Page 51

“How bad?” I questioned, fearful of the answer.

“The Kraken wounded Maryn severely and has injured the babies that she carried.”

“Carried?”

“We managed to resuscitate Maryn and get her the vital blood transfusion she needed. But where the Kraken had clamped its jaws around her stomach, it forced Maryn into premature labour. The twins were born, just barely alive.

“Jonas, the boy has a severely damaged spinal cord, and we don’t think it is likely that he’ll live. If he does, Jonas will never walk. We can’t fix the injury; it is simply too bad. A few Vam’pirs have sailed to Marel for a medical rejuvenator. The girl Mara, named for Father…” Taran broke off, unable to go on as tears clogged in his throat.

Father’s name had been Marcus. I put my hand on Taran’s shoulder and squeezed gently.

“Mara will be lucky to survive. Her injures are severe. She’s on a life-support machine, and we keep a vigil, but we can’t tell. Mara’s wounds are internal, and if she survives another week or two, then she’ll live, but wejust don’t know,” Ju finished.

“And Maryn?”

No one looked at me, and I braced myself for the worst.

“She’ll be in her grave within a week. Maryn struggles to breathe, and how she holds on, I’m not sure. Maryn’s determined to ensure her children are well.”

Taran’s words could not be truer. Mara’s condition stabilised, and her mother’s worsened. Three days later, Maryn died. Beautiful, shy Maryn gave up the fight and went silently into the night. By her side were Diana, Stefan, and Nes’c. The latter sobbed bitterly as he begged her to fight just that little bit longer, but Maryn’s poor body refused to take anymore. Maryn slipped into sleep after seeing her two babies for the last time. Death in the end had been painless for Maryn.

If it hadn’t been for Julia, I think I would have followed her. The deaths had crippled us all in ways that we never saw. The grief expressed by the human community was unprecedented for the Morans. Since establishing Mora, no deaths had occurred, making it unbearable to lose two of the most prominent individuals.

As for the Vam’pirs, not only had we lost one of our children, but my father, who had championed us so many times. Thedeath of Father hit my family hard, as did the death of Maryn. Not only did we mourn for him, but we mourned for the loss of our adopted daughter or sister.

Maryn’s twins had survived, so at least we had them, but they, too, had lost a mother who would have doted on them. Jonas had been healed and would grow to be strong. The sad fact was that Maryn had been so young.

If something had happened to the infants, Nes’c would have joined her in the grave. As it was, he stayed for his children and refused to let them out of his sight. I couldn’t blame Nes’c for his emotions. Over time, we realised how much Nes’c had loved Maryn and her kind nature.

It took months for Mora to recover from the tragedy that had hit us. The atmosphere that surrounded the town was quiet anguish and pain. Every family felt they had lost someone; such was the tight-knit community we had become. At least Father and Maryn had survived long enough to see their dream come true of a wonderful and free place to live.

That was something that comforted us all. The parents of the toddler Maryn had died for, offered to move away, feeling their presence too much of a grim reminder.

We refused to let them go. They had to learn that a community that played together grieved together.

We made it clear they had no blame attached at all, and we went out of our way to include them in things. The Vam’pirs, in particular, made an effort to check on them or indulge the toddler with new toys.

It wasn’t their fault, it wasn’t anyone’s. I finally learned to accept that. As I said, I know now that my throw did not kill Father. Father had taken a terrible risk because, and through his anger, he hadn’t been able to think clearly and so paid with his life. An awful price to pay for protecting your community, but it had been paid.

???

For the next ten years, nothing happened, and then one day, the Moran’s were faced with a dishevelled and untidy Marel. He looked terrible and refused to say or do anything until he had spoken to us. And boy, did Marel have a tale to tell.

Marel, as usual, scanned the night sky for anomalies and spotted a star in an unusual position. He had studied it for several months, bringing it to the attention of other stargazers. Then the truth came out. It wasn’t a star, but a comet. Excitement initially surrounded the uncharted comet, but fear quickly returned.

The comet, a rogue, was on a collision course with Earth, with no possible action to prevent it. Even worse, there was no chance that it would pass close to the planet. It had Earth in its bullseye. Disagreements arose regarding the course of action, with only eight individuals currently aware of it. The comet was going to hit the middle of the Icelands, causing great upheaval to the atmosphere and great planetary changes.

Nathan asked, “How does that concern us?”

“Mora will be the safest continent to be.”

“And you want us to accommodate the Kaltons? Go to hell,” Ami spat.

“Sorry, Marel. You, of course, are welcome. Kaltos and its people can go straight to hell for all we care,” Li’zel agreed.

“I just wondered…” Marel tried to speak again, only to be cut off by Nathan.

“No. We’ll not do it. Kaltos are not getting any aid from Mora—or its community. We were forced to leave Kaltos. Now, something threatens Kaltos and will wipe your people out, you want our aid. Where was Kaltos when we wanted, no needed, help?”