“So...” Hand on hip she ran down her logic. “So maybe he’s bad partly because he’s low on power after being underground.”
“Maybe. That’d be good.” Sawyer smiled. “Good thinking. There is hope then.”
“Yes.” She almost smiled back. Not to him though, she’d not smile at him – Mister Asshole himself. There was more hope than she’d expected. “I need...I need both these up on his shoulders. Unless we can attach them however the others stick up there, you’ll need rope.”
“Rope? I’m good with that.”
He would be. Ari rolled her eyes.
If the mechlings detached and fell while JI was inside them, she figured it’d snap off a part of his mind. Bad. Very bad.
If. If she could even get them connected. The leads he’d plugged into the other mechling transferred data but they needed more than that. This needed intimacy. Inches at most of distance. She’d reduced the swelling in his brain before, made it weave back into the dead space, this was just a hundred times more difficult.
“I heard two men went missing on the journey through the Undercity. Vanished. Dragged away? No one said until we were out.”
She didn’t know how to answer that. His statement lay like an ominous rumble making the day feel heavy. The things that might’ve happened...and they had to leave by doing it all again.
Then she figured it – this was a warning. Run and the monsters will get you.
He’d forgotten he was a monster too.
It took Sawyer a long time to get the mechlings up to where she needed them, and she sat crosslegged watching him work, lashing them there with rope. Though she hated him, as a person, he was a fine specimen of a man with all those muscles. If only he were nice.
He managed to snug them directly up to JI’s head at points where there were lead connection points. Bonus. How fine a piece of his neural tissue could she weave? The mechlings had connection points also. Then she’d have raw neural tissue crossing from one to the other.
This could go so terribly wrong.
Then the blue mist began to rise from these two new leeches on JI’s back. They were powering up. To what end? When she climbed up JI, using his arms as ladders, she felt their brains stirring. Parts were livening.
Ari stuck the knuckle of her finger in her mouth and bit down. If they became aware again and JI knew, he might refuse them. Whoever had told this mech to have morals?
“What’s wrong?” Sawyer called up to her.
“I’m worried these will become too aware, but on the other hand if we leave them to power down, they will be too dead to use.”
“It’s late. Let fate do what she will. Come eat. That’s a command.”
Sighing, she climbed down. The only lights were JI’s eyes and the blue lightsticks at a camp further along beneath this overhang. Tomorrow she would do what she could for him.
Chapter 20
Flames climbed above a fire pit made to cook meat. A few Scavs had brought down prey before night descended on the clearing. After the week they’d spent under the ground, freshly cooked meat was something they all yearned for. Ari found herself salivating.
Sitting at the foot of Sawyer’s seat, she watched as he returned from the fire with a plate full of roasted vegetables and meat. Though the vegetables were pitifully small and looked as if scavenged from a debris heap, the meat was plentiful. Most of the men had slaves or wives collecting food. Sawyer probably thought she’d poison him.
If she could have, yes...
He was biting into the meat on a bone when Zarr roared an announcement from where he perched on a rock he’d presumably decided was his throne. From the slurring of words, he’d found something to drink. The glint of a bottle he waved above his head confirmed that. The liquid within it reflected gold as it sloshed about.
“I need a fight! I choose Saw and Dayne. We never saw the true end to the last one.”
People nudged Sawyer, urged him to stand. Slowly he did so. “Here. Doesn’t look as if I’ll get to eat the rest. Take care of her, Keera.”
The name Keera was familiar. She took the thin metal plate. Though the smell tempted her, she set it before her feet. Someone else settled into the ancient chair Sawyer had been using and she glanced up. Oh. That Keera – the woman who spoke up and saved her that day when three warriors had thought to rape her.
“I’ll be guarding you from the wild things tomorrow.” Keera grinned. “Hurt my foot getting here, so I’ll rest while you do whatever it is you want to do to that mech.”
From her other side, Sassik leaned in. “She’s a good warrior. You’ll be fine with her.”
