by Lisa Lace
I let my pace slow a little so that I was getting closer and closer to Dar. When I figured I was within arms reach, I kept my pace steady and readied myself. Within a few steps, I recognized the spot. My heart started to beat fast, but I took deep breaths to calm myself down. I would need all my wits about me.
I walked right up to the cliff. At the last minute, I turned and grabbed Dar's hand, giving a hard tug that threw both of us off the cliff and into the water. I heard shouts as we fell and the sound of gunshots. The last thing I saw before I smashed hard into the water was Dar's surprised expression.
Then I could think of nothing but keeping myself alive.
Hitting the water from that height felt like hitting a brick wall. It fucking HURT. And the water was cold. Unbelievably cold, so cold that it took my breath away, and I honestly couldn't breathe. The current was powerful, and I had a hard time getting my head above water. The minute I swam to the top and took a breath, I was pulled under again.
I could feel myself being swept downstream, and I was glad we had escaped. I had no idea what had happened to Dar, and I was worried about him, but now I had to just not die.
It felt like I was in the river forever. I swam to the top and got sucked under, over and over. I was making some progress toward the bank when I hit my head on a rock, and everything went black.
DAR
Good thing I know how to swim, I thought as Kenna dragged me off the cliff with her. I hit the water and immediately floated to the surface. I was a powerful swimmer and could keep my head above the water.
Gunshots rang out but soon the water swept me around a bend in the river. I swam with the current, aiming for the shore. Then I caught sight of Kenna ahead of me. She seemed to be having trouble. She kept going under and coming back up. I wondered for a minute if she had ever been in the water before. If she hadn't, then this was a pretty harebrained plan of hers. I saw her swimming for a moment before she got pulled under again. She could swim, but she was in trouble.
I couldn't just leave her to drown. She had saved my life and taken a bargaining chip away from the terrorists. And I owed her a thanks for helping me out of the Complex when I couldn't see, too.
I sighed internally and started swimming towards her. She seemed to keep coming up for air, so she was still alive. I kept my eye on her head in case she went down and didn't come back up. Ahead I could see some white water rapids.
I saw her go down again and back up and then she was in the rapids. She seemed to be doing well until she was swept up onto a big rock that jutted out of the water. Her head hit hard and her eyes closed. She lay on the stone, half her body still in the river.
I could see the water pulling at her lower body, trying to suck her back in. If she fell in now, she would die. I attempted to think calmly. I had to end up on the big rock too.
I swam carefully, aiming myself right at her. Her thighs slipped back into the river, but her torso was still out. The current was dragging at her constantly, and I prayed to The Three to get me there in time.
Then I was in the rapids and getting spun around and whipped through the churning water. I went under but clawed my way to the top of the water again, reaching desperately for the rock where Kenna was lying.
There. I was only about three feet away, but I was too far to the side. If I didn't move, I was going to miss it. I swam as hard as I could, but I was tiring. The Three take me, but I'd be damned if I would let her die, even if she were only a human. As the river rushed me past her, I reached out and grabbed a point of the rock that was sticking out.
I felt it slice through my hand, but I held on. I reached with my other hand, too, and pulled myself onto the rock. Kenna's body was almost back in the water, and I dragged her quickly back on. There was barely enough room up here for the both of us with me holding her in my lap. The ice-cold water was running over the top of the rock, chilling us both.
I wrapped my arms around her and held her close, taking a moment just to breathe. She wasn't going to drown. I had her now. I ignored the enormous feeling of relief that was flooding me.
She was just an innocent bystander that had got sucked into this terrorist mess. I couldn't let anything happen to her. It wouldn't be right. It had nothing to do with what had happened between us previously. It had nothing to do with how right she felt here in my arms. I was just doing a good deed.
Nothing more.
* * *
I sat holding Kenna on the rock in the middle of the river, feeling numb. My brain didn't seem to want to work. I knew that the terrorists would be coming for us, but I doubted they would catch up to us anytime soon.
At the rate we had been washed downstream, it would take them hours to find us on foot going through the forest. But we had to keep moving.
Somehow we had to get out of the river. Finally, I roused myself. There had to be a way. I looked around. We were still in the rapids, and that could work to our advantage. I saw another rock nearby that could benefit us. After that, I would make my way to that fallen tree, and then a short swim to the shore...while I was carrying this unconscious human. Thank goodness the cliffs fell away behind us and the river widened into standard banks.
I took a deep breath and shifted Kenna so that her back was to me, and my arm was under her left arm. I grabbed onto her right shoulder so that my arm was pinning her to me.
Then I began to climb from rock to rock dragging her body with me. We slid into the water. The current grabbed at us, trying to take us back, but I pulled us across and we made it to the tree.
My hand was aching, but I ignored it, focusing only on the shore. I had to get us out of the river. Everything else could wait. My attention narrowed until my complete focus was on moving us along the tree. The water wedged the trunk tightly between the rocks and felt solid. I reached out as far as I could and found a place I could get a grip, pulling us towards shore. For a heart-stopping moment, I had to let go and grab on again farther down.
