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 24

     Rakal stretched luxuriously and rolled on his back. Kiralla was curled, sound asleep, with her tail over her nose, but he could still see her faint smile through the downy fur. Rakal lay there for a moment, regarding her as she slept. The blood from Landry was still caked on her paws and muzzle.
      The approach klaxon broke the quiet moment. Kiralla awoke with a start and leapt straight to her feet. "The jump gate! Time to get back to work. I trust, Rakal, that your team had the good sense to secure the crew of this tub? I doubt now that Landry is gone that they'll be particularly keen on us deploying the gate crasher."
      Rakal chuckled at her discomfiture knowing his crew had already made quick work of the demoralized Arrallakeeni left on the ship. Faking nervousness, he reached for his uniform helmet. "Sidal? Is the Dark Hope secure?" he used an uncertain tone that brought Kiralla's furious gaze toward him. The comm crackled to life. "Yes sir. Crew quarters have been sealed, and the gate crasher is being checked for final deployment." Rakal faked a sigh of relief and she moved toward him to scold. Raising a paw in playful defense, he chided her, "You don't always have to do everything yourself, you know. Some of us are fairly competent." Kiralla laughed.
      "You're one lucky bastard. God is in the details, as the humans say." She tinkered with the broken door lock and it opened with a whoosh. She grabbed a piece of what had been part of Landry's uniform and wrapped it tightly around Rakal's injured leg, tying it in a knot. "Sanitary? No. But effective. We'll get you to med lab after we crash the gate."
      Rakal ignored the pain in his foot and worked with his helmet. "Thank you Sidal...Have you had any communication with the colony?" He removed the comm piece from his helmet and looped it over one ear..
      :"No sir. Nothing at all."
      "Kiralla..." He bounded after her on three legs. "Time to use your little gift, eh?"
      She glanced back at him, "Well, I've used your little gift all up. I guess I'll have to use mine now." She laughed and continued ahead.
      "Hey!" Rakal grabbed her tail with his teeth and gave it a tug, still swooning a little from her musky smell. She ignored him...she was concentrating.
      "I don't know if I have the range for this, but someone there, if they're listening, can make up the difference." She stopped suddenly, and Rakal skidded to a halt behind her. She stared blankly at the wall, as if listening. "I've got someone. Ekayim Barryd, a healing place to the north. I've got the second acolyte on. There's been a war...Telka and Mulkol. Telka lost about half it's population...Mulkol won, but the 'Archs were killed. Tara is alive...she's recovering but not fully conscious." She paused, and stopped relaying, but continued talking as if to someone in the room. "They fear the Barryds are lost? I don't know what you mean. Can you explain that?" The sound of her tail swishing from side to side was the only noise in the corridor as she listened to some unseen voice. "Thank you....Yes, we're going to close the space hole...yes... thank you...BYE!" She growled.
      "What a bunch of yammerers. You get 'em started and they just don't shut up. I just don't understand what they're talking about. How do you lose a damn city? Fuzz lizards. And, if the leaders are dead, then Mulkol did lose, if you ask me." She gave Rakal a playful bite on the nose. "Tara's alive, as are many of the colonists, and the other Arrallin pairs are currently the guests of Ekal, and are fine. If Mulkol is 'lost', whatever that means, it won't be any more trouble to us."
      She continued on down the hallway and into the lift. "Cargo 2". The gravity lightened as they moved toward the center of the rotating ship.
      "I'd rather take my chances on Dimar than have this litter end up just another addition to the fleet crews." Rakal fiddled with the bandage on his leg.
      "Agreed." Together they strode into the cargo bay, greeted by the throaty rumbles and cheers of Arrallakeeni waiting for them.