Rimmil got up and sat down on Ally’s other side. “Tell me what happened. Maybe we can somehow figure out how you can find her.”
“Maybe.” She’d done this already, of course. “I had her with us then sometime on the way, she slipped from me. I think she’s lost wherever it is I go when I’m in between where I start and where I go to.” A tear, a wasteful tear, slipped down her face. “I don’t know if you can even survive there for long.”
She hiccupped, trying to stave off more tears.
“Come here.” Rimmil pulled her to him. To her shock, he rested his arm around her, cradling her in the natural place between body and arm.
Lovers did that. She knew from movies. Panicking for a moment, she sucked her lower lip into her mouth and stared fixedly at Betty, who only smiled back at her.
This was both awesome and scary. She wriggled to sit up but he tsked at her, frowning. Ally subsided and counted to a hundred in her head.
Slowly her panic went away, to be replaced by a glow of relaxation, of knowing she was in the best place in the world. Or it would be if Willow was here. But she wouldn’t say that because Rimmil might tsk at her again.
“I have a present for you.”
“Oh?” Odd.
“Look what I found.” He held a tiny yellow flower before her face and twirled the stem slowly. “It’s pretty, isn’t it?”
He was distracting her, but she didn’t mind. “Yes,” she said softly. “It is.”
“Yes. Just like you. Small, delicate, and pretty.”
Oh my. She had no clue how to answer that and simply lay there with a smile on her lips.
The vibrations and mild rumble warned them long before they saw the semitrailer truck. They decided to let Betty try to draw the driver’s attention. The three of them, especially Rimmil with his weapon, might scare whoever this was into driving past.
It worked. The brakes squealed as the semitrailer pulled to a halt, the engine grumbling. After Betty talked to him through the open window on the front cab, he stepped out, climbed down from the opposite driver’s side. The man was ancient, chin bristling with short hair, a mop of grizzled, equally short hair on his head. He wore a gray T-shirt and carried a large pistol that dangled from his hand.
For a few seconds he looked them over, rubbing his chin and mostly checking out Rimmil. “My name’s Steve. I heard what Betty said. You’re an alien soldier?”
“I am.” Rimmil rose to his feet and helped Ally stand.
“You’ve heard what’s happened to the world? All the nukes and bombs? No? Well, some are blaming you lot.”
“I didn’t know but it wasn’t us.”
“Wasn’t you, hey,” Steve said in a contemplative tone.
Rimmil simply stood waiting.
Not saying anything seemed wrong. Ally piped up with, “I don’t think this was them. We were almost killed too.”
“Yeah? I’m a man who takes things as I see them. You seem a good sort.” He spat to one side. “I can’t bloody well tell what happened in the whole wide world. I ain’t God. Guess you lot can come with me.”
“Thank you. My weapon stays with me but I guarantee on pain of stoning by my soldier brothers that I mean you no harm.”
“Good. Bloody good. I’m going down south to Adelaide. Heard the place wasn’t knocked about as badly as some. If you’re happy with that, get on board. I’ve got room for you all in the cabin. Course...” He looked around, “If you stay here, you’ll die. Not much traffic on this road. I’m thinking everyone is either heading for the good spots on the coast, or hunkered down in their homes and praying for all this to end.”
“Yes.” Rimmil nodded. “We’ll come with you. I’ll help defend us from any Bak-lal we may meet. Do you have a communication device? Mine is not working.”
“A radio? Yeah, I do. Something’s blocking it all, though. Nothing but bloody static since the first emergency broadcasts. We can try again when we get closer to town. Right-o?”
“Yes. Right-o.” Rimmil grinned. “Thank you for stopping.”
“No worries. I’m a Good Samaritan at heart, though my ex-wife would disagree! Welcome aboard and if we come across any of these damn Bakkie lals, you fuck ’em up good.” He winked at Ally. “Pardon the swearing, young lady. I’m sure you’ve heard worse.”
After they climbed into the cabin, he released the air brakes and the semi grunted and rolled forward. “Yippee kiyay and wagons ho. The world may be coming apart at the seams but today is good.” He smiled around at them all. Betty was in the front passenger seat and Ally had ended up in the rear seat beside Rimmil. “Glad I could help ya. There’s water in the back if you dig in my bag.”
Ally smiled back. “Thank you.”
“You’ll have good karma for a year now, Steve.” Betty nestled back in the front seat. “Let’s go turn some of those alien critters into roadkill.”
“Bloodthirsty!” He chuckled. “Suuure thing, pretty woman.”
Now that made Betty grin.
Maybe their luck was turning. Maybe.
South seemed the right way to go.
After sharing the water with the others, she settled back into the vinyl seat and watched the road unwind before them to the throb of the engine. After a while, Rimmil took her hand in his.
So forward. She thought for a while then left her hand where it rested.
The whole world had been bombed. Things were bad but at least she had someone to hold onto.
Chapter 7
Dassenze oversaw the recovery on the Doomslagger.
What seemed chaos became order as the Preyfinders re-organized their crippled ship, salvaging what was functional and listing it all. No mobility. No communications except locally. Squads could still keep in touch. No computing power. Weapons, yes, but mostly the handheld variety. Everything on board relied on intelligent machinery to work properly. Food, that they had plenty of.
