Nuworld: Claiming Tara

by Fitzgerald, Laurie

  “We’re here to talk to you about Tara.” Darius didn’t want to waste time on civilities. He wanted to know why Tara had been here, and more importantly what the doctor told her.

  “Patha, you’re an old friend, but you know I can’t talk to you about my patients.”

  “As Patha said,” Darius interrupted, facing the doctor in the middle of his office. He didn’t like speaking to the doctor, then having the doctor address his answers to Patha. “We won’t take much of your time.”

  “What can I do for you?” The doctor continued to focus on Patha, and noticeably relaxed.

  “What did you find out while Tara visited you?” Darius knew the tone he used had a quiet, unquestionable authority.

  “I can’t tell you that.” The doctor rubbed his hand through his hair and sighed deeply. “This is a very sensitive situation.”

  “How pregnant is she?” Darius knew in his heart that the child was his, but he had to hear it from the doctor. He had to make sure Tara didn’t arrive in Gothman already pregnant.

  “Answer the question,” Patha ordered when the doctor hesitated.

  “About four cycles,” the doctor sighed again. “She’ll give birth before the New Winter.”

  “Thank you,” Patha said and stood.

  Darius had no regrets paying the Runner boy to follow Tara once his men had reported that his claim had left camp. Tara would learn soon enough that the Lord of Gothman’s claim would always be watched. She may view a claiming as demeaning, but to Gothman, she was a valued woman.

  When the boy reported that Tara was in the trailer with the Runner doctor, Darius had contacted Patha out of respect. Patha had told Darius he would go with him when Darius said he planned on visiting the doctor. Darius had accepted Patha’s offer, knowing the Runner leader would play diplomat.

  “There’s more.” Dr. Digo looked directly at Darius. Maybe the doctor had never been nervous, because he certainly didn’t look that way now. “She shouldn’t be in this environment. It’s not good for the baby.” He then turned and looked at Patha. “While Tara has always been good about ordering ladies in her command to step down when field maneuvers become dangerous for the unborn child, I detected confusion in her. I fear you might need to remind her it’s time to remove herself from the battlefield.”

  Patha and Darius looked at each other and left the trailer. Neither one looked forward to having that conversation with Tara.

  Tara woke the following morning alone on the down mattress. She and Darius had made love most of the night. Apparently now she’d overslept. She had procrastinated the night before in telling Darius about her visit to Dr. Digo. Darius had acted preoccupied until they went to bed. Now, he had left without waking her, and she had no idea where he had gone.

  She lay there a moment trying to convince herself to get up. It wasn’t like her to be this exhausted first thing in the morning. It was time to remove herself from duty, but she had responsibilities here. Of course, there were several good candidates she trusted to take over. But damn it, she wanted the action.

  Tara jumped to her feet when a large explosion shook the tent. Screams, and people running outside followed. Instinct took over. Tara dressed in a flash, hobbling to the entrance of the tent as she shoved her second boot on her raised foot. Another explosion rocked the ground before she got out of the tent.

  “Darius,” Tara shouted, struggling to wrap her comm around her ear. “Where are you?” She left the tent and jumped on her bike. “Hell be doomed!” she howled as another explosion created an unnatural light around her.

  For a moment there was no sound. Her head rocked from the impact of it. The explosion had been closed. Tara slowed her bike and finally reached the middle of camp, joining several soldiers squatting behind large barrels of water. “Report!” she yelled through the noise and understood when none of her Runners looked at her. Their eyes were on the sky.

  Tara’s comm beeped, and she slapped at the small button to activate it. “Yes,” she yelled.

  “Five aircraft just flew over us,” one of Tara’s commanders shouted in her ear. “We got one of them, but the others should be flying over you soon.”

  Tara squinted at the dark gray sky. “I see two approaching.” She didn’t see the other two.

  “They’re coming back around,” the Runner next to her yelled, and jumped behind the Gothman who squatted with an Eliminator resting on his shoulder.

