Fawks (Dragons of Kratak Book 4)

by Ruth Anne Scott

  “Stand there, between the shafts. That's right. Now when I give you the word, pick up the stretcher and start walking. It's as simple as that. If you really need to stop and rest, just tell me. Just remember we've got half the day to walk before Jasmine and Dana take over, so we have to keep up and not fall behind the group.”

  Sophia looked over her shoulder and murmured gently to Sheena under her breath. “Don't be too hard on her.”

  Abigail squared her shoulders and stepped between the shafts. “No, Sheena's right. I have to do my share. Do me a favor, will you, Sophia? Please lie down, because I don't want to drop you.”

  Sophia laid down, and Abigail followed all of Sheena's instructions. Fawks shouldered his bundle and moved out. It dwindled every day with so many people eating out of it. Sheena thanked him in her mind for his foresight in preparing the morlock to feed them on the trail, but she dared not speak to him or even look at him now.

  What had become of her? What did he do to her with his lips and hands? She didn't know herself. Aching desires out of her worst nightmares paraded before her eyes. She wanted him to touch her like that. She wanted him to do every wicked thing in the world to her. She wanted him to dominate her the way men like Rollo wouldn't dare to do.

  Fawks kept the point all morning. They flanked the mountain Sheena first spotted and circled it to the north. As soon as it fell away to their side, another mountain appeared behind it. Even from that distance, the whole team could see holes dotting its surface. It could only be Assan Keep.

  Abigail rose to the challenge and carried Sophia all morning. She stumbled once or twice but staunchly refused to put the stretcher down to rest, even when Sheena suggested it.

  Toward mid-morning, Fawks dropped back to the end of the line to walk next to Sophia's stretcher. Sheena lowered her eyes so she didn't have to look at him. She concentrated on her feet swinging over the ground between her stretcher shafts.

  He rested his hand on Sophia's shoulder. “How does your wound feel now?”

  “It's numb. I remember the first night. I couldn't sleep at all from the pain, but it doesn't hurt at all now as long as I don't try to move it.”

  “What about the bumping? Does that hurt?”

  “I can feel it, but it doesn't bother me too much. I haven't thanked you for saving us from that creature.”

  He waved her thanks away. “You must still try to rest. You'll have a long recovery.”

  Sophia scanned the forest on both sides. “I don't want to rest. Every time I close my eyes, I have the same dreams. I can't get rid of it.”

  “What is it?”

  “I keep dreaming a giant lizard comes along and licks my wound. Its tongue is hot as fire, but it always makes my leg feel better. I know it sounds silly, but I can never dream anything else.”

  Fawks shot her a grin. “Maybe the lizard is the miracle everyone keeps talking about. Or maybe you are the miracle.”

  Sophia laughed out loud. “Don't start with that miracle stuff. That's ridiculous.”

  Fawks turned around. “What do you think, Sheena? Do you think the lizard is the miracle that brought Sophia back from the dead?”

  Sheena kept her head down. “I don't think anything.”

  “I have a better idea. Close your eyes now and see if the lizard comes back.”

  Sophia shot out her hand and gave him a playful slap on the shoulder. “I knew the first time I saw you that you would make a big joke out of this lizard stuff. It was only a dream. It doesn't mean anything.”

  Fawks dropped back to Sheena's side. “You've been carrying long enough. Let me take a turn.”

  “I'll keep going until noon. That's what everyone else is doing. I'll do my share.”

  “Just let me know if you change your mind.”

  “You never offered to take over from anybody else.”

  “You're different.”

  She couldn't hide her burning cheeks with her hands on the stretcher, but she didn't answer. Rex called out to Fawks, and he resumed his place at the front of the company.

  Sophia improved throughout the morning, and when the group stopped for their noon rest, she sat up and ate some of the morlock meat out of Fawks' bundle. Ron fluttered around her until Sophia told him to buzz off. “Do you know something? I can actually feel the life flowing through me. I never felt this good before in my life.”

  “You might feel good, but you still can't walk. You have a long way to go.”

  Sheena shook out her sore hands and patted Abigail on the back. “You did very well this morning. I didn't think you could do it, but you proved me wrong.”

  “Thank you, Sheena. I want to do my share, if you just tell me what it is.”

  “What about the girls? Do you want them to do their share, too? They could take turns in one place carrying the stretcher for half the day. That wouldn't tax them too much, and it would teach them the value of contributing to our survival out here."

  "You're right, of course, but I don't think Ron would agree to that. I don't think he wants the girls carrying Sophia across the countryside."

  "Have you asked him? He might surprise you."

  "I haven't asked him, and I don't intend to."

  "Why not? You're the woman in the family. You could just tell him you made the decision to include the girls in the line-up. He would have no choice but to go along with it."

  Abigail blushed. "I never thought of myself that way before. Things don't really work that way between me and Ron."

  "Maybe they should." Sheena walked away before she let herself say anything she might regret.

  When she strode down the line in search of someone else to pass the rest time with, she found everyone in the company occupied with someone else. Jasmine and Dana sat with Ron discussing the miracle of Sophia's recovery. Rex regaled the girls with vivid descriptions of his counterattack against the morlock and how he subdued it with his secret weapon.

