual model of Mulkol for you. It will be ready by morning."