  The powerful weapon was more than capable of destroying the aircraft flying overhead, if the shooter had good aim. Once Tara had arranged for Darius’ men to be equipped with eliminators, it immediately became their weapon of choice. There wasn’t time to take the eliminator from the Gothman and give it to a more skilled shot. She prayed the warrior had excellent marksman skills.

  “On my mark, fire,” Tara ordered. She hurried to give the Gothman space, knowing what kind of kick the thing had.

  “Fire!” Tara yelled.

  The Gothman pushed the large button on the side of the Eliminator, and then fell backward as a zinging sound pierced the air. Tara didn’t focus on the Gothman, but strained her neck to look at the sky and the two dark gray crafts now shadowing the ground.

  “Take cover! Take cover!” Someone screamed, but the advice wasn’t needed.

  A massive explosion overhead sent shrapnel zooming to the ground. Once again her world went silent. The attack in the air was loud enough to pierce her eardrums. A humming sound violated her senses as she crouched to the ground with her arm over her head. She wasn’t able to hunch over as much as she normally would. It seemed something prevented her ribs from getting as close to her hipbones. Something was preventing her—the baby growing inside her. It was a harsh reminder that she was not in a suitable environment. Tara never would allow one of her warriors to endure direct fire if they were pregnant.

  “It’s a direct hit!” The Gothman next to her let out a whoop of excitement then immediately ducked.

  “Excellent,” Tara whispered as watched the craft ripple with fire. More burning fragments began twirling to the ground. The second plane wasn’t hit, and it fired on the camp.

  The ground exploded around them. Either large pieces of the aircraft, the hit from the remaining craft, or both, shook the ground hard enough that Tara stumbled to the side. She dug bits of dirt underneath her fingernails when she braced herself, not wanting her body slammed too hard in any way.

  She wasn’t able to focus on her pregnancy and keeping them all alive. Tara grabbed the eliminator from the Gothman, who had let it go limp in his arm. She swung it with one arm so it rested on her shoulder and aimed at the craft when it hovered over them.

  Tara fired and flew backward. She lost her footing and slipped to the ground, landing rather hard on her rear end. All wind was knocked out of her. It seemed the jarring of her body was more extreme than usual. She’d fired eliminators enough times to know how hard their kick was. She told herself it was her imagination that her body seemed to react more to the fire power of the weapon than usual.

  A moment after she fired, the aircraft exploded. It was impossible to see anything—the flames and smoke surrounding her made it difficult to see the weapon still in her hands. But the bright flames that burst into the sky was enough to know she’d made her mark.

  “Tara! What’s going on?” Darius’ voice boomed into her too-sensitive ear.

  “Four aircrafts were reported. We believe all four are down. Where are you?” Tara coughed as black smoke filled the air.

  “Help!” someone screamed.

  Tara leapt to her feet but then balanced herself as a wave of dizziness made it impossible to move. This is no place for a woman in your condition, the warrior inside her chided. Tara promised herself she’d step down as soon as possible. Runners with spray packs on their backs began hosing down the isolated fires. The water turned the black smoke to gray as it filled the air.

  “Where are you?” she asked again.

  Tara put her hand over her mouth
and nose when she could barely breathe. Her headscarf didn’t stop the thickness of the smoke from filling her lungs.

  “We’re at the edge of the Blood Circle camp. My reports tell me the Gothman camp took the worse hit. Patha says your landlink shows you’re right in the middle of it.”

  “All is under control now. And I’m fine. But what about you? Are you okay?” Tara coughed again and ignored the curses she heard through her comm.

  Her comm beeped again, and she reached for the thin wire that ran along her cheek from her ear to her mouth. “Stand by Darius,” she said.

  “What?” he barked. “Hell be—”

  But she cut him off with a sigh, regretting that when she saw him next he would probably keep yelling. “Tara here,” she said as she tapped the side of her comm.

  “Frig here, Tara,” one of the Runner soldiers she had known since childhood responded. “We’ll have these fires out in no time. I’ve got a medic team reporting only three wounded.”

  “Thanks, Frig.”

