“I can imagine. Rough.” A muscle in his jaw twitched, the only sign of