The Savage Blood (Savage Series, Book 2)

by Tamara Rose Blodgett

  *

  Clara watched them as they came to her. The one with the weapon knelt beside her. His eyes met Joe's. “How long do we have?”

  Joe looked at his wrist where numbers were illuminated beneath his skin. “Maybe five minutes, tops. Get the sample quickly. We've already disturbed the Continuum enough.”

  Clara watched the one called Gary withdraw a small, paddle-shaped device where a small beacon of green light beat like a heart at its tip. He began to pass it back and forth, starting at her head and working down until he reached her feet. He made one more pass, depressing his thumb at its base. The light flickered off and he put it inside his strange garment with many pockets.

  Tears rolled out of Clara's eyes as she spoke, “You are the Travelers.”

  They looked at her. Then Gary reached into his other pocket and extracted a tiny disc which had squat needles covering one side in its entirety.

  He ignored her question. Saying instead, “This is going to hurt.”

  Joe held her arm in position while Gary pierced her flesh with the disc and turned it a quarter rotation.

  Clara screamed. It was as if a mouth with razor blades had been set upon her skin and turned like a barb that once evacuated, tore the flesh from the bone.

  Joe gritted his teeth. “I hate this part.”

  “You need to get past the fact she's a woman. She is the Key. Keep that in mind, Pal.”

  “You keep it in mind. You're not the one looking into her eyes, asshole.”

  Gary met his eyes. “Steady, we're almost done then she can go back to her life. You know, the one she lives so that we can in the future. You feel me.”

  Joe glared at him. “I do. But look at her.”

  Clara looked into his eyes and let every emotion at this violation stand there naked. She was rewarded by his eyes flinching in response.

  She noticed how green they were.

  “She seems so young...” he lifted his hand to touch her face.

  “Don't. Don't get attached. We're never seeing her again. She's not young for this time.” Gary looked in another pocket, throwing a package to Joe who deftly caught it midair.

  “I am scared. I cannot move,” Clara said. Her vulnerability a terrible pain in her chest.

  Joe flicked his eyes to hers, tearing a strange metallic package apart with his teeth as he pressed his fingers into the crook of her elbow. He blew the scrap away and pushed an opaque gel-like substance out of the top with his fingers. He smeared it on the wound that the disc had left as he handed the offensive thing over to Gary. He flipped his wrist over, as he depressed his fingers against her flesh. He seemed to be counting. Numbers appeared, sequentially getting higher by the moment.

  “She's too low. We need to give her something.”

  “No, she's part Band, they don't have a heart-rate within our norms. She'll be fine. You put the salve on her, let's get out of here. The Band will wake. They metabolize the juice quicker than humans.”

  Clara rolled her eyes to the Band which lay all around. She watched as their bodies began to twitch. Already they wakened from the vileness that had breached their defenses.

  Clara noticed that she could move her fingers and toes.

  The men surveyed the Band. “Time to go.”

  They stood, Joe gently folded Clara's arm across her stomach, his face regretful but determined.

  They moved under the Pathway's mouth, a horse length above them and unbuttoned the strange tunics they wore. Clara watched as a light pulsed beneath the skin of their breastbone and they were slowly drawn toward the opening.

  Joe's eyes met hers.

  Clara whispered her rage, “You are stewards of nothing.”

  His jaw clenched and he looked away, Gary's face turned to the mouth of the portal, their bodies being absorbed as if gulped. Then they were gone.

  A burst of light pulsed then disappeared, the Pathway along with it.

  *

  Clara lay upon the dirt of the tunnel floor as the Band gathered around her.

  “Can you move?” Evelyn asked and Clara gave her a withering look.

  “I would be upon my feet if I could,” Clara said and watched Evelyn's lip quiver.

  “Forgive me, Dear-Heart. I know that you were frightened. I was as well.” Clara had actually never been more terrified in all her years.

  “A better idea is moving to the body of the sphere. These Travelers obviously have advanced weaponry,” Edwin said.