  Only Fawks sat alone, as usual. As usual, everyone managed to avoid him. Sheena could spend the rest of her time in this forest avoiding him, too, or she could take the bull by the horns and wrestle it to the ground. She never shrank from confronting her problems before, and she would be cursed if she started now.

  She took a deep breath and sat down next to him. Without saying a word, he offered her a handful of the preserved meat. She took it and started chewing. The luscious flavorsome juice filled her mouth. Every day aged the meat to a more tender, savory delicacy.

  Sheena studied the grain of the meat in her hand. "Do you ever eat anything besides meat?"

  "Of course, we eat other things besides meat, but this is all we have at the moment. Don't you like it?"

  "I love it. It's delicious. I only wish I knew how you did it."

  "You saw what I did. There was no magic trick to it."

  "Was there a magic trick that made you suddenly interested in Sophia?"

  His head whipped around. "Are you jealous of her? Are you worried I'll substitute her for you?"

  Sheena snorted. "I only wish I could, but I wouldn't wish that on my worst enemy."

  He gasped, and his hand flew to his heart in mock dismay. "Sheena! I'm wounded. Tell me you didn't just say what I thought you just said."

  "Get serious. I'm asking you a question, and I'm not leaving you alone until you answer it. Why are you so interested in Sophia now? You wouldn't look sideways at her before.”

  He got serious. His eyes pierced her to the core. “That was before.”

  “Before what? Before you kissed me last night?”

  He shrugged. “Call it whatever you want. Things are different now."

  "Did you do something to help her?"

  "Something like what?"

  "I don't know. Maybe you knew some medicinal plant all along, and you used it to heal her when none of us was looking."

  "I told you and your doctor friend. I don't know any medicinal plant."

  "That's what you said, but I can't think of any other explanation for t
he way you're acting. You're suddenly interested in her when you wouldn't discuss her wound at all. You're talking and joking with her like you've known her for years and actually care what happens to her. What happened to change your attitude toward her?"

  "I always cared about what happened to her. I never wanted to see her die. I'm just happy she's feeling better now. She looks like she'll live, don't you think?"

  This time, Sheena fixed her own eagle eyes on his impenetrable mask of a face. "Now I know you're lying. You had something to do with her getting better. I know it."

  "What could I possibly do to make her better than your own doctor couldn't do?"

  "I can't explain it, but I know it's true. If you didn't do anything to help her, you know what caused her to recover like this and you won't tell me."

  Chapter 9

  Sheena managed to stay as far away from Fawks as she could for the rest of the day, even at the risk of rudeness. She never dared snub him outright in front of the others before, but she did it now. She refused even to talk to him, and when he spoke to her, she answered in one-syllable words before turning her back on him.

  The others noticed and showed him more consideration, but they still held him at a distance. Sheena couldn't bring herself to mention it to her friends, but they must have detected that strange aura around him when he first appeared. He affected the whole party the same way.

  Fawks responded to her withdrawal with amused nonchalance. He didn't try to intrude on her and spoke to her only when absolutely necessary. He continued to lead the party at the head of their line while Sheena brought up the rear.

  Even that only bound them closer together. No matter what she did, she found herself partnered with him in responsibility for this gang of interlopers. Everyone sensed it. Even Jasmine toned down her command to give sway to Sheena and Fawks. By the end of the day, everyone acknowledged the two of them were in charge. Everyone expected them to negotiate the logistics of their journey and make the hard decisions.

  Sheena resented their dependence. Since when was she their babysitter? They were all grown adults, except for the girls, of course. They all had serious combat training. Jasmine had the same combat and command training as Sheena. Yet here she was, going limp at the most crucial time and throwing herself and her team on Sheena's shoulders.

  From her place at the back of the line, Sheena placed herself side by side with Fawks. He wouldn't go limp, and he wouldn't throw himself on her mercy to get him through this. He at least could handle anything they came across in these woods, and he would use all his immense strength to help her handle it. How did she get into this position, anyway? How could a simple shuttle flight go so wrong?

  Toward the day's end, Fawks started walking faster. Every evening, he outstripped them and hurried ahead. When they caught up with him, he had their camp prepared with a fire going near some clear waterway. As darkness fell, he passed around the bundle of morlock meat.

  Sheena noticed the supply getting low, but she didn't mention it. Did anyone else notice it, or did they all plan to keep silent about that, too, until Fawks came up with some solution?

  She started to hate her comrades. What weaklings they were, when the hammer came down! Was this the caliber of officer of which the Allies were made? How did they ever conquer half the galaxy with ranks stuffed with rotten apples like these?

  She didn't mind so much when Fawks sat down next to her and tied up the bundle for the night. "I know you want something besides meat to eat, but I don't know the plants in these woods well enough to get you anything."

  "Forget I said it. I was just trying to make conversation."

  "We have lots of different kinds of food back home. Maybe you'd like to try them sometime."

  "When would I do that? I'm not going to your desert any time soon."

  "Maybe you could visit as part of your mission to this planet."

  "I have no mission to this planet. My mission ended when I landed the research team here."

  "Oh, right. Well, you could still visit."

