At that opening, Darek started stammering, and Avila was a little confused since she didn’t remember meeting him before. Then again, she did recall working with several people remotely, and his name did sound familiar. She extended her hand to shake his. “Darek Summerton, right? I must apologize for not recognizing your name earlier as well, but I really want to thank you now that I have the chance in person. Your work was invaluable to me, as was Jessica’s. Everyone from the park that was gracious enough to provide advice did so much to make sure that bill was everything it needed to be to become a living document.”
It was like a cross between someone meeting his favorite idol and an old friend at the same time. Darek took her hand like she had offered him a favor and then went on to tell her how he had followed her work for years, even before she started drafting the bill. When she began looking for resource material, he was happy to help, and he was honored that she remembered his name. Eventually, Jessica stepped in and gently reminded him that they did have other things that needed doing.
―
The whole time the scene was unfolding, Galdren looked on with amusement. It was interesting to see someone else at the center of attention for once. Out of the rest of the crew, Randy, Baxter, and Jessica were the only ones left inside to witness any of it. The rest had gone outside to wait as soon as they signed in, since there was little room. However, it was interesting to note that as soon as his two bodyguards realized what the commotion was about, the way they looked at the young woman they were helping to guard shifted. He was glad for it. He trusted those two with his life daily, and the higher they valued hers as well, the better he felt.
Darek got back to business after being reminded that he did have a job to do. “Your Highness, please forgive my distraction. There is only one other thing we need to finish before you can get started. I know you have been up here several times before, so you should be familiar with the process of registering a com device. If we get any alerts while you are in the park, they will be relayed to you, so you can be kept current with any problems or emergencies.”
Galdren motioned Randy forward. “Take care of this, if you would. You know what to do, and you’ll be the one that needs to know first anyway. Avila and I will be outside with the others looking at the maps while you finish.”
Avila gave a quick wave goodbye to Darek and followed Galdren outside. The two of them were quickly followed by Jessica and Baxter, leaving only Randy inside to finish the com registration. When they walked out, Galdren took Avila’s hand and led her to the left of the doorway, where there was a mid-sized screen she hadn’t noticed when they went in. It had an overview of the whole park on it, but when Galdren touched a section, it zoomed into a smaller, more detailed map. There were few trails, but it did list known landmarks, specific well-known or highly populated wildlife habitats, waterways, and various other bits of information.
12. Into Araleen
Galdren was just getting to where he could show Avila where they were on the map and where they were hoping to head when Randy came out of the building. Once they were all together again, Randy introduced the other three formally. “Sir, ma’am, this is Byron, Lee, and Jacob. They are all loyal palace guards, and each has served the king on several missions, both diplomatic and military. You already heard Jessica’s story inside.” All three men and the one woman gave a quick salute to Galdren, which he acknowledged with a nod.
“All right, we all know where we are heading. Let’s go.” With that dismissal, everyone headed to the hovercars in which they had arrived. They then turned back to the main road and went a little farther into the park. Soon they came to another small, almost hidden trail on the right. That one also terminated in a clearing, but there was no building there.
If Avila remembered the map correctly, there should be a stream less than three miles from the clearing, but no wildlife areas were marked nearby. Regardless, she was excited to get going. She had not had a chance to exercise in ages, and was ready to give her muscles the workout they were craving. She also had a few small specimen bags in her coat pocket that she had gotten from the professor the day before. She was excited to see if she could find something worth taking back and a little afraid she might not have enough containers.
They gathered in a loose group with Jessica and Randy out front, Lee and Byron to each side, and Baxter and Jacob bringing up the rear, which left Galdren and Avila in the center. The formation was set to be flexible, and it had to be since Avila kept finding things she wanted to look at and changing the direction she was walking in randomly.
There was a long, low incline they had to climb before they could even see the stream that Avila wanted to head for, and by the time they reached the top, she realized two things. First, the meager amount of exercise she had been able to do in the set of rooms she had was not nearly enough, and she was utterly out of shape now. Second, she was pretty sure if there had been any animals about, they were probably long gone. The only other person besides herself that moved quietly through the fallen leaves was Jessica. Not even Galdren, with his effortless grace, seemed to know the trick of not scaring off everything within earshot.
At the top of the rise, she stopped for a few minutes to take in the view of the valley below. On the far side, the decline was a little sharper than it had been coming up, but not so much that it would be a tricky descent. Then the valley floor extended to the stream and beyond to where there was a sharp rise, and one of the peaks seemed to touch the sky from where they were standing.
After Avila caught her breath, they started their descent, and this time she stayed in a straight line. Once they reached the valley floor, she could resume her exploration. She had been thankful for her coat up until then since the air was cold, but with the exertion of the hike, she was almost getting too warm. She loosened the scarf just a little.