  “Their weapons cause the twilight sleep,” Sarah said.

  “Not to all,” Matthew said, gathering Clara into his arms. She hung limply in the cradle of his embrace but with an effort was able to put her arm between she and his chest. It felt so wonderful to be off the ground.

  “Are you certain you should carry Clara having just rid yourself of the after effects of ...” Maddoc began.

  Matthew looked at him. “I would not carry her if I was unable.”

  Evelyn smiled smugly at Maddoc and he glowered at her. His eyes traveling to the small wounds where the needles had punctured her. His eyes flicked to hers and her face grew warm under his scrutiny.

  “Does it hurt?” he asked Evelyn and Clara smiled.

  “Does your wounds hurt you?” she countered.

  “No,” he said in a dismissive huff.

  “It is the same for me,” she said as she shrugged her small shoulder.

  “But you are female and therefore more fragile...” he began as if my rote.

  “Argh! It matters not. Flesh is flesh...you...!” Evelyn stomped away.

  Maddoc looked after her. “Is it so untoward that I inquire over a wound she suffered when males with ill intent raid your sphere, Clara?”

  Clara rolled her eyes to his. “I think not. However,” Clara watched as Evelyn marched away toward the sphere, “she is an independent female and likes to feel as if she can defend herself.”

  “She cannot!” Maddoc fumed. “She needs one of the Band to protect her, obviously,” he swung his palm after her departing figure. “She is most fragile, even for a female.”

  “I do not know, my brother,” Matthew said, the deep rumble of his chest vibrating against Clara's body in a pleasant way. “She seemed to do very well against the intruders. One wears the marks of her teeth even now.”

  Sarah smiled and they began to their make way after Evelyn.

  They walked in silence for a time then Clara asked, “How was it that you were alerted?”

  Maddoc strode alongside Matthew and answered, “I am an Intuitive. I am used in my Band for this express purpose. I felt,” Maddoc put a hand to his chest, “an ache here.” He looked at Clara as they walked, then away. “It is the same thing which tells me Mother is in danger. I have saved her thrice. When I feel thus, I know peril awaits. She was whole so I presumed it mayhap was you.” His aqua eyes bored into hers and she held his gaze.

  If it had been the Traveler’s intent to take her, they could have. But they did not. Still, they could not have anticipated the Band being in attendance. Yet, they had the weapons which paralyzed and caused sleep.

  “It was contingency that they possessed those weapons,” Edwin surmised thoughtfully. “They are an enemy that strikes when we least expect it.”

  “They are not the Guardian's of legend. A people that saved us from peril. Rather, they were self-serving, caring only for what they may need. That they tamper with this time line says much,” Clara said against Matthew's chest. Finally they arrived at the point where the sentry guarded, his eyes widening as he saw the ragged group.

  “Queen Clara, have you been injured?”

  “I am fine,” Clara responded as Matthew stood her upon her feet.

  She immediately collapsed as her legs were still numb beneath her, Matthew catching her easily.

  “Let me get the remainder of the Guard,” the sentry said with real apprehension. The entire Royal Guard were new, Clarence the only one from the old who lived.

  She shook her head, embarrassed. �
�Do not. I have a tale to tell and I will do it after I am my rightful self once again.”

  Matthew brought her to her chamber, with Edwin and Daniel as escorts. They were met by a disapproving Olive.

  “What has happened?” She launched into a scolding tirade and Clara insisted they lay her down and she would explain all.

  The three men bid her goodbye, each face a mirror of the other.

  Clara closed her eyes against the emotions so plainly held in them.

  CHAPTER 36

  Clara let tears of joy run down her face, the lacy handkerchief clutched in her hand already damp beyond use. She watched as Joseph gave a final kiss to Anna, their hand written vows uttered and put away. The Band stood split and at attention, perfectly equal on either side of the couple.

  It was historic event. The first Wedded Joining of clan-dwellers inside the sphere. It was also the first joining of one of the Band.