And one shuttle, though it had engine damage. Some particles of this metal witch’s power had crept through the ship and entered the shuttle. Just in time to prevent further spread, they’d yanked one engine module from its bearings. The second module had done strange things when first tested, although it appeared to have normalized.
He’d brought the squad leaders, as well as Brask, Stom, and Talia, to the upper hull to speak to them.
“We’re moving. Here, we are too adjacent to water and land and are too easily crept up on. Our location isn’t a secret anymore. We load the shuttle and do multiple trips. We carry everything worth taking. Land the shuttle on the top of that building hence.”
He pointed at the fifteen-story office tower a half mile from the lake. He’d surveyed it and the lower structures were defensible. There were multiple exit points as well as a place to land on the rooftop.
“I’ll do it. I can pilot the shuttle.” Stom stepped through the small crowd. The irregular stripes on his body drew the eye and marked him instantly as Feya. “But I’d like to beg permission for a mission after this, Lord.”
His dark expression was to be expected. Willow was his bond mate and she’d disappeared and was possibly dead.
“Thank you,” Dassenze said quietly. “Come.”
He led Stom a few yards away, their boots clanging on the hull. At the edge, where the hull curved down to the lake, he halted. A gaping-open missile bay spoke sadly of the damage the ship had taken. The water seemed bluer tinged where it lapped the ship. Had the metal magic leaked out?
“Your question, Stom?” Though he already knew.
“I wish to do a search of the lands near the farm where Willow was last seen.”
“I understand. Even so, the shuttle cannot be risked on such an uncertain task. In balance, I do believe it’s likely Willow has survived.”
The Feya warrior took a deep breath and let it out. “I was hoping.” He shook his head, wrinkles forming on his forehead.
“You’re not feeling ill?”
“No. I’m well apart from a strangeness in my g
ut.”
“Good.”
If he was ill, there was limited medical aid. Last time, when Stom had gone up to the orbital and left Willow behind, his immune system had broken down. He’d nearly died. There were no ways to test his blood. There was only Brittany, Jadd’s bond mate who could heal, and the ship’s doctors, who now had to rely on primitive diagnostic methods and primitive surgical instruments if surgery was needed.
“That lack of illness is why there is a chance she’s alive, even though I know she was at the center of the blast.”
“How, Lord? I cannot see how that is possible.”
“Ally is how. We know what she did last time she was threatened, and we know how powerful this metal witch was. I cannot fathom these witches, but I would not give up. On the other hand, I have no inkling as to where she might be. We must wait.”
They had to wait here and waiting was not a warrior’s best attribute. Ally and Willow could be anywhere on this planet. How many days could they afford to sit still?
On his surveillance of the neighborhood, he’d seen distant crowds milling – fighting that could only be the military keeping order or Bak-lal soldiers emerging from their hiding places. The rattle of automatic weaponry and explosive booms did not say good things about this city’s future.
So soon, to descend to this, but the factory queen had been planning, and clearly she planned well. Smoke curled upward from fires, darkening the exuberant pinks and oranges of the horizon. It would be night soon. They had to find the queen and he had no idea which direction to go.
He had a last thought and turned to Stom. “Does this strange feeling go in any direction?”
“What, Lord? Oh. You mean can I feel where she is?” His mouth twisted sadly. “No. I wish I could.”
“Tell me immediately if you feel anything, and take care with the shuttle.”
“I will, Lord.”
If there was any weapon, any advantage they might have over this factory queen, it was the witches who each wielded their own brand of power. Their own...magic.
Magic didn’t exist.
“It does now,” he murmured the words to the sky, listening to the birds, seeing the V of their flight as they headed to some trees to roost for the night. Already, flying foxes squabbled in the trees surrounding the lake.
Magic. What else did he and the last few Ascend possess? It was indistinguishable in many ways from what these women could do. Only he knew it could be catastrophic to use. Always, the Ascend remained beyond, uninvolved as much as possible. Many years ago, they had interfered. No longer. Bad things happened when gods intervened, even when they weren’t really gods.
What happened when witches interfered? Was there a penalty? The universe operated on a give-and-take system. It gave this with one hand and took away that with the other.
What was the bad side going to be this time?
While they moved supplies, he would take Brask and Talia to the skyscraper beside the one they would occupy and see if they could sort out their relationship. All in a very observant and hands-off way, of course.
He looked down at his hands, at the scales gleaming with gold in the sun and imagined holding her again. He must not. Feeling her had been an ecstatic experience all on its own. When she’d kissed him... He shut his eyes, inhaled, and remembered.
That human word for paradise...heaven. Yes, that.
*****
The building opposite the new base for the Preyfinders was a few stories lower, but deserted. Privacy was good. Testing out what she could do was something he had a need to do without a hundred eyes watching.
He led the way up the stairs. With the power having failed to most of the city, the elevators were silent. If not for the light he carried, they’d be in total blackness.
Their footsteps echoed in the stairwell.
