The soft parts of the wings that caught the wind and helped the women soar were very delicate. They could detect minute changes in resistance. It made the wings an extra sensory organ. Women liked to have those parts stroked lightly from the center outward. Even when the wings were folded, light pressure to those areas could be pleasing. It was supposed to be extremely calming.


    “You are tense, cousin,” Tyle smiled, “let us rx you.”


    I flushed hot remembering how my family used that phrase. The boys meant literally rx, though. They stroked her undamaged wing and rubbed her back. I watched her surprise fade as the gentle stimuli drove the tension from her muscles. Despite her resolve to be irritated by this, the stress of thest several days was too much. She fell asleep as Tyle’s family caressed her.


    The young men finished and moved away. I realized I’d just been staring at the interaction. I wondered if what we did would be enough to convert the opinions of any of the unbeaded women here. It would be awful if they started to take men back once they were healed.


    “You look troubled, Ciara,” Aryn said quietly approaching me.


    I was surprised when his hand came out and stroked my belly the way my family would have. The touch was gentle, just like Kein would have done. Aryn was family, though, and touch was important in the family. I smiled as the baby moved against his hand.


    “Is everything alright?” he asked.


    “The women,” I whispered to him, “I’m worried they will try to take you all back to thepounds.”


    Aryn smiled and patted my shoulder.


    “These women were sent to us by The Great Harmonious Spirit,” he said. “They have a ce in our camp now and will stand with us. Don’t worry, Ciara. Everything is happening as it should.”


    I returned the smile and put on a contented face so Aryn would move away. This seemed like a pointless argument to get into right now. The men were very set in how they viewed things.


    The stubborn part of me wanted to tell Aryn that it wasn’t a spirit that had loaded these injured women on transports and settled them here. Men from the camp had done this and I still wasn’t sure it was a good idea. Most of the unbeaded women didn’t believe The Great Harmonious Spirit existed. We had no proof the women wouldn’t turn on us once they were strong enough.


    I turned and watched our guard at the door. Kana had obviously seen the truth and was on our side. Her diligence and readiness to listen were testament of that. The rest of the unbeaded women here, I just wasn’t sure. At the moment, most were so badly injured they couldn’t fight even if they wanted to. When that changed, I wondered what would happen.


    The day dragged on and I felt more and more excited as the time passed. I could feel my connection to my family getting stronger. Still there was a… reservation resonating though the bond. Something had the men feeling ufortable as they neared home. Their happiness was tempered by this hidden concern.


    I knew the difort wasn’t a serious injury to one of them. I could begin to detect each of their individual thoughts and none were gravely injured. Even Jonathan’s signal felt strong and healthy. Bane’s arm had been cut, but stitching was holding the wound closed. Christof had a shallow gash on his head, it had bled a great deal, but needed nothing other than pressure. Neither injury was life threatening, just annoying to them. In the flurry of the infirmary, I just couldn’t concentrate on whatever was bothering them.


    The men in the main cave had quickly cleared the foreign invaders out of our living spaces. It was a relief not to have to worry about that anymore, but I felt a new anxiety I could not ce. Something was wrong and my family went back on alert, although all looked calm here. It was disconcerting.


    We still had our guard at the door, but they were more rxed. When Thom arrived with his family I hoped it was good news. It wasn’t.


    The announcement brought tears to my eyes.


    “Gunth and his Brothers have gone to rest forever with The Great Harmonious Spirit,” Thom announced as he entered. “They were attacked in the tunnels beneath the mountains. The aliens have found our hidden passages and they were lying in wait. This means our men cannot progress further without danger. They are trapped.”


    My hand flew over my mouth and a sob escaped my throat. Gunth would have done anything to protect his campmates. I had no doubt he had faced the aliens head on and never regretted doing it. He and his family had been unfailingly loyal to this world.