  Not all the Band stood beside Joseph during the Wedded Joining.

  Edwin, Matthew and Daniel flanked Clara. Her unlikely courtship continued with Edwin and Matthew, Daniel maneuvering for inclusion as well. It drove Clara mad. Rowenna stood as the only female beside Evelyn. Clara's mother looked resplendent in yards of lilac fabric, designed just for this occasion. Their eyes met and Clara watched as Rowenna's gaze shifted to Edwin and the pressure Clara was already feeling pressed harder upon her. Her tears of joy began to run as sadness. She had so many who placed their expectations upon her shoulders. Clara knew as she sat breathing, that someone would be devastated by the choices she must make.

  And make them she must.

  She could feel Matthew's eyes on her and sighed. He had said his patience was not limitless. That meant that one of the three may kill each other to force her choice. She could not marry one who was dead. Surely they had already contemplated that alternative.

  Then there was the infiltration of the Travelers. Why had they incapacitated all, to take a piece of her flesh? The Timekeeper hypothesized they needed a sampling of her. But for what purpose? It had changed the way her protection was handled. Privacy was a thing of the past, she no longer walked the tunnel with Sarah. If the Travelers could appear at will, then she was no longer safe there. Key or no, she no longer owned her daily life. The threat of their appearance lingering a month past their untimely visit.

  The happy couple turned and faced the kingdom's people, which had bulged to a third more than before the massacre by the fragment. The people stood, their applause deafening against the soundproofing embrace of the sphere.

  Rose petals were thrown from the aisle as they parted the sea of people in the middle, a rain of fragrant blossoms covering them both. Clara had never seen a woman as happy as Anna. She had come so far.

  No longer abused, escaping her past and the violence therein, to an ending wrought with protection, joy and love.

  *

  A knock sounded and Clara said without looking up, “Enter.”

  It was Bracus and she smiled in greeting. “Queen Clara...”

  “We are alone, Bracus.”

  “Clara,” he said, smiling.

  She nodded and he continued, “We have assembled the Band.”

  Clara sighed, she could not dissuade him from this pursuit but she would try one more time. “You are leaving everyone here without protection, even Rowenna.”

  Bracus winced and scrubbed a hand over his face. Clara knew the card she dealt was quite underhanded but she thought this was a ridiculous thing to undertake.

  “We need to kill them, Clara; force them to submit. Until Tucker is recovered he will be as Prince Frederic, an indefinite threat.”

  It was Clara's turn to wince. It was true, the prince had been very close to killing her. All due to the fact that he was not dispatched initially, then again. Daniel was on the side of Bracus. He foretold Tucker would not drop his plan to take over the sphere simply because it was difficult. He would gather more in number, absorb smaller fragment to aid him. Clara did not think it wise. He could not penetrate the sphere, so what was the real danger? She told this to Bracus, yet again.

  Bracus paced, finally halting in front of her window. “Do you remember when I first beheld you here?”

  Clara nodded then realized he could not see her from behind. She came around to the side of him and he flinched when she touched him. She dropped her hand and the questions stood in her eyes.

  “Do you not see? This is the only thing stopping the fragment from their violence,” he pushed his hand into the sphere, the wall giving with the pressure. He took his hand away and the print filled in as if it had never been. “What if it were no more?”

  Clara shrugged a shoulder. “But it is. It has always been.”

  He grasped her shoulders and stared intently in her eyes. “We are not enough to protect both the sphere and the clan. Do you understand if we subdue the fragment now, they can never be a threat?”

  Clara moved out of his hold and he allowed it. There was something that was nagging at her. “Why such urgency, Bracus?” her eyes boring into his. She saw a flicker of something then it was gone. But she had seen it.

  “Speak of which you keep from me.”

  He sighed, walking away from the window. He turned to her, his immense size looming. “I have been speaking with Daniel.”

  Clara rolled her eyes. Daniel was a man of truth but she felt he was a trifle paranoid.