Neither of his subjects were talking much. To be expected. He smiled. At first Talia had refused. The city was falling apart and he wanted them to play with swords? He’d shown her the logic behind this – needing to know what she could do with said swords. That accomplished, he’d then had to convince her this wasn’t a seduction trick.
Amusing, how her mind had gone there. He’d lied, of course. No one ever said gods couldn’t lie.
They came to the doorways leading into a large room on the fifth floor. He opened the left side and ushered them both in. A long timber table was close to where they stood; past that was a larger carpeted space with some chairs they could move aside. A bank of sealed windows looked out toward the lake area where the sun cast long shadows through the forest and across the water. Apart from what was in his hand, the only light came from the window.
“Strange how quickly this place has become a ghost building.” Talia’s voice was hushed, as if the empty room might jump on them. “We’re going to fight in a board room?”
“Once we clear those, we’ll have room to maneuver.” Brask unclipped his light torso armor, deposited it and his rifle on the table, then went around the end of the table and began shifting the chairs.
It might have been a quicker task if not for Talia. He’d told her to ask the females on the ship for flexible clothes she could run around in. Instead of her jeans, she’d donned light grey, skin-hugging leggings and a white, sleeveless top. Watching her lithe figure as she shifted the heavy chairs was enough to make both he and Brask pause to admire her a few times. After one puzzled glance over her shoulder, she’d smirked and carried on as before, except with more exaggerated...bottom wiggling.
Bottom wiggling should be on the next list for inter-ship sports. The leggings shone where they curved over that ass. When she bent over, he could see where the cloth dived between her legs and showed off all of her shapeliness, everywhere. Even her top jiggled enticingly in the breast area.
Excruciating.
At least his scale armor disguised his arousal. Brask was wearing regulation exercise gear – black tights and a shirt that was the male equivalent of what Talia had on. The poor Igrakk was showing the full length of an erection in the front of his tights.
“We done?” She stopped, hands on her hips, and surveyed the room. A few chairs had been pushed to the walls; most had been stacked on the table.
Dassenze went to the table and hitched himself onto it, sitting on the edge. The table creaked but took his weight. He turned down the intensity of the bar of light he carried.
“You look like judge, jury, and executioner sitting there.” Her mouth curved into a smile.
The reference was perhaps to a human thing but he understood. “I can indeed be. I won’t miss a thing.”
“Judge Dredd?” Brask suggested.
“You know that one?” Talia grimaced and looked as if for a moment she was thinking of more than this room. “It fits what’s happening out there. The world could do with a Judge Dredd. It’s getting dark. In more ways than one.”
She paced across to peer out the windows. “That’s smoke out there, rising from what was once a shopping district. You said it wasn’t a nuke that hit the city? No radiation? I’d hate to think all those unsuspecting people are dying from radiation poisoning.”
She worried over the citizens? It was a good attribute. Though he strived to stay empathic, it was difficult after so many planets, so many battles. “No. It was a fragthorn missile from the orbital. We deflected it but didn’t destroy it.”
“Thank god,” she murmured to the glass. Her lips must be close. It was fogging from her breath. “I hope you have some good plans. Why now? You want to see me fight but why now when we can barely see?”
Dassenze had brought two practice swords. He tossed one to Brask and the other to her. The metal blade spun, sending off flutters of reflected light that scattered over the walls. “I want to see you at various disadvantages. I need to see where this power of yours can take you. Darkness is one thing you may face.”
“Okay. I understand.” She swished the practice sword through the air while approaching. “This...not as nice
as something with an edge, but I can work with it.”
“Do edged weapons feel better to you?”
“Yes. They do. Don’t ask me why. The weapons...they talk to me. Not in words, but they talk.”
He thought a while then gave her a nod. “I see.”
Really, he’d been delaying his answer just to look into her eyes. Such beautiful blue eyes. Even in low light they were as variegated as the blue of the Earth oceans, or the budding flower spores on Trinity Moon.
It was her power talking through her, urging her this way and that, he guessed. Which weapons worked for her was a puzzle he should solve.
Urges, he understood.
A female of any lesser races given the nanochem felt sexual urges that eventually overrode all her fears and compelled her to be the pet of her captor. Having been given one dose by Brask, she’d be on the very lightest edge of those. Emotions would be nudging her.
Or at least, that was the way it had worked in the past. With these Earth witches, the man was equally compelled. He could see it in Brask and the way he followed Talia’s every move, a slave to her femininity as much as she might be to his masculinity. There was an exchange of emotion.
It was new but still acceptable.
What was not acceptable was how she was also affecting him. There was no reason for this.
Talia backed away, turning her gaze to Brask. “When do we begin, Dassenze?”
“Now.”
After a time appraising each other and smiling malevolently while making mock attacks and parries, Brask stepped up his attacks. The pair flurried back and forth, taking ground, losing it, feeling each other’s weaknesses and strengths.
Talia was fast, too fast for Brask. The clang of metal accelerated and he tripped on a chair leg and rolled upright just in time to be met by the point of her blade at his eye. An inch from his eyeball, Dasseneze judged.
“Begin again! Talia, remember to be careful. That was too close.”
“No,” she threw out. “I can do this even closer and not harm my opponent.”
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