Eight: Present

Lofgun felt himself shudder at the smirk Milbaral gave him. He walked forward slowly, looking around and folding his hands in front of him. The stone in his chest seemed to pulse. "If you take these two out of this cage, they will die instantly," Milbaral explained casually. "Their hearts, as strong as they are, will not last if taken from its frozen state, as they are only hanging on by a thread."

"You've tortured them," Rinnowra growled.

Milbaral nodded. "Oh yes, but that is nothing to what I hope Coolyala is feeling."

"She is still a youngling!" Wong spat. "And you hurt her like you would anyone else!"

"She has what I want."

"Is there not a way to have asked her nicely before all this started?" Dalgoring queried.

"She, stubborn thing, is loyal only to her parents, no matter how wrong they were."

Lofgun could feel his control slipping. Jin must have sensed it too, because he stepped closer to his leader. Lofgun closed his eyes, and summoned enough control to say, "You are so focused on the stones, that you don't see how you're breaking her. You don't see how terrified she is."

Milbaral laughed as if that was the funniest thing he heard all day. "Terrified? Oh Niatpac, she is far from terrified!" He went to a desk and pulled out a folder. Shuffling through it, he grabbed a piece of paper and turned to them. "You Ylfrettub is as fierce as the rest of you. She is stubborn, bright, and very loyal."

He turned the picture around to show Coolyala in a fire lit room, glaring at something outside of the camera's sight. Her eyes were ablaze, her hands were making claw-like figures, and her body was ready to attack at any moment.

Wong must have recognized that place and seen a similar Coolyala because he stepped forward. "She still was hurt and terrified."

"To you perhaps."

Wong shook his head. "You're too blind not to see the fear that made her body quiver just a bit, too deaf not to have heard the shaking in her voice. She was scared. It was like she had just come out of something terrible."

Milbaral chuckled, placed everything back in the desk and said, "Enough chit chat." He walked over to one of his guards and pulled a small button out of the apron he wore. "This will release them from their suspension. They live now, but will not once they are released. Good luck."

Milbaral and his Ohuos left, leaving Lofgun with a hard decision on his hands.

"He could be lying," Dalgoring said, trying to be optimistic.

"He could also be struck by an eatherbolt," Keayo hissed sarcastically.

An eatherbolt was like a lightning bolt, but in the spaces between worlds. They were fatally dangerous.

Lofgun stared at the door Milbaral left through for a few moments, then looked at Coolyala's parents. Watchingi was watching them too. Their eyes were moving. Lofgun thought that they were looking at the button Milbaral left on a table, but he saw something else there. It was a vile of pukish green liquid. It looked disgusting. It looked poisonous. But they seemed to think the vile was important.

Lofgun grabbed it and held it up to the light. It was bubbling, but Watchingi was immediately there, taking it. "What is it?"

"Watchingi studied the vile, swirling the stuff around. "If the components are mixed correctly, it is a healing potion for any species." He frowned then. "But there's only enough for one of them."

Lofgun turned to Coolyala's parents. "Close your eyes if you are willing to die. Keep your eyes open if you wish to stay alive."

Both of them kept their eyes open for a moment then, the mother closed her eyes. They must have spoken about this possible decision because the father didn't seem panicked about losing his wife, although, tears were forming.

Watchingi sighed and looked at Lofgun. "This is going to have to be a fast process." He looked around. "Rinnowra, you catch the female. Make her comfortable if possible. Jin and Goomal, catch the male. I'll hurry over and pour it in his mouth. One of you will have to close his mouth if he starts to spit it out." He turned back to Lofgun. "We will need to carry them out. He isn't going to be stable for a few hours. And I know she wouldn't want to be here and experimented after death."

Lofgun glanced at the two, feeling failure descending upon him. "Keayo, Coomarrah, Dalgoring, and Yang, come with me. We will need some cloths, a few poles, and clothes. Clothes are low priority right now, but the others are important."

After that, they all split up. Nammammerra was the one to press the button. As Tinnowra caught and held Coolyala's mother, cradling the female in her lap, Watchingi poured the foul liquid down the broken male's throat. He didn't sputter or try to fight them off, but his face, what little of it that wasn't bruised, turned green.