    Thom continued to name the killed and injured. It was an impressively long list considering how few had been lost in the main battle. The snipers in the tunnels were doing more damage than the open war had done. The men in the tunnels were trapped. They couldn’t move above ground in the mountains, because the women’s field prevented travel by men above ground in the mountains.


    “Turn off the shield!” Kana yelled suddenly. “Asper, you can ess the control through the technology here. That shield is getting the men killed! It is not protecting them. We are allowing their deaths to happen!”


    The women in the hall argued furiously around us, beaded and unbeaded. Even the badly injured managed to speak up and call out their opinions. This was a serious step for the women. That shield had been in ce for generations, turning it off was unprecedented.


    Arge woman without beads raised her head from her warm stone. She looked around at all of us before demanding ess to a pad, NOW!


    The force field in the mountains that had for so long trapped men in thepounds was turned off. Asper had essed the system that controlled the shield. She had the codes and the authority to remove it. In fact, it appeared she had the authority to remove it from most of the world.


    I watched the woman in awe as shey her head back down and rested. The men had talked about her quietly when she was brought here. After her Sisters were killed, it appeared she had single-handedly killed off a squadron of fifty aliens before she was incapacitated. The invaders had almost killed her before our men arrived.


    Asper was the toughest woman they’d ever seen. She was massive and her wing span looked huge, even folded. The powerful presence she exuded was almost palpable. If this world had a queen, it appeared she was right here. Hopefully, that was a good thing.


    I felt relief move through my bond the moment the field was turned off. The men were connected to one another and they knew it was gone. I saw a sh of light in my mind as the men shot out the roof of their tunnel and resumed their journey above ground.


    Rose and I worked through the rest of the day and part of the night. I was more than willing to keep working, but my body would not cooperate. When a stumble took me to my knees in front of Aryn, he demanded Iy down. Working to exhaustion could damage my baby. It was a good argument and I listened.This content ? 2024 N?velDrama.Org.


    The men had a small alcove at the back of the healing room. When Thom had ordered I stay in here, they’d put several mats back there for me. The warm stones were needed for the wounded. They’d created afortable ce for me to sleep, so I went there and slept.


    The next day was more of what we’d already experienced. The organized alien attack was splintered and scattered. Our camp had been cleared of invaders, but I stayed safely in the healing room, from there I heard the reports. There was fighting here and fighting there, but it had lost the grand scale. This appeared to be the clean up.


    My family got closer and closer. They were holding something back from me, but I couldn’t tell what it was. Something had upset them and they didn’t want to let me know what it was, yet. I thought perhaps it was Gunth’s death that had them anxious, so I didn’t push the issue.


    I felt the moment my family entered our camp. The tion was like nothing I’d experienced before. I bolted from the healing room and ran as well as I could for the transport storage area.


    The sight before me had me standing in awe.


    There were hundreds of transports, loaded full of men, being directed tond. I saw men dressed like shopkeepers and Warriors from thepounds. Other men appeared to be wearing what the men in the mountains wore. They had brought everyone back here.


    “They brought the whole world to this camp?!” I heard Rose say beside me.


    She sounded as shocked as I felt.


    “Not the whole world,” a manughed beside us. “We took who we could, other camps have done the same thing. No one is left at thepounds or in the mountains. We had to split the men up between several different camps. Some of these men are from the Barnaspound, some from the Caras, and some rescued from the T’aran Mountains. Thepounds and the mountains are not safe and our resources are here. The women’s ships are defending the ore in the mountains, but we will defend our cousins.”


    “As we teach them,” the man’s Brother said watching with us, “we will teach them freedom and The Great Harmonious Spirit.”


    All around us were murmured promises. It was time these other men understood. They had been kept in the dark for much too long.


    I didn’t dare move and stood still watching the carefully organizednding. I felt my family and knew they were there. In the mass of men, I just wasn’t sure where they were.


    Once the transports were settled the men all waited for instructions. A wave caught my eye at the far wall and I saw Christof’s face beaming at me. I ran for him without another thought.