Wide-eyed, almost dreading tomorrow, Ari nodded then pretended to be interested in the fight.
“I hope they manage to do this without anyone getting killed,” Sassik added, eyes on the area where Dayne and Sawyer had stripped to their pants.
No weapons again. At least. No swords. She gulped, remembering. She had nothing to worry about. Neither man concerned her if he died. Really.
“How could they die?” she ventured.
“Wrestling here,” Keera said quietly. “Accidents happen, and Zarr is in a mood to get them to do this until they are both exhausted. Stupid, but this happens.”
Ages passed, blows were exchanged, the men and women between her and the fight rose to their feet, and Keera refused to let her do so. She could only follow the fight by the sounds of blows and the cheers and screams of people.
“He should stop this.” Sassik said, grunting at the end. He was standing and could no doubt see more. “It’s too much. We have to walk a long way tomorrow.”
A second later a roar went up.
“Ah! He’s down. That hold could kill if... Yes! Good! He yields.”
Words were shouted, by Zarr, from the tone. The crowd grumbled fiercely.
“No!”
“No!”
Keera frowned and looked down at her. “Zarr wants your man to finish the fight. He has Dayne down. Killing him is so dumb we may have a new leader next warband meeting.”
“Hey, yeah. Agreed. Done. He’s helped Dayne up and basically given the thumb to Zarr. The man is angry.” Sassik slumped.
“Bad.” Keera also sat.
“Yes.”
Looking from one to the other, Ari was still contemplating what this might mean when Sawyer forged his way through the crowd with Dayne, arm over arm. She wasn’t sure who supported who.
“Your chair, sir.” Keera rose.
“No. His.” Sawyer gulped. “Fuck. Just fuck.” He helped Dayne sit in the chair then instead sat on the ground between her and Sassik.
She nearly missed the next words when Sassik bent down and picked up the plate of meat, as if to hand it to Sawyer. “Later, we talk. Okay?”
“Sure.” The plate was exchanged, and Sawyer poked the food then lowered it to his lap.
This talking sounded like a secret meeting. She might not get a seat at it, but she’d bet they planned to discuss Zarr.
The night aged; the food was eaten. People fooled about as if the fight had been nothing, laughing, talking, most drifted away. Zarr was nowhere visible.
“You will come with me.” Sawyer stood and stretched, groaning, rotating his shoulder. Though his wounds no longer bled, she’d bet he had many new bruises. “Do it.”
He handed her the leash, and she fumbled and attached it to her collar. Not locked on but she supposed he thought it adequate. She wasn’t going anywhere, here, tonight.
The meeting turned out to be between Sassik, Dayne, and Sawyer. On the far side of the clearing, the warriors sat on the ground and eyed each other for several minutes in silence. Then Keera materialized from the darkness. The moons overhead played silvery tones on the fine grass and their hair.
“All is clear,” Keera said. “I found no one.”
“Good.” Dayne spoke so quietly. “Sound may travel so we must be soft in tone. Do we all agree Zarr is not fit to be our leader?”
They all ass
ented. Being behind Sawyer and at his back, not everything said came to her clearly.
“Then here is one important thing Sassik and I must tell you. We have never truly been a part of this warband. We are here to watch, on Osta’s orders.”
“Okay,” Sawyer said, noncommittal.
“Osta returns. Soon I hope. We send out trained Vikans to him with messages, and they fly back to us, but not since the last clearing have we had word. All we know is soon, and that he brings a war machine dug up from a base and revived.”
“DRAC missiles?” Sawyer cut in.
“No. Not those. I can say this. He is a good thinker, our Osta. He would love you with your way of talking to the JI-mech and this girl who sees inside mechs. Okay? You have to stay alive and well until we can reunite with our real leader.”
“How many do you think will go with Osta from this warband?” Keera asked.
“Half?” Sassik said.
“Yes, maybe more than half. We asked you here, Keera and Sawyer, as we trust you. And we know you, Sawyer, are likely to be demoted soon by Zarr unless a miracle happens.”