  “He does not speak falsely. Do you not remember when he was set to be executed?”

  Clara nodded. She would never forget that day. That was the day she had righted an injustice.

  “Do you think it is coincidence that the Evil Ones appear as they do...now?”

  Clara had wondered why these events had seemed to transpire with such precision. Her discovery after Ada's death about her true mother, the journey, her real heritage. That she was somehow the Key. The singular savior of the future. A future where humanity had been tampered with beyond repair. A future where humans were viable only because of her existence. It would be a heady thing for some. For Clara, it was another burden to reconcile.

  “Yes, I have thought that. But I refuse to go into the mire of speculation. It is too profound to contemplate. It could be any number of reasons.”

  “What if I were to tell you that the spheres themselves may be gone?”

  Clara's brows furrowed. “What say you?”

  “Tucker has knowledge of the Evil Ones.”

  Clara nodded.

  “Is it without possibility he has found a way, using their advancements to nullify the protection that your people have enjoyed for one hundred forty years past?”

  “What has Daniel told you?”

  Bracus paused then said, “He has said that Tucker's plan was always to overtake the sphere, that too soon it would disappear altogether and the impact of his leadership would not be as impressive.”

  “Why...how...would our sphere be no more?”

  Bracus came to Clara and cupped his huge hands around her shoulders. “It is the design of the Evil Ones to integrate the peoples.”

  “Whom? The sphere-dweller and clan-dweller alike?”

  He shook his hand and watched as she put the puzzle together. “The fragment?”

  He nodded, his face weary and agonized.

  She blanched. “We cannot! They are the most violent of people, placed here by the Guardians as they did not wish to police their own dredges!” She pulled away from Bracus and paced.

  Whirling on him she said, “We will be without protection! It will be as the massacre, but much worse.”

  “You see why I defend us by our preemptive strike.”

  Clara's mind ran feverishly over everything that he said. “But for now, we are safe.”

  “For now. But for how long? Daniel said that Tucker will work with the advancements that he is privy to until he finds one which is large enough to degrade the thing standing between he and what he wants.”

  “Which is?”

  “The sp
heres. All.” His gaze never left hers.

  “We shall not borrow the worry before it comes for us. Fine. Go and scout, try to subdue what fragment is near. But know this, if something were to come about in your absence, we are woefully unprepared.”

  They stared at each other. “It is not by choice that I leave. I would not willfully leave Rowenna or you. However, if we do not act, they will.”

  “What can they endeavor to do? They do not have the salt of the sea to lather the sphere with.”

  He shook his head. “No, they do not. We are very far inland and the Pathway is unusable for those without savage blood. They would not risk it.”

  “Then they can do nothing,” she said with finality.

  There was a knock on the door and Charles rushed in. There was an awkwardness as Charles took in what Clara knew looked like an intimate conversation. They had just begun speaking again but the rift remained wide.

  “Queen Clara...Bracus,” he said, barely able to contain his derision for Bracus.

  “What is it?” Clara said, keeping a firm grip on her patience.

  “There is a matter which you need to see.” Sweat beaded his upper lip and his garments were askew. Clara frowned. It was very unlike Charles to be flustered.

  Bracus and she quickly followed him out.

  The Band waited outside the Royal Manse along with Rowenna. Her eyes met Matthew's and his were grim. What in Guardian's name was happening?

  They hurried to the sphere tunnel. The sentry on duty began to speak rapidly but Clara raised her hand to silence him. “I do not understand. You are saying that, there are stones in the wall?”

  Clara looked above her head and saw stone like dots, like the measles of her childhood, peppering the sphere. As she watched, more fell like rain, embedding themselves in the pillow like walls.

  Charles looked at her. “We are under attack, Clara.”

  Bewildered, she gazed Outside. Through the opaque wall she could see many people in the distance.

  Graves in between.

  Without turning away she said, “Guard. Fetch me the apparatus which magnifies.”