Star flight

Chapter eighteen: the cavernous undercity of ashim

Lexan flew on for what felt like hours, he had no idea where he was going, he just wanted them to think they'd left......

Or rather him to think so....

Linn had explained the whole meeting with the stranger, Lexan had almost turned the ship around when she mentioned the whole 'my master' thing.

But something about him screamed evil, and Lexan realized that his male pride could wait "......and then he sort of....I don't know, turned to ash or dust and flew off" "this is worrying" Raan said "how so?" kis'na asked "this mode of transportation has long since been used only by the ones we know of as the 'ancient'" "I think I speak for all present when I say 'who?'" Linn replied.

Raan sighed and said "the ancient have long since been held as the.....how should I put this? the firsts" "so they were the original life forms?" rook asked "yes, they had power unimagined, and were gifted with cosmic knowledge " here he paused and continued "for forty five million years the ancient crafted and brought life to the galaxies.....but where there is power, there will be the power hungry"

"These ancient believed that with their power they should be gods, not mere construction workers, so they rebelled, only to lose and have their powers stripped from them" Raan paused again and looked out the window as dark clouds began to form "we should find a place to land Lexan" he added.

"Anyway, long story short, the ancient are something to be feared, and if this guy even has half the powers that they are rumored to have, then this is going to be a tough fight....."

***

Linn sat down on the edge of her and lexans bed, her top was removed, but her bra remained, she felt her stomach and imagined the life blossoming inside......she wanted to tell Lexan, but he'd want to send her home, or maybe keep her out of trouble.......

She heard foot steps and a knock on her door "linn! its Raan, rook says he may know of a place we can bunker down in, if your decent, come out and join us"

"Okay! tell them ill be right out!" she called, looking down at her hands, she felt the shame of cowardice build in her......

"What am I going to do?"

She honestly didn't know....

***

Rook sat at the mess hall table and, when everyone was gathered, he said "there is a common belief that the in'stara have no set capital, but this belief is false" Raan looked at him skeptically, but didn't say anything.

"Though it is not a city, we are still proud of it....we call it the 'undercity' it was built by the queen of all in'stara to house her young and accumulated food, it is also extremely hidden"

"So how do we find it?" linn asked "I will lead you there, so long as you promise-" "not to reveal its location to anyone, we understand" Lexan said calmly "very well, I suggest that we land for now and wait for this storm to blow over" they nodded as a flash of lightning near clipped the wing.

***

Lexan lay on his side, watching his beautiful wife sleep.....he imagined what kingshood would be like.....and sighed.

He knew that freedom was one of the main things he loved, but he loved linn more.....right?

He rolled over and stared at the roof of the ship, and found that sleep still eluded him, he sighed again and sat up, linn rolled towards him and hugged his waist.

He smiled and stroked her gloriously soft hair, and looked out the window.

They were sheltered in a huge crack in a cliff face (rook had called it 'torgrims bluff' but refused to elaborate further) and the storm belted against the rock that sheltered them.