“Demoted meaning?”
“He’ll make you a slave again. Give her to someone else. If he does, don’t despair. You’re a worthy addition for any warband. We will free you once we can.”
By her, Dayne meant her, Ari. This conversation revolved mostly around Sawyer. They’d probably forget to save her if things became chaotic. Besides, there was no mention of freedom for her.
“Okay.” Sawyer shifted. “I understand, just if he tries, I’m not sure I will sit still to be made a slave again. You know, it’s going to hit a nerve.”
“Do not react rashly.” Sassik put a hand on Sawyer’s shoulder. “You must not. Must. Not.”
“I will try; this is all I can tell you.”
“Good. Try. Zarr is not a man who understands justice or honesty. Osta is. He also wants to take down a Mekker swathe. It’s worth waiting, even as a slave.”
Sawyer rocked back and forth, buried his head in his hands. “I see. Yes. I want that. Need it.”
It was...interesting to see him at a weak point. That he could show weakness, at all, was fascinating to her.
“What did you want me to do?” Keera said.
“You have a lot of friends in this warband. We hoped you’d spread the word, discreetly, about Osta. I think many would flock to him if they knew he was coming.”
“You’re correct. They would. Osta plans to take the fight to the Mekkers again? That didn’t end well the last time we tried in earnest.”
“I can’t say exactly his plans but yes, he hopes to. He wouldn’t try unless we had a good chance of striking a great blow,” Dayne replied. His face was turned into fine crags and ravines by the light washing down. His eyes were dark pits, his hair a silvered lawn, and his eyebrows were equally pretty. When she studied the small scene, all of them seemed ethereal.
The moment became solid – as if this were a time that should be remembered, when a decision of note was made.
She scoffed at her interpretation. The moonlight had frizzled her brain.
Elbows on his thighs, head bowed, Sawyer was still flexing his hands on his head, that scruffy lopsided head of doom-black hair. The light from stars and moons seemed to have embedded themselves in there this night. Stars in his hair, the roll and shine of his arm muscles as he wrestled with whatever thoughts kept him silent, and he cared so much about his sister. There must be some good in him. Trust her to fall in lust with him.
If only...she could think if only forever.
She closed her eyes. Leaving tomorrow. None of this would matter soon.
Chapter 21
Sawyer hammered the stake into the solid floor. Some sort of concrete was below the layer of packed dirt and the grass that grew here beneath the overhang. The lemon-grass scent spread from where he’d crushed stalks. Deep enough. He tossed aside the lump of steel. The two chains, though light, were the strongest the slavemaster carried. Even buried a foot down they should have enough length to let Ari climb up onto JI. But no further.
“You promise to sit on this JI, until I come back?” He eyed JI then swung to Ari, who was standing looking about as innocent as he’d ever seen her, even with those double chains attached to her collar. Spelled trouble, that did.
“I do. I k-keep my word, sir.”
“Good.” Hands on hips, he watched the mech maneuver and sit where the stake was buried, resting his back against the shattered frontage of the building. Something cracked behind JI, fell inwards and crashed. “Think you just broke something.”
JI did a fair facsimile of apologizing with upraised palms, and he gave a mech shrug, rolling his giant shoulders. “Everything here is-sizz broken a little...even m-me.”
“True.” He shifted around, picked up his gun. At least Zarr hadn’t made any untoward moves, like trying to disarm him. Yet. Maybe the rumors Sassik had heard were untrue. “Be good, Ari. Fix him, not for me, for JI. I figure you like him.”
She too shrugged, drawing his eyes to where her nipples played peekaboo within the translucent top. Pretty girl, like always. If he could trust her...maybe things would be different. Seeing her helping JI had rearranged something inside him.
“I’m going to help him as best as I can. No guarantees.”
“I know that.
Keera was fifty yards away, perched on a mossy rock in the dappled sunlight, doing sentry duty, busted foot and all.
He wanted to leave more people to watch her, wanted to take Ari with him on this trek. Most of all, he’d prefer to stay, but Zarr had vetoed every other choice. Trust issues, for sure. The man thought he’d run away if left alone. He was correct. Sticking around with the yoyo-ing dick-tator-esque Zarr had become hazardous to his health.
To Ari’s too, maybe. There were beasts and creatures here he’d only glimpsed while hunting with Sassik, big things with big teeth and big stomachs. Keera was a great shot and a good warrior, according to the others, but one person didn’t seem enough. He hated leaving them both behind.
JI, the great military mech, was currently as horrifying and daunting as a fucking plastic toy.
If anything went wrong...he checked out Ari again and regretted some of his past actions. The fires of his revenge had died even if his lust for her still soared. Fern might be disgusted at him...with good reason.
She would be. Toning things down a little might work. Talking even? He had this niggling urge to talk to Ari.
At the tail end of the Scav force disappearing into the base of the adjacent building, men were waving and yelling.
“Gotta go.” He took a good grip of his long gun...really, she needed a name – Sassik had a name for his. He sighed. “Be good, all of you. We’ll return in a day.”
“Bye.” Ari waved daintily, barely moving her hand in an arc, a cute smile on her face. It almost seemed a taunt.
If he’d had time to spank her, he would’ve, just for the hell of it.
Instead he turned and jogged away.
He was the last man to enter into the crumpled doorway, and what did he spy on looking back? Ari kneeling like Princess Leia triggering that droid hologram – putting her hand out to some tiny pink-orange critter that barely came up to her ankle. Then a whole swarm of the things scampered out to her.
What the fuck? From her expression, she was happy about them approaching her. One ran up her arm. Those, he needed to ask Sassik about. So many legs. Cute spiders? Even from a distance the resemblance to jaggs was notable. Keera was oblivious. JI was watching, and he would know the wildlife here. Harmless, then. He ducked into the doorway and sprinted to catch up.
Maybe jaggs started out tiny?
Chapter 22
They’d marched away into the Undercity, Sawyer among them.
Lonely yet not alone, with JI, Keera, and this swarm of jaggs. Keera had finally noticed the swarm and ventured over, limping, her weapon tucked into the crook of her arm.
“Have you b
onded with them?”
“Yes.” Wasn’t much point in lying to Keera.
“Clever girl. Just keep them in order then. These look ready to go to the next stage soon. When they return, you’ll have to give them up, you know that?’
“Sure.”
Satisfied, Keera went back to lazing about. She was reading some ancient book, carefully turning the pages and occasionally cursing when the old parchment tore. Whatever the story was, it kept Keera away from what she planned to do. For long enough though? Ari prayed it would be so.
Heal JI.
Then escape.
The chains about her neck were tough enough that bashing them with the metal block Sawyer had tossed aside was unlikely to do more than scratch and bend the metal.
“Sawyer has entrusted me with your s-safety and your captivity,” JI said solemnly.
“Yeah?” She cocked her head. “And if I decide to leave?”
“You must not, Ari. What I promise, I deliver.”
“What if I had asked a promise of you first?”
“You mean one that clashes with what Sawyer has asked? He was my friend first, therefore, his friendship holds a higher priority.”
“That’s not how friendships work, JI.”
“No? Am I then to take only your advice? It is my choice to value my friends like that. My choice.” He tapped his chest.
The mech had a point, even if she hated it. She blew out her lips in a huff. “Fine. Be like that.”
“Like what?”
“Mean.”
“Now you are being bad and insulting me. You see, this is why yours is a second-grade friendship.”
“Was that a joke?”
“Perhaps? I would laugh at it if it didn’t hurt my head.”
She snorted. Hmmm. Difficult to stay angry at JI. “You’re sounding better today.”
“I’m powered up. I’m also aware you’ve found more mechlings. These aren’t quite dead.”
“No.” Also no point in lying to JI. “Are they acceptable to you, if I try to get your brain to use them?”
Claimed Possession (The Machinery of Desire Book 2) Page 16