Once they got to the bottom, she had to stop again. Everyone had a small pack with some supplies for the day in it, so while she was resting, Avila took out a canteen and sipped some water. Jessica came over to her while she sat. “I thought you might find it interesting to know that the packs we’re carrying are ranger day packs. If you look through them, you’ll find more than just the water canteen and dry snacks; there’s also a small first aid kit, a utility knife, a water filter, and a few other things that might come in handy to a person trying to make it in the wild. Not that I expect any of us to need it, but it’s always better to be prepared.”
As Jessica described those things, Avila went through the small pack’s various pockets until she found each item as they were mentioned and then put them back where she found them. “Thank you, Jessica. That is good to know, and even if I don’t use any of it, I feel better knowing it’s all there.”
By then, she was ready to get started again. She couldn’t see the stream anymore now that she wasn’t on the rise, which meant it was farther away than it seemed. However, it couldn’t be that far, and she was still in the mood for a good hike, so she set off in the direction she knew it had to be.
After another thirty minutes and several more stops, she found many things that she considered collecting, but only kept one of them. She felt a little silly about it, but she couldn’t pass up the opportunity. While crouched and creating a quick sketch of a rare late-blooming flower, she had found one whole, unbroken giant oak leaf.
Some of the trees in the forest grew quite large, and the leaf looked to have come from the humongous tree a little off to the left. It was the most beautiful shade of vibrant orange and hadn’t yet started to dry up and crumble. She couldn’t leave it behind. It was too perfect. She carefully placed it in one of the specimen bags and then put the bag in her sketchbook to make sure the leaf did not get bent. Then the whole thing went back into her pack.
She picked up her pack and headed off again. They had almost made it to the creek when Randy’s com unit went off. He had it to his ear within momen
ts, and less than a minute later, he was by Galdren’s side. He whispered into Galdren’s ear, Avila presumed so as not to upset her, but she still caught part of the conversation. Not that she was trying to, but his words seemed amplified by the lack of any other sound. Poachers had been spotted, not too near them, thank goodness, but if they moved and found the vehicles—or worse, found out who had come in them—there could be trouble.
Galdren turned a concerned look to Avila, then cleared his face and took her hand. “Don’t worry about it. I don’t think it will cause any problems, and we are not going back, but we will be careful. Randy is briefing the others right now.” As Galdren spoke to Avila, Randy gathered the others together in a group to let them know what was going on. Within moments, they had all gathered close to Galdren to see how he wanted to proceed.
“All right, I don’t see this as a major threat, and I don’t want it to ruin our day, but we do need to take some precautions. First, I want Lee and Jacob to go back and get the vehicles. They are designed for off-road travel as well. I don’t know if you can get them down the incline on this side, but I want you to get them as close to us as possible. Once you have completed that, let me know where you are, so we will know where to rendezvous with you. Then I want you to stay with the vehicles and make sure no one else gets near them.”
Lee and Jacob both saluted, and with a “Yes sir, as quickly as we can, sir,” they were both on their way.
“Now for the rest of us. I want us to stick together in a tighter group. The stream isn’t much farther, and that was the turning point for the day. Once we get there, we should still have plenty of time for a little exploring.” When he was finished, the group walked in a similar formation as before but much tighter and with no more stops until they reached the stream.
They had barely made it to the stream when Baxter pointed out a series of flashes on the side of the peak opposite them. None of them could quite make out what they were, but it was clear that they weren’t from any animal. It was still quite a span away, but Galdren decided that he would take Baxter and Randy and cross the stream to see if they could get a better view with the spyglass he had in his pack. He said he didn’t plan to go far, but if it was the poachers, he would at least be able to relay a location back to the rangers.
Avila was a little uneasy, and it made looking for anything new difficult, so she sat instead and tried to soak up the calm of the forest around her. That was something that had helped her cope many times before. Jessica and Byron patrolled the area around her while she tried to meditate. Galdren had been out of sight for some time, and the longer he was gone, the more Avila’s uneasiness grew. She had to keep telling herself that some form of communication would have occurred if there was any trouble.
Jessica came and sat beside her for a moment. “Avila, I know you’re worried, but you don’t need to be. This is no big deal, and besides, we are all out here, so you can do a little exploring. It seems to me like it would be hard to enjoy this place if you’re sitting there with your eyes closed.”
Avila had to smile. She knew the woman was trying to help, and she knew she really shouldn’t pass up this opportunity. Still, it was hard not to think about what might be happening.
Once Avila smiled, Jessica stood. “Look, I need to go for just a few minutes and check something out. I did hear something, but it was distant. It may be nothing, and I don’t want you to worry, okay? I’ll be right back. When I return, we may need to move, so while I’m gone, I want you to make the most of the time you have left here.”
Avila almost panicked, but she had to remind herself that they were well-equipped and used to handling difficult situations. She wasn’t worried too much about herself; she had been spending time alone in the woods for years. Granted, it wasn’t woods like these where the animals that might find you were a lot more dangerous, but that didn’t mean she didn’t know how to handle herself. She needed to relax and trust that these people knew what they were doing. “All right, Jessica, I’ll be here when you get back, and I’ll see what I can find while you’re gone.” She even managed a smile before the woman took off upstream in the same direction Galdren had gone but without crossing the water.