  The attack didn’t last long, although it seemed half the day passed. Even though casualties had been few, the soldiers were shaken, and the campsite was partially burned, but functional.

  “Darius, were you hit hard?” Tara waited too long before his deep baritone swam through her senses. She wanted to know if he was injured, and if Patha was okay, along with the rest of her family. Darius would view that as a sign of weakness, however. So Tara kept her comments pertaining to the issue at hand.

  “A few casualties. Prepare yourselves. More crafts have been spotted!” He sounded stressed.

  Any warrior would be anxious under pending attack, but she couldn’t help but hope he wanted to be at her side as much as she wished she were with him. “Acknowledged,” she said simply and shut off her comm after hearing the termination on Darius’ end.

  Tara left the minimal protection offered by the water barrels and moved her way through the active camp. She tapped her comm again and addressed Frig. “We have more crafts headed our way.”

  “Several of my best warriors are armed with Eliminators,” he told her. “We’ll have the Sea People out of the sky before they’re able to attack this time.”

  “Make sure of it.”

  A hit of adrenaline surged through her from the enthusiasm in Frig’s voice. Well-trained warriors lived for battle. They fought for a just cause, and Runners and Gothman would be triumphant. Tara held her head high as she worked her way toward her bike. Those around her straightened, or moved faster when they saw her. If they only knew how their reaction to her inspired her to hold her own.

  Daylight barely managed penetrating the smoke and dust swirling around them. By mid-afternoon, the sky remained a dark gray, and black clouds created from burnt rubble and campfire smoke, hung heavy and low.

  Visibility was so poor, Tara barely distinguished the people around her from inanimate objects. The trees outlining the camp were completely obscured. She tracked her warriors’ movements from her landlink.

  Water used to put out fires had turned the camp into a mud drenched, dark gray world. If it weren’t for the energy coursing like electricity through her veins, her surroundings would have been gloomy. As it was, she tapped her keypad and paid acute attention to her screen, which possibly made everything around her more acceptable.

  Glancing up, Tara spotted a group of Gothman soldiers through the murk. They continued past her without a glance in her direction. “What are your orders?” she yelled after them.

  “Preparing to search the surrounding area, them’s the orders.” The Gothman only half-turned to acknowledge Tara, an act she’d grown accustomed with many of the Gothman.

  “The area surrounding the camp?” Tara wondered if someone had picked up movement, and she hadn’t yet been told. “Who gave you your orders?”

  “Lord Darius.” This time the Gothman didn’t even turn when he answered, but instead signaled his men to begin their search.

  “Darius?” Tara asked after tapping her comm.

  “What do you need? Are you okay?” The concerned sound in his tone made Tara want to tell him she would be better if she were at his side.

  “Have you spotted movement surrounding the camp? Why wasn’t I notified?” She heard mumbling through her comm and surmised Darius was speaking to someone with him.

  “Your landlinks show no activity,” Darius said after he finished talking to whomever he was with.

  “Then why did you order men to search the area?” Tara waved at the Gothman leader to halt his men.

  He only appeared mildly interested in her gesture, and didn’t stop his men.

  “To make sure the area is secure.”

  “Tara, we’ve spotted the crafts!” Frig waved frantically from several tents’ distance. He looked like a dark shadow floating toward her.

  Tara’s comm beeped in her ear. “Darius, order your men to cease their search. It’s a waste of manpower.” Tara barked the order, suddenly frustrated with the man for not trusting Runner equipment and belittling her authority by issuing commands she didn’t know about.

  She hit the small button on the silver stem of the comm to acknowledge the next call, cutting Darius off in midrebuttal.

  “Eliminators are ready,” a Gothman grunted in her ear.

  At least the Gothman stationed at this camp recognized her authority. Granted, she was in the Gothman camp, and Darius was at the clan site. Not that she didn’t doubt for a moment he was in communication with all his men. She was the highest ranking here, though, and that fact couldn’t be questioned. She might be the claim to the lord of Gothman, but in this battle, she was the second highest ranking member of all Runner clans.