  "So, tell me what kinds of food you have. There can't be much in the desert."

  "We grow plants in tunnels in our city complexes. We have vast underground gardens interconnecting all the different parts of the city. That's the only way we could feed so many people. The tunnels collect condensation from the soil all around to water the plants, and transparent overhead lenses let light in from the surface. The curators can open and close shafts to the surface to control the temperature in the tunnels."

  She stared at him. "How did your people develop all that? I thought the Krataks shunned technology."

  "My people developed the tunnels a long time ago. They couldn't survive in the desert without them, but the tunnels don't use any special technology. Everything about them runs by hand. People farm the tunnels and even raise livestock there."

  "What kind of livestock?"

  "Mostly pigs. Generations ago, my people raised a strain of the wild pig running in these forests. They changed the pigs' diet so they could be fed in the tunnels."

  "I thought you said the pigs were dangerous."

  "They are dangerous in the forests. In the tunnels, we keep them confined in caverns where they can't get out. They eat only that food the curators give them, and they don't do any harm to anyone. They breed prolifically and provide food to vast numbers of people."

  Sheena shook her head. "I would like to see that someday, but I don't see how I could ever get there."

  “I could take you there.”

  “And leave all my friends behind, alone and lost in this forest? I couldn't do that.” He studied her with his crisp eyes, but said nothing. “I'm sorry I was rude to you before. You must think I'm stuffy and repressed for being shocked by that kind of sexual freedom.”

  “I don't think you're stuffy and repressed. I just think the Allies aren't as advanced as they seem to believe they are. They seem to want everyone to believe it, too. That's the only reason you would find it shocking. If you experienced it for yourself, you would find it normal, as I do.”

  “So, have you had a lot of sexual encounters with a lot of different women? I suppose if you have no restrictions on who the young people can go with, you could have as many as you want. You would break out and go crazy, bonking everything on legs.” She dissolved in nervous giggles.

  “I haven't had any more than any other young man. When you grow up with that freedom, you don't break out and go crazy. You can't bonk everything on legs, as you put it, because the young women have as much say as you do about whether you bonk or not. Why do you laugh?”

  “It just sounds funny when you say it like that.”

  “You used that word. I'm only copying you.”

  “I used it as a joke. Now you're using it in conversation.”

  “Well, what word would you prefer me to use? I can think of a lot of different words for it, but I don't want to make you uncomfortable.”

  She covered her face with her hands, but that didn't help her stop laughing. “I don't care what word you use for it. Maybe we should talk about something else.”

  “Why should we? If you're curious about our people's ways, you may as well as ask whatever you want to ask. Isn't this team on the planet to study us and learn about us?”

  “They're here to study Clan Assan and Clan Harkniss, but you say you're different from them. If you hadn't come along and helped us, we would never have known anything about you. We might never have found out you exist.”

  “Oh, you would have found out we exist. You might not have learned anything about our mating customs, but you couldn't land on this planet without finding out we exist.”

  “Why not? You're so far away from this part of the planet, and with your cities being underground, we might have missed you entirely.”

  “We wouldn't allow that to happen. We would have contacted you eventually.”

  She didn't understand what he meant, so she shrugged.

  “Would you like to
go back to talking about the young people bonking each other?”

  “No, I wouldn't. Let's talk about something else.”

  “Then let's talk about you.”

  “What about me?”

  He moved closer to her. “Let's talk about what it would be like if you and I traveled to my city, with none of your friends around and with no customs or inhibitions to hold us back.”

  She tried to draw away. “I don't want to talk about that, either.”

  “But I do. I want to know what it would be like if you let yourself go the way you really want to and let me touch you and take you and make you scream with pleasure.”

  Her ears and neck burned, and not from the heat of the fire. In spite of all her efforts to will herself away from him, a torturous pain spread between her legs. Her flesh swelled and yearned for him to touch her the way he did before.

  She could turn away to the end of time. He already knew the effect he had on her. He could smell the desire rising from her skin. Her own sticky juices called him closer, pulling him in with gravitational force until he touched her.

  “Why do you resist your own desires, Sheena? Do you not find me attractive?”

  “I find you very attractive. Maybe that's why I resist it.”

  “That makes no sense at all.”

  “Not to you, maybe. You're dangerous.”

  “When have I ever done anything to hurt you? I've done nothing but help you since I first found you.”

  Her head shot up. “Is that why you've been doing this? Have you been helping us all this time as a way to get to me?”

  “Would that offend you if I had? Does my attention disturb you so much, that you would begrudge your friends my help to get rid of me?”

  “Of course not. I'm as grateful as the rest of them for your help.”

  His face went hard. “I don't want your gratitude.”

  “I know. You want my body.”

  “I don't want your body, Sheena. I want you. If I wanted your body, I could have had it a long time ago.”

  Her eyes popped open. “What's that supposed to mean? Would you have forced yourself on me?”

  “Don't you think I could have? I could have, if all I wanted was your body. I don't want your body. I want you to want me the way I want you. I want your desire. I want your pleasure. I want you to lower your defenses and let me in. I just can't understand why you don't do it. What could you possibly gain by maintaining them?”