It didn’t take long for Jessica to vanish into the trees, even as thin as they grew. After she was gone from sight, Avila decided she might as well try to do what she had said she would. Maybe that would occupy her mind since nothing else seemed to be working. She walked around for a little bit and decided to pull out her sketchbook to capture what she was seeing. She looked up at the peaks opposite where she was standing. The thought of Galdren being out there made her stomach clench again, but she forced herself to focus on the sight instead. She managed to get a quick likeness of the mountains and a few of the trees around her before she gave up and put her sketchbook back in her bag.
She took the opportunity to walk around again but was too distracted to focus on anything. Finally, she decided to look into the stream. At least she wouldn’t be looking at the mountains. She went down to the edge of the water and knelt next to it. It was only a few feet deep there, and the bottom was rocky, not full of mud. It was the kind of place where the water ran fast enough that it was clear in most spots. She had done this kind of search for life before in the streams near the city when she was younger. She knew that even though it might look calm, there should be life all along the banks, hiding under rocks and in the shadowy places.
Before she even had a chance to start exploring the stream, an arm wrapped around her waist and she was pulled back against someone’s chest. She was too startled to scream, but she did struggle until she was able to get away and turn around. Byron was facing her. “Why did you do that?”
He looked at her, grinned, and gave her a half-shrug. “You looked like you were about to fall in. I didn’t figure you wanted to get soaked or anything, so I helped you out.” He was getting close to her again, and before she could step away, he grabbed her.
“What do you think you are doing?” Her anger was rising more than her fear. She knew there were other people out there, and someone was bound to be back soon, but she did not like having his hands on her.
“Ah, look, honey, I’m not gonna hurt you. Just relax. I gotta say, the prince sure did find a sweet one in you, didn’t he? He must have paid a pretty penny. I bet your momma must be loving life now. She probably doesn’t even have to work anymore since he up and bought you.” Avila had been struggling to get away from him until his words hit her. Then she just stopped. His words made no sense at all.
“What are you talking about? My mother? Bought me? What?” He must have taken her lack of struggle as acceptance and was starting to move in closer.
“Oh, don’t play coy; I’ve been to Nerada many times with the king. I’ve seen the refugees that flooded that spaceport and the surrounding city. There are plenty of them there trying to make ends meet. So many of them look like you. Well, not quite like you, I gotta say. You are an exceptionally pretty one, but a whore is a whore. I don’t think the prince will mind too much if I play with his favorite toy, as long as I don’t break you.” Byron was no longer playful, and Avila had heard enough. She wasn’t going to wait for someone to show up; she might not have time. It looked like he was going to try to attack her right then and there.
She thought back to all the self-defense classes her parents had her go through after the disaster at school. Although Byron had her pinned, he was only using one hand to hold both of hers, so he could use the other to grope at her. Since he was holding her so close, she took that opportunity to stomp on his instep and then bring her knee up as hard as she could into his groin while he was off-balance. He had some protection in his clothing, so it wasn’t as effective as she had hoped it would be, but it did make him let go of her hands. Instead of running, since she knew he would just overtake her almost immediately, she grabbed him by both of his ears while he was recovering and brought his face down a
s hard as she could while bringing her knee up to connect with his nose. She felt it break before she shoved him down.
She didn’t know if she had knocked him out or not, but the move bought her enough time to get away. She didn’t have her pack on, and it was too far away to grab, so she just started running. She had no idea where Galdren had gone or how far he was. She didn’t have one of the communicators that could track him, but there was no way she would go back and try to get the one from Byron. However, she did know that she was heading in the direction Jessica had gone. She hadn’t been gone that long either, and most importantly, Jessica could track Galdren.
Avila lost track of how long she had been running. It was long enough that it felt as if her sides were on fire, and she finally had to stop. When she did, there were no other sounds around her. She allowed herself just a moment to catch her breath and then pushed forward at a slower pace. It occurred to her that she had gone far enough that she should have run into Jessica already. The other woman had not been running. Since she couldn’t hear any sounds of pursuit, she stopped and thought about it for a minute. Jessica said she would be right back; she might have crossed over to go back along the other side of the stream. A few thick patches of woods could have blocked the view if they had passed each other going opposite directions.
Avila wasn’t sure if she should try to cross and go back or try to find Lee and Jacob. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to, though. Now that she had a few minutes to sit and think about the whole thing without the immediate threat, she had to wonder why it happened at all. It was evident that the man knew she belonged to Galdren, and he had made assumptions about the hows and whys. Surely, if Galdren’s personal bodyguards had briefed the rest of the team, they would have given them accurate information. It seemed as if either they didn’t share anything, or no one knew exactly what was going on in relation to her presence in Galdren’s life. Whichever it was, there still seemed to be information out there about the fact that she belonged to Galdren.
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