Icarus Rising Read Free

own
    accord and rested against his naked back.
    Zara's muscles tensed involuntarily. The leader of the
    Icarians commanded everyone's attention. Even standing
    silently while he waited for his mate, Namara, and another
    female to land behind him, he seemed to be broadcasting his
    innate power and superiority.
    Zara would never have admitted to anyone that Jidar
    frightened her just a little bit. Though the Icarians did not
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    Icarus Rising
    by Bernadette Gardner
    wage war and their society had almost no crime or violence,
    the coiled power in Jidar's massive frame made Zara's knees
    a little weak. After today's ritual, Jidar would effectively
    become Caleb's master in all things. He would have the final
    say in where Caleb would live, what role he would play in the
    Icarian tribe and ultimately whether or not he mated with an
    Icarian female.
    Despite his kindness and keen intelligence, Zara hated him
    at the moment.
    "Caleb Faulkner, step forward." Jidar's voice boomed
    across the beach, and Caleb left the head of the line of
    assembled humans and approached the Icarian. A few steps
    before he reached Jidar, Caleb dropped to one knee. He
    bowed his head and extended his arms, fists tightly balled,
    behind him in the Icarian posture of respect and
    subservience.
    Behind Jidar, Namara landed and dropped immediately
    into the same position as Caleb. The Icarian co-leader's long,
    white hair hung down like a curtain over her body, modestly
    shielding her voluptuous form, at least for the moment.
    One pace behind Namara, another female, this one dark-
    haired, landed and knelt. Zara recognized Arilani. A healer
    and an expert in symbion physiology, she was Raymond
    Danson's counterpart among the Icarians. Together the
    geneticist and the tribal doctor would see to it that Caleb's
    bond with the symbion bird went smoothly.
    Once Namara and Arilani had folded their wings, Jidar bade
    them rise and they joined him in a semi-circle in front of
    Caleb.
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    Icarus Rising
    by Bernadette Gardner
    "You may stand, young one." Jidar placed a hand on
    Caleb's shoulder and took his hand to help him stand up in
    the soft, uneven sand.
    "Young one?" The question came from somewhere in the
    line-up of human observers.
    Danson shushed his colleague, but Zara offered a
    whispered reply. "This ritual is usually performed at age ten,
    just before an Icarian enters puberty, so in essence, by
    Icarian standards, Caleb is still a child."
    Silence fell over the assembled crowd again, and after a
    brief exchange with Jidar and Namara in which Caleb pledged
    loyalty to the tribe above all else, he dropped back to one
    knee. Once the bonding was complete, as an adult Icarian
    and a full-fledged member of the dwindling tribe, he would be
    given the right to vote in tribal decisions, campaign for
    election to the administrative committee that helped Jidar
    rule, and accept or decline the mate Jidar offered him.
    Assuming, of course, he survived the bonding.
    Zara's throat tightened at the thought, and a sick feeling
    began to churn in her stomach when two male Icarians took
    shape in the brilliant sky, carrying between them one of the
    huge winged animals. Everyone on the beach turned to watch
    the symbion and its handlers land. It was strange to see just
    a huge pair of wings held between the two Icarians. Several
    specimens of the headless birds, both living and dead, had
    been brought to the research station for study, but this was
    among the largest and most impressive Zara had ever seen.
    Though they lacked a disarticulated head and feet and
    bore only vestigial eyes, the birds were quite beautiful and
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    Icarus Rising
    by Bernadette Gardner
    extremely graceful. At the upper end of their bodies, they had
    large, beakless mouths designed for scooping fish from the
    Icarian ocean, and at the lower end of their bodies they bore
    reproductive organs for laying perfectly round, fist-sized eggs
    which they incubated for several months in their