The couple looked at each other, tears in their eyes. They couldn't talk, but no speech was needed. The looks they shared spoke of how much they loved each other, spoke of promises, spoke of regret and sadness. After a few seconds, Coolyala's Mother closed her eyes for the last time. Her chest fell, but it didn't rise again. Her body became dead weight in Rinnowra's arms.

Then, Coolyala's father began to squirm.

"Hold him still," Watchingi ordered.

Jin and Goomal tightened their arms, but Yangdangerra had to catch the feet while Watchingi and Mangoo caught the arms.

Lofgun ignored the Ohuos standing guard outside the room as he and his groups began searching. Keayo ran away, seeing some sheets and aprons. Dalgoring went with to help, while Lofgun and Coomarrah went into a storage closet to find different cleaning supplies. They grabbed brooms and mops, buckets, and a few bats that were stashed away.

After five minutes, they all went back to the room. He saw Rinnowra crying over Coolyala's mother's dead form while her father was twitching violently, the others holding him down.

After a moment, they began to make homemade cots. Keayo went and helped Rinnowra wrap Coolyala's mother in a sheet. Dalgoring went to help to wrap the father, as Coomarrah and Lofgun built the cots.

Within minutes, the couple were loaded and eight of Lofgun's crew carried them out. Lofgun and the other six circled around the cots, protective of their cargo. Lofgun also carried a satchel that held the information he found. The Ohuos did not try to stop them. However, Milbaral smirked at their sorrowful faces. Lofgun led them out into the stony world outside and towards their transportation. They kept the circle tight around the cots. Not one of them were risking the chance of losing Coolyala's parents. It was as if they were one shield, one force to be reckoned with.

Three days later, Lofgun was in his house, contemplating on what to do next, when he heard someone come into his room. Looking up, he saw Coolyala's father, Wygan. "Better?"

Wygan looked about, not really seeing his surroundings. "How is she?"

Lofgun hesitated, unsure what to say. "The last I saw her, she was being brave." He paused, watching as Wygan fingered a curtain. "My man, Wongoidchee, said she was doing as good as she could be when he tried to convince her to get out two weeks ago."

"They have her."

"By her choice," Lofgun said shortly. Then he explained what happened since he met Coolyala. It nearly brought tears to his eyes as he finished, but he managed to get everything out eventually.

"You are telling me that after everything I did to get her away, she still managed to get in their hands. "Where are the stones?"

"Hidden," Lofgun replied.

"Where?"

Lofgun tilted his head, feeling protective. "No offense, but I'd rather keep that information to myself."

Wygan glanced at Lofgun, then chuckled. "I am glad Yala has someone like you who she can trust. What about your crew?"

"They are loyal to my, therefore to her."

Wygan nodded. "When I gave the stones to Yala, her mother was terrified. She didn't think Yala was strong enough for whatever the Worlds threw at her. But I knew." He sat down in a chair and sighed. "As a very young youngling, Yala was wild, mischievous, unyielding. She got into everything. She was curious, not wanting anything kept from her. Her friend, Tuban, tried to make her into a sophisticated female, but dear Yala made Tuban just as wild."

Lofgun laughed. "I can see what you mean."

Wygan smiled. "She is my pride and joy after her mother."

Lofgun knew he was telling the truth, but had just a bit of anger towards Wygan. He sat forward. "So, why did you put this burden on your youngling? If she meant everything to you, why put her in danger?"

Wygan narrowed his eyes on Lofgun. "Coolyala is twenty years of age. I taught her everything I could with being a grown up. It took a lot of thought to make the decision. It was when she came up to me and said that if she were Queen of our world, she would not let anyone hurt a youngling."

"Why then?"

"Because when I asked her why she said that, she told me that she beat up a male for taking a little female's doll."

Lofgun grinned. "Now that is something I would have liked to see!"

Wygan chuckled. "Yes. The male's father came to me demanding to know why my youngling beat him up. Coolyala demanded to know his youngling liked hurting those weaker than him. Even the father was submissive to her, apologizing profusely."

Lofgun began laughing, feeling lighter for the first time since his Butterfly was captured.