  Tara ran back to her bike, ignoring the stitch cutting from her lower abdomen down her leg. She started the bike with one hand and moved it slowly while attaching her landlink to the handlebars. “When you have them in target, fire,” she ordered, deciding to monitor the attack inside one of the nearby Runner trailers.

  An explosion shook the ground. People flew into the air not too far from Tara’s right. She accelerated, hugging her bike, then swerved to avoid falling debris.

  “One of the crafts has a different type of artillery on it,” one of her commander’s shouted through the comm.

  “Get those blasted things out of the air!” Tara yelled over the growing confusion around her.

  Another explosion shook the ground.

  Tara was forced to stop her bike when several Gothman bolted in front of her. Then she heard the zinging sound of an eliminator.

  “Yes!” Several cheered as one of the crafts twirled and burst into flames.

  She moved around barricades and soldiers issuing orders until she reached the spot where two Runners stood next to each other, aiming eliminators at the second craft. Tara parked, jumped off her bike and stood as close as she dared to the marksmen, watching the sky the whole time.

  Eliminators were fired. A fiery inferno burst into light as bright as the sun in the otherwise, dark greyish black sky.

  “Well done!” Tara cheered, grinning at the bleeding red colors spilling to the ground.

  “Thank you.” The man had a big toothy smile as he looked at the dismembering craft. He then hugged the warrior next to him and the two men kissed.

  Tara allowed them their moment of celebration and hurried to her bike.

  “I want a report of damages,” Tara continued issuing orders through her comm as she mounted her bike and headed with more speed to the nearest trailer. The ground billowed smoke, and the stench of burning metal, rubber and human flesh turned her stomach. “Get this camp in order and prepare for any further attacks.”

  Over the next few weeks, the Sea People challenged the Gothman borders, but Gothman and Runners managed to keep them at bay. Tara remained in charge of all Runner’s in the Gothman camp, in spite of Darius’ men continually challenging her command.

  Patha and Darius began to bond, with Patha taking the role of mentor. Tara knew Pat
ha looked ahead to a time after his death, when she and Darius would rule both races. To this end, Patha considered it his highest priority to train Darius, to help him understand the Runner way.

  It was late one night when Tara ventured to the front line to find Patha and Darius. The rocky ground jostled her bike, and when she stood after riding, mild stitches shot down her legs from her pelvis. Knowing the discomfort came from overworking the muscles holding her baby in place, she stood still until the bits of pain subsided and she could walk without discomfort.

  As she glanced about her at the busy clan site, now turned into a military operation on the front line, Tara saw Patha and waved. Idly, she noticed that he appeared to stop speaking into his comm as soon as he saw her.

  Flicking off the device, he waved back, and after saying something to the Runner he was with, began walking toward her, smiling. His smile warmed her. She narrowed the distance between them, taking care not to jolt her body as she stepped on uneven ground.

  “It appears we’ve a break in the action. The report I received this morning showed the Sea People have regrouped and returned to their camp.” Patha looked tired, but happy as he greeted her.

  “And how are you doing?” She slid her arm around his and walked with him into camp.

  “I’m fine Tara-girl, just fine.” Patha chuckled and patted her arm. “Darius and I plan on preparing our next method of attack today. You’re just in time. Come to my trailer.”

  “We’ve three more clans arriving from the east,” Darius said, without looking up as Patha and Tara entered Patha’s trailer, which was the newly converted main headquarters.

  Darius sat at the landlink reviewing incoming transmissions from his commanders and a newly arrived clan, the Kill Water clan. He responded with orders, telling the clan where to set up camp. Then he turned and spotted Tara. As she tossed her jacket on the back of a chair, he immediately noticed bones showing at the top of her shoulders. He stood and removed her headscarf without asking.

  Her blue eyes searched his features before meeting his gaze. Dark, puffy circles rimmed her eyes and her face was gaunt. Her skin looked gray, partially from lack of sleep and partially from dirt and campfire smoke. She smelled of the smoke and anti-inflammatory powder.