If I missed, we would be swept away again, but there was no way to hold on with both hands and still bring Kenna with me. If she had been conscious, she could have held on to me, but as it was, I had to hang on tightly on her to prevent the river from washing her body away.
I felt despair rising inside me, but I ignored it and focused on keeping hold of that tree.
When I got to the end, I felt like collapsing and celebrating, but I still had a short swim to shore.
I held onto Kenna and the tree simultaneously and looked at the pebbled beach. I knew it was only a few feet, but it seemed so far. I was tired. What if the current pulled us under the water again? There was no way of telling from here how strong it was this close to shore.
I took a deep breath. There was no point in waiting around any longer. It wouldn't get any easier by waiting, and I could feel my resolve faltering. I let go of the tree and struck out vigorously for shore with my one free arm. After only a few moments, I realized that I was going to have to tow her. I flipped onto my back and held her with one arm, keeping her head out of the water, kicking hard, and swimming awkwardly.
I was grateful that the current was weaker here near the shore. We reached the beach without any further difficulties. When we got there, I crawled out of the water, feeling limp and exhausted after my beating from the river.
With my last bit of strength, I pulled Kenna up as far onto shore as I could and lay down beside her. Only then did I look at my throbbing hand and see that there was a deep slash across the palm that had been bleeding the whole time. I had probably lost a lot of blood.
I felt dizzy, and my brain didn't seem to be functioning properly. I had enough sense to pull off one of my socks and wrap it around my hand, tying it as tightly as I could with my good hand and pulling it with my teeth. That was my last memory before I blacked out.
KENNA
My head felt like terrorists had split it in two. Did those guys attack us with an axe?
At least if I was thinking, I wasn't dead.
&n
bsp; I cracked one eye open and immediately shut it again. The light hurt so much I groaned.
"Kenna?"
Dar. I felt relief to know that he had survived the river. It occurred to me now that I hadn't even known if he could swim. He might have died. I can swim, and I might have died if Dar hadn't saved me. I assumed that he had saved me because I was not at the bottom of the river.
"Dar?" My voice was creaky. "What happened?"
"Here," he said, and I felt his hand on my back helping me to sit up.
I decided to try opening my eyes again. It still hurt, but I needed to work through the pain. I looked around. Dar was still supporting me.
"I'm okay now," I said. He looked at me skeptically but moved back a bit, his hands ready to catch me if I toppled over. I swayed slightly but remained upright. "What happened?"
"Well, after you pulled us into the river, which was a crazy move," he said severely. "You almost died."
I opened my mouth to defend my actions when his look softened, and he said, "Thank you. I don't know what we would have done. Those men were going to kill you."
"Why? Who were they? They seemed to know you," I said, giving him a look.
"Ever heard of the AEA?"
DAR
"The AEA? The human terrorist organization? Oh no." She said, looking aghast and disgusted. "They've caused more trouble for us than any other group in history. Did you know they almost got us kicked out of the Union?"
I nodded, not voicing my opinions on the matter.
"I had arranged negotiations with them. You humans..." She flinched at the clear delineation between her people and mine. But she should get used to it. She had to know the truth about where we stood. "...were not supposed to be here yet. I don't know if they intended to attack from the beginning or if they decided to change their plans once they saw that there were people on the planet."
"We weren't supposed to be here...Oh, so that there wouldn't be anyone for them to threaten, right?"
"Yes."
She was silent a moment, thinking. I decided to change the subject.
"You hit a rock and were knocked unconscious. Fortunately, I was coming down the river behind you and was able to reach you and bring both of us to shore."
She looked up at me, and I noticed for the first time that I could lose myself in her dark brown eyes.
"That can't have been easy," she said, an unreadable look on her face.
"No, it wasn't."
The look changed to speculative.
"Why didn't you let me die?" she said. "I'm just a lowly human."
"Kenna, in spite of our differences, we are enough alike that you must know that any decent Susohnnan or human for that matter would not stand by and let an innocent die. Not if they could save them."
She blinked.
"Innocent?" she said and raised her eyebrow. And by The Three, didn't I start to feel a little hard. I had to put a stop to this. I was not going to sleep with her again. It wasn't right. We could never have a relationship, and I didn't want to lead her on.
"Damn it, Kenna, you know what I mean. I wasn't going to let the river take you."
"Ah," she said, smiling a little. Then she noticed my hand and frowned, pulling it to her. "Dar, what happened? You're hurt."
"Yes, but it's nothing. I've wrapped it. It will have to do till we get back to the Complex."
"No, let me see. That looks bad."
She unwrapped the sock, and the wound gaped, still bleeding sluggishly. I felt a little sick looking at it and looked at her instead.
Her face had a serious look on it that worried me.
"What?" I said.
She glanced up at me then back down at my palm, frowning.
"I know a bit about medicine. We need to get something to disinfect this right away."
"A healer?"
I had assumed that she was a laborer. It hadn't occurred to me that she was intelligent. Of course, she had saved us from the terrorists but I had put that down to brilliance under pressure.
"My Gran taught me back on Earth. Fortunately, we have a boreal forest at our disposal," she said, grinning and standing up.
As soon as she rose, she immediately put her hand to her head and swayed. I got up to help her, but I wasn't exactly steady myself. Again I wondered how much blood I had lost.
Leaning on each other, we made it to the water. She washed the wound thoroughly and told me to hold it tightly closed. We headed for the trees and after a few minutes, she started to recover from her vertigo. She let go of my arm.
"We don't know how long we'll be out here. It's best to put spruce gum on it to prevent infection until we can get somewhere with real medical supplies."
"Spruce gum?"
"See this tree?" she pointed at a tall skinny brown tree with rough bark and short green needles. "It's a spruce."
I nodded, filing the information away.
"This is spruce gum." She pointed to yellow blobs covering a tree. "But it's the hard kind. Good for chewing. Not for the prevention of infection."
She picked some off and handed a piece to me while popping the other piece into her mouth. I looked at it and then put it into my mouth. I wrinkled my nose. It tasted gross, and it broke into little pieces when I bit it.
"It takes a minute of chewing for it to come together, and the flavor improves the more you chew, too." she informed me.
We continued walking. She was right. After a minute or two, the chunks came together and formed a pretty good wad of gum.
"How come you conveniently forgot to mention you were the king of an entire planet?" she said conversationally. I nearly choked on my gum; the question was unexpected.
I glanced over at her, and her lovely face was looking away from me, searching for the elusive spruce gum. I took a breath. I guess I owed her an explanation.
"Look, Kenna. It was my mating cycle. Okay?"
Now she would understand. But when I looked over at her, she was staring at me, her face a mask of confusion.
"Mating cycle," she said, her eyebrows nearly touching her hairline.
Human. The girl was human. Not Susohnnan. I needed to remind myself of that. Otherwise, I forgot.
"Oh, right. I guess you don't know about that?"
She shook her head.
"Well, genetically humans and Susohns are similar. But one of the biggest differences is the male mating cycle in Susohns."
She didn't say anything, so I continued.
"You are aware of breeding cycles in human females, I am assuming. That there are times of fertility and times of infertility, right?"
"Of course. I am a human female. Remember?" she pointed to her breasts.
I remembered all right. I remembered every part of her in exquisite detail. But there had to be no more of that, and I wrenched my mind away from the thought of her breasts.
"I remember," I said, between my teeth. But she wasn't listening.
"Aha!" she said in triumph moving quickly towards one of the trees. Then she stopped, and her face fell. "No, not spruce gum. Sorry. Go on. You were saying about human females?"
I tried not to grind my teeth together.
"Well, Susohnnan males have fertile and infertile cycles as well. For part of the month, I am unable to help a female conceive a child."
"You shoot blanks half the time?" she said.
I frowned, not understanding her.
"Sorry," she said again. "Male Susohns are only fertile part of the month, got it. What does this have to do with not telling me you were king of the world?"
I sighed, putting my working hand to my forehead.
"When it is the time of the month when we are fertile, it is called our mating cycle. And we are very..." I paused searching for the right word. "Interested in sex."
She snorted.
"Don't you have a harem or something?"
"The king rarely lacks for willing partners. I have no need to force anyone to have sex with me," I said stiffly.
She lo
oked me up and down and then smiled.
"Yes, I can believe that."
I turned away and began walking. I had had enough with the sexual innuendo. It was driving me insane.
"Why did you come to the party in disguise if you had so many willing bodies already lined up to jump in your bed?" she said, running to catch up with me. She was joking, but I could see her face was serious, waiting for my answer.
"I was bored."
She snorted again but this time derisively.
"Sometimes you want a female who will say no," I said.
"I guess you didn't find that," she said, looking mortified. Now I was embarrassing her. This conversation was taking a different direction than it had in my imagination.
I stopped walking, and she did too, looking up at me. I put my hands on her shoulders.
"I'm glad you didn't say no, Kenna," I said. And I meant it. "But you could have, and I would have respected that. It was the fact that I was going to find females who could say no to me, but didn't want to that made it exciting. Of course, I had to go in disguise, so I couldn't tell you about being king."
"Hm. So you were just slumming. For fun." She shrugged. "Me too."
"What does slumming mean?"
"Slums on Earth are awful neighborhoods with poor, mostly uneducated people living there."
I wrinkled my nose, and she saw it.
"Yeah, you do not want to go into a slum — they don't always contain the best examples of humanity. Slumming means hanging out with people who are below you. Sometimes it means spending time with people who are below you to get laid."
I didn't know what get laid meant, but I had a feeling it had to do with mating.
"Well, by your definition I guess I was slumming." And damn it if I hadn't liked it. But I was a king and a king couldn't keep slumming forever. I had an example to set and standards to uphold.
"But a king can't be with a commoner. I get it. It was just a fling for me, too."
"A fling?" I said.
"Yeah, just something fun. I never had much fun on Earth, and I decided that I was going to have some on Dobu."