Quest for Freedom Read online

  Quest for Freedom

  Dana Davis

  © 2010/2016 by Dana Davis

  ISBN-13: 978-1523959334

  ISBN-10: 1523959339

  Quest for Freedom

  2nd edition

  All Rights Reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher and/or author, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously.

  PUBLISHING HISTORY

  SynergEbooks eBook edition published 2010

  Cover art by Laura Redman

  Printed in the U.S.A.

  Other teen books by Dana Davis:

  The Mask of Tamirella

  Breach of Worlds

  For Darryl, who always inspires me.

  In memory of my nephew, Todd, who loved science fiction.

  Acknowledgments

  Special thanks to my parents and siblings:

  Maurice, Diane, Jamie and Dawn

  I would also like to thank the following for their encouragement and support in the production of this book:

  Sheila Finch

  Suzanne Greenberg and the CSULB English Department

  1 ~ Rescue

  As she wriggled a few more feet, the stench of dirty bodies and urine assaulted her senses. She swallowed hard to keep her stomach from protesting the familiar smells. She hated this strange planet with the bright suns that made her eyes hurt and the fast rains that left flooding in their wake. But most of all, she hated the Morgee. The metallic aliens enslaved children, using them up as though they were nothing more than tools to be replaced when they wore out. The way had used her until she’d escaped. In Janai’s fifteen years, nothing had been so sweet as that day.

  And here she was now, heading back into the slave camps she’d so desperately run from not long ago. Her mind threatened to shut down, her bowels to loosen. Terror put her on the brink of being ill. She took in a long breath and forced her mind to calm in order to concentrate on her task. No point frightening herself more than necessary.

  The slave cavern was just ahead. This time of night, the children would be asleep and their captors regenerating. She didn’t know exactly how many she’d be rescuing this time, but she knew words in the languages of each of the invaded worlds, so communication wouldn’t be a problem.

  One knee scraped across a jagged area of the tunnel and Janai winced, forcing herself to ignore the sharp pain. Flickering light filtered into the tunnel from an opening ahead, firelight, and the cavern suddenly seemed impossible to reach. Her heart hammered against her ribs. She focused on steadying herself.

  She scooted a few more inches, quietly slithered out of the hole, and crouched behind the large boulder that kept the fresh tunnel hidden from view. Her eyes focused in the dim light and she counted five children sleeping around the small fire. The slave groups are getting smaller. Her camp had lost a child seemingly every moons phase. She expected little resistance from the slaves, since they were used to taking orders and meager food supplies weakened them, but she moved quietly, just in case.

  One of the children began to stir. Janai made a swift beeline to a red-haired, Earth boy and cupped a hand over his mouth as he awakened. Pale as he was, her gray skin looked almost white next to his. He started to protest, and she used the weight of her body to hold him down. He was smaller and she had little trouble restraining him.

  “Quiet,” she said into his ear. She shook a stray, white curl from in front of her eyes. “You want the soldiers to catch us?” Realization and fear lit the boy’s eyes. Her hand tightened over his mouth as he shook his head in response to her question. “Wake the others.” They had to hurry. “And keep them quiet.”

  He did as he was told. In a matter of seconds, he’d awakened the rest of the children. Janai motioned them to the boulder as she peered around the cavern entrance the Morgee soldiers used. Two soldiers were in the guard site overlooking the camp, leaving only one outside the cavern, and he was sucking on a food tube. She averted her eyes from the tentacle that served as a Morgee mouth—the thing looked like a snake—and ducked back inside.

  Even if they realized their slaves were escaping, the metallic creatures wouldn’t be able to climb into the escape tunnel. They were too large. They could trap the children from the other side, though. And that’s what frightened her most.

  “All clear.” Janai pushed the red-haired boy into the tunnel first. “Stay close together and wait for me on the other side.” Then she helped the others into the tunnel and gave them each a small push to get them moving.

  She squeezed in behind the last child, a small but sturdy Aknidean girl. The girl had her large earflaps fully opened, and Janai knew she was listening for anything that might betray them to the Morgee.

  They made it through the tunnel and Janai’s heart threatened to pop right out of her chest as she glanced around for Morgee soldiers. The Aknidean girl shifted her earflaps and assured her they weren’t being followed. Yet.

  Janai slipped the vine rope from her waist and extended it to each child, putting the Aknidean girl last. “Hold on, all of you, and whatever happens, don’t let go. Do you understand?” Without waiting for an answer, she led them toward the hillside.

  She had purposely chosen a tough path, strewn with rocks and sticks. Morgee soldiers had more trouble on rough ground. Their bulky bodies were strong and steady but they didn’t have the agility of the races they enslaved. The children. However, they were relentless and seemed to get whatever, whomever, they wanted, eventually.

  Janai was grateful for the high brush that helped conceal her latest group of runaways. This plan had better work. She had to get to the free-zone. Though she’d never actually seen it, she told herself the place existed. It had to. Otherwise, what was the point of any of this?

  She fought panic that threatened to turn her mind to mush and put them in more danger than already existed. Keep it together, Janai. These children need you.

  The second sun had dipped below the horizon. The two, large, waning crescent moons and the smaller gibbous moon gave her enough light to make out the shadowy terrain, very different from her homeworld, which was enveloped in fog and clouds most of the time. She grabbed the rope lead and pulled the others, stumbling and tripping, along the rough alien ground and through the thicker areas of brush. Suddenly, the Aknidean girl hissed a warning.

  Soon, steady clicking of metallic boots emanated from somewhere behind them.

  “Run,” Janai said as loudly as she dared, and she pulled the rope, half-dragging the others behind her. Heavy steps advanced in a slow but steady pace. She ran faster. One of the younger children fell. She heard murmurs of panic. “Quiet.” Her heart raced. “Help that girl up and get yourselves over that hill.”

  She gave the rope lead to the red-haired boy and went back to check the Morgee’s position. As she parted the bushes, she saw the tops of their metallic gold helmets advancing through the underbrush and she cursed. Their small, glowing, gold eyes betrayed them in the darkness too. They were practically blind at night, but the moons gave off enough light for them to trudge out here after their prey. Night slowed them. Nothing more.

  When she glanced back, the children were almost over the hill. She ran to catch up. They had to hurry. “Move it. Move it.” She herded them over the other side of the hill and directed them through a narrow opening between two rocks, shoving anyone who was too slow. No time to be gentle. Their lives depen
ded on her. “Get in there.” She used a leafy branch to smear the tracks they’d made, making them inconspicuous, she hoped, to the Morgee.

  Once inside the cavern, she placed two large branches filled with leaves in front to disguise the entrance. The three children who’d been awaiting her return helped her roll a good-sized stone to cover the small opening.

  A young child began to whimper.

  “Quiet,” Janai demanded. No time to coddle. “Nobody move. Put out that light.” Eerie silence filled the dark cave as sounds of metallic footsteps filtered in from outside. Janai held her breath.

  2 ~ Cavern Hideaway

  She could make out some of what the Morgee were saying. “—find—not here—dark.”

  Footsteps drew closer. Janai’s heart hammered against her chest and a roar of adrenaline filled her ears. One of the children shuffled and her heart leapt. She trembled as she waited, hoping they wouldn’t get caught. The Morgee footsteps and voices faded, eventually disappearing in the distance. Janai waited. And waited.

  Finally, when no footsteps returned, someone turned on the lantern. Janai let out a breath and turned abruptly toward the others, startling them. “It’s all right,” she said in a comforting voice. “They’re gone for now.” She lifted Krav’n and held him. His body shivered. She pulled him closer and a small, webbed hand caressed her hair.

  “It’s all right,” Janai repeated. “You can move around, but be quiet. Just in case.” She glanced at the cave entrance to emphasize her last words. “Blal’k.” She turned to the liquid-eyed boy whom she had come to depend on over the last couple of weeks. “You and Sarah get the food. The others have been half starved.”

  The Ronarian boy nodded and blinked his vertical eyelids. The ridges on the top of his head caught the dim light of the heat rocks they used for cooking. “Okay, everyone.” Blal’k waved the younger Earth girl Sarah to him with a webbed hand. “Sit down and relax while we get your meals.” He smiled, revealing pointed teeth. His light-green, hairless skin had an almost healthy glow now.

  Although Blal’k was only twelve or thirteen Earth years old, he was already a decent cook, and Janai was grateful he’d volunteered for the duty. He’d been taken from his homeworld, Ronar, at the age of ten Earth years. He stood taller than most of the other Ronarians his age, and Janai was sure that if she hadn’t rescued his camp when she did, he would’ve disappeared like the others that grew too big for the tunnels. Why the Morgee kept the tunnels so small, was still a mystery. More slaves would fit inside if the tunnels were larger and more gems could be excavated. But Janai didn’t understand much of anything the Morgee did. And she didn’t want to understand.

  When she saw that the children were huddled together, stiff and alert, she said, “You’re safe here.”

  The children slowly sat and began to relax a bit, while keeping wary eyes on the cavern entrance. Blal’k had used one of the small heat distributors that Janai had stolen from a Morgee guard site to get the rocks hot enough to re-heat last night’s stew. The gold metallic instruments came in very handy, as did the two light-fire weapons and the lantern she’d managed to steal. Not every raid was as successful, so they cherished whatever they could get.

  The distributors were crescent-shaped with a small opening at one end and fit a bit uncomfortably in one hand. Evidently, they’d been created with larger hands in mind. Four black buttons with unknown symbols ran along the side. One activated the distributor, one de-activated it, and the other two controlled the intensity of the heat that came from the opening. The instrument stayed cool to the touch but produced enough energy to keep a small rock hot and glowing for several hours. The Morgee heated tunnel rocks to provide digging light. They were stingy with lanterns.

  Using heated rocks for cooking took longer than building a fire, but a fire would fill the place with smoke. And if they made a chimney for the smoke to escape, the soldiers would find them for sure. This was the safest way to cook and they welcomed any hot meal.

  Janai kept two light-fire weapons safely stored in her pack for emergencies. And, unlike the distributors, the black, slightly curved, cylinder-shaped instruments fit her hands. She had no idea how much charge they held since they’d been used for blasting tunnel openings long before this rescue. But the fact that the instruments could splinter rock gave the children the idea of using them as weapons.

  The Morgee were extremely cautious with them. Only soldiers used light-fire instruments to create openings during the digs. They forced children to dig with hand tools once a tunnel was blasted. The soldiers locked the instruments away in the guard sites at the end of each day.

  Three water cylinders Janai had also stolen were safely stored, one in Blal’k’s pack, the other two in her own.

  “So, Krav’n, what have you been up to?” Janai pressed her forehead to the little boy’s in the Ronarian family greeting of head-butting. Then she lowered him to the ground.

  “I made another drawing with the berry stain. Want to see?” His smile revealed a mouthful of small, but sharply pointed, teeth. He blinked with vertical eyelids of the Ronarian people.

  “Of course.” Janai stroked his head ridges and smiled as she remembered seeing those eyelids for the first time. They had startled her. All of the different races she’d met here gave her a great challenge as a healer. She’d accepted that challenge and vowed to learn everything she could about the others. Her healer parents would have done the same.

  Krav’n led her to the far wall near the water hole and pointed a webbed finger to his latest creation illuminated by heat rocks. His slightly green skin shimmered in the dim light, creating quite a contrast to her pale gray coloring.

  “Very nice,” she said as she envisioned him looking much like her cook, Blal’k, in a few years.

  “It’s you, Janai. See the pretty eyes? And that’s the—dwelling—you used to live in with your parents.” He looked to her with black liquid eyes. “Did I get it right? I drew it just the way you told it in your story.”

  Her throat threatened to close as she fought back tears. She pushed her parents’ images from her mind as she traced the rounded roof of the drawing with a finger. The boy drew very well for his young age, and Janai was always amazed at the detail of his work.

  “You did just fine.” She knelt to his eye level. “Thank you.” She was glad the berries were good for something, since they weren’t edible. They were harmless as long as they weren’t ingested, and every child brought to this world learned that sooner or later.

  “You’re welcome.” Krav’n pressed his forehead against hers and fingered the black pattern-spots on her neck with his small, webbed hand.

  She wondered if her race had seemed as strange to him the first time he had seen one of her people. Whimpering caught her ears and brought her attention to the others. “What’s the matter? Who’s crying?” She scanned the small group of children huddled on the floor.

  “It’s Penny,” the red-haired Earth boy answered. He looked to be a few years younger than Janai. “She hurt her foot when we were running.”

  Janai made her way to a little green-eyed girl and sat beside her. The girl appeared to be about the same age as Krav’n and had red hair that was dull with dirt from the mines. Her jumpsuit was already too small, exposing her legs up to mid-calf and stretching across her middle. She cradled a smooth, round rock against her chest.

  Janai reached out a hand to the injury, but the child pulled away. “It’s all right. I can help you.”

  Krav’n sat next to the red-haired Earth boy. “She can, too. She’s a Kritine healer.”

  “Well, I’m not officially a healer, yet,” Janai corrected. “My parents were training me before the invasion, and I’ve learned a lot since I’ve been here.”

  The red-haired boy studied her a moment then took hold of Penny’s ankle and lifted her foot. He comforted the younger child with a smile and nod. This time the girl allowed the touch.

  Janai gently placed her hands on Penny’s injur
ed foot, turning the leg so she could inspect the cut along the bottom. A large, glassbush thorn had embedded itself deep in the open wound. She had named these plants glass bushes because the thorns that they produced were pale white in color and could pierce the skin like broken glass. She was glad they weren’t poisonous, for she had suffered an injury some time ago from a similar size thorn. They were painful, though. And her foot ached at the memory.

  “I’ll have to remove the thorn before her foot becomes infected.” She looked up at the red-haired boy. His face was covered with freckles, like Penny’s, and she suspected the two were siblings. No matter. The little girl seemed to trust him, and Janai hoped his nearness would keep the child calm. “Krav’n, bring me my sinsabe.”

  Janai had begun to collect healing herbs, plants and tools for her sinsabe, the bag of the Kritine healers. Her bag was made of skins, not the traditional soft durable cloth of Kritine, because the Morgee had taken everything from her during the invasion. What she couldn’t find in the way of tools, she improvised. The little Ronarian boy quickly bounced away.

  No healer on her planet went anywhere without a sinsabe, and she was determined to follow that tradition. She could safely wear her bag on the outside of her clothing now that she was free from the camps. The hidden pocket she’d sewn into the breast of her jumpsuit to keep the bag from Morgee eyes was now too small, what with all the medicines and tools she’d acquired. She’d left her sinsabe here during her rescue mission, though. She didn’t want to take a chance on losing it. Anyway, there would have been no time to stop and treat injuries before they made it to the safety of the cave.

  Janai had experimented with herbs and plants enough on this world in the three plus years she’d been here to know the healing properties of several, as well as some of the poisonous ones.