34. Chapter 34
"I just want to convey my deepest apologies and promise to make this right any way I can," Weidenhof opened after stepping out of the portal. Crates of gifts followed him. Medicine, over which Lexi exclaimed, food including MRE rations, and a mix of gifts like fire starters, chem lights, clothing with the IC emblem on it, and so on.
He introduced the other man with him. "This is General Keller, General Connolly's successor. I swear I had no idea what General Connolly did or had been planning. The entire incident a few days ago had been done without my consent or knowledge."
"So you didn't send anyone to kidnap Doctor Bauer?" Amber asked, keeping her voice even, but I knew her well enough by now that she was seething underneath her cool surface.
We had agreed that it would be better to let Amber do the talking and translating for us to make Weidenhof believe I didn't speak English. The translating was more for Dzar-Ghan's benefit and our First Blades, who were also present.
"I would love nothing more than to see and speak with Doctor Bauer. I was very happy when I heard he was still alive," Weidenhof said, shaking his head and looking adequately serious and honest.
Dzar-Ghan's low grunt next to me expressed that he didn't believe a word Weidenhof said despite not understanding what was said, or maybe because of it. He was reading Weidenhof's and Keller's body language.
"Well, perhaps we can arrange a meeting since we are all friends now," Amber lured.
"That would be a great show of mutual trust," Weidenhof agreed. "What can we do in return?"
Amber cleared her throat. "In return? First, these trinkets." She pointed at the crates Lexi was unpacking. "Aren't even close enough to make up for the loss of life and injuries sustained on the Vandruk site after Connolly's attack. Did you know that opening your little portal resulted in a quake of unimaginable proportions on Vandruk and cost the lives of thousands of Vandruk women?"
I had wanted to keep that information back, but Amber had assured me that Weidenhof would find out sooner or later and that it would seem more forthcoming if we filled Weidenhof in.
"I'm terribly sorry." Weidenhof's eyes widened, and his expression was one of appropriate disbelief. But behind the fa?ade, I noticed a quick-working mind, one that was already calculating the benefits of our tragedy .
"Secondly, the Vandruks asked for a cave expert to open the place where their women were buried alive."
"Of course, of course," Weidenhof mumbled. "As a matter of fact, I already have the perfect person for that."
"Thirdly," Amber didn't relent. "The Vandruks are asking for more of women volunteers to continue their lines."
"Absolutely. You know we have plenty of volunteers, Doctor Wayland." Weidenhof watched Amber carefully, and I willed her not to react to his bait of him calling her by her sister's title.
"I do," she responded coolly, swallowing whatever emotions Weidenhof's words created inside her. "Good, this will go far in renewing some trust with the Vandruks."
Weidenhof raised his hands. "Whatever I can do to make up for these atrocities. Will they allow another scientific team onto their planet in return?"
"Let's start with you showing us your goodwill and go from there," Amber deflected his request.
"As you wish. Anything else?"
Amber handed him our list. His eyes barely assessed it. "That seems reasonable. It will be done. Shall we reconvene in about a week?"
"You have three days," Amber pushed.
"That will be hard to do, but… I will see what I can do," Weidenhof agreed gravely.
We watched him and Keller, who hadn't said a word, return to their side of the portal. The red fog reappeared, and Dzar-Ghan turned to me. "What do you think? "
"The same as you. He's full of promises and will try to take everything from us," I replied darkly. "Are you alright, Amber?"
Her mask of friendliness had come off and was replaced by sheer fury. "That bastard. He was lying through his teeth from start to finish. He called me Dawn! He pretended like he didn't know when it was him threatening me before I left." She laughed dryly. "The balls on that man." Shaking her head, she took a deep breath. I wasn't sure what she was trying to say, but I waited for her to regain her composure.
"He thinks I tricked you into believing that I'm Dawn, so he let me know he is willing to play my game as long as I play ball with him."
I didn't get some of her words… play ball? But I let her rant, sure I would understand sooner or later what she was implying.
She took another deep breath, and slowly, her composure returned. "He is trying to blackmail me. If I keep quiet about him being in the know of the attack on you, he will stay quiet and make everyone believe I'm Dawn."
Dzar-Ghan looked confused, and I filled him in on Amber's backstory about her sister and Weidenhof. Thoughtfully, he looked at Amber. "You think you can continue playing his game?"
"Oh I can." She nodded. "The bastard has no idea who he is playing with."
"If what you told me about your technology is true, I'm sure he'll figure it out," I warned.
"That he will, but he will think I'm still playing by civilized rules. "
"Remind me not to get on her bad side." Dzar-Ghan's eyebrows arched when I filled him in.
"We need to talk to Tzar-Than," Amber suggested.
I wasn't sure how Tzar-Than would react about us starting negotiations without him, but with the number of Khadahrs on Vandruk, he had to realize that many of us would start our own talks. Something Amber had warned we needed to organize and centralize. She mentioned something about Native Americans from Earth and how part of their downfall had been sped up by them warring amongst each other and not unifying until it was too late. She cited other races throughout Earth's history that didn't mean anything to me, like the Welsh and Scotts, but her warning was clear.
"We will call a Gathering of Khadahrs where we will discuss this," I promised.
"The timing is bad. After I find the proof I need against Bzun-Lhan, Vandruk will be in an uproar," Dzar-Ghan warned.
"Can't you hold off on this?" I suggested.
He shook his head. "It's already set in motion. Too many lives are at risk," he said ominously.
I sighed. The timing was indeed bad.
"To show that I stand with you and Tzar-Than, I will mate the first human gallis who walks through the fog in three days," Dzar-Ghan reiterated his earlier promise. "But I'm asking you to call in a Gathering of Khadahrs in a month's time."
Weidenhof had promised another hundred gallies to join us in three days. I had no idea how he would find that many so quickly, but Amber hadn't seemed surprised, mumbling something about a standby, just in case the plan went haywire . She had mentioned earlier that there were thousands of human gallies ready to volunteer to become mates for us Vandruks, a number that still blew my mind because it was the answer to all our prayers and hopes to save our species before it was too late. I gathered that Weidenhof probably had several gallies waiting to come to Vandruk on short notice to appease us in case his little plot didn't go as planned.
To my surprise, the one and only thing Dzar-Ghan had asked for was a human who could open the cave for us. I knew it was important for us to lay our dead to rest finally, but they had been waiting for over a decade, so I didn't see the urgency in his request now. However, it was clear Dzar-Ghan was working on a plan that required perfect timing.
He hadn't asked for my support or anything other than to spread the word about calling a Gathering of Khadahrs, which I would do for him. Everything else we would have to see. It seemed as if a war between us Vandruks was inevitable, but I wouldn't directly support anything to speed it up unless there was a very good reason for it.
I had promised Amber that we would be mated when we reached the red fog, and I was annoyed that Bzun-Lhan had refused to do it.
We didn't need a priest; all I had to do was to announce Amber as my khadahrshi, which I had already done, but it still would have been nice to have our union blessed by the gods. Or so I thought, until I realized it was already blessed by Vorag. His many signs were irrefutable. I supposed having our union blessed by a priest was more in my head than anything—something I would need to work on. I still saw the priests as our mediators between the gods and us, but that they hadn't always been, only in recent years. We needed to return to our roots.
More warriors arrived, led by two more khadahrs, who had heard about the humans' attack and decided this place needed to be fortified better, driving the point home that we really did need a Gathering of Khadahrs to organize a better system for our watches. And communication! Amber had pressed how important it was to be able to communicate fast.
I introduced Amber to the khadahrs, Tzun-Dhan and Szur-Than, who eyed her curiously. Tzun-Dhan was one of the few males blessed with a Vandruk mate and didn't raise my ire as much as Szur-Than, who eyed Amber with the hunger of a male needing a mate. I understood his desires too well, but I would keep an eye on him.
I wished Amber and I could leave. Our duty here had been fulfilled, especially with the arrival of the two khadahrs, but Amber insisted we stay until the human gallies arrived, and she was sure they would be well taken care of. I suspected she was going to plan to take several, if not all of them, with us, and I resigned myself to not only a much slower journey back to Svengrod but also a prolonged stay at the portal.
I smiled when I realized I had thought about this place as a portal, not as red fog any longer, and was thankful to Amber for taking the superstition of it away from me. It still seemed like a gateway to Daggahr to me, but good things, like my Amber, were also coming through.
It would be interesting to see all these human gallies come through in a few days. Hopefully, there wouldn't be as many conniving gallies among them as there had been with Tzar-Than's group, but I was sure Amber would be able to pick them out with no problem.
Right now, she was talking to the newcomers and Dzar-Ghan as if she had known them all her life. By the way, the males responded to her, she had already won their attention and respect. Pride filled my chest—pride in this amazing mate who had so suddenly and unexpectedly enriched my life and pride that she had chosen me.
I would do everything in my power to make her happy and never regret this decision for as long as I lived. Never had I thought I would love another like I had loved Tilliah, but meeting Amber had taught me that I hadn't known a thing about love. Sa, Tilliah and I could have been happy, and sa, I would have much preferred for her to live, but then I would have never met Amber. I would never have asked myself what I would have rather happened because it was futile. The past had happened. Many loved ones had died, and it was up to us to make the best out of our future now. A future with Amber was all I could have ever dreamed of.
And I knew deep in my heart that given a choice between Tilliah and Amber, I would always choose Amber. She was the one, my love, my life. She was every breath I took, and she was the one person I wanted to fall asleep next to every night and wake up next to every morning .
I pulled her to the side, realizing I was being rude, but I had to hold her and tell her. "I love you."
Surprised, she looked up at me. A smile parted her beautiful lips. "Is that why you pulled me away?"
I nodded. "Sa, I felt like I needed to tell you."
"You know what?" she asked, crossing her arms behind my neck. "I like that. And you know what else?"
She waited for me to ask. "What?"
"I love you too. Please feel free to pull me away anytime you want to say it."
"I will," I promised right before my lips pressed against her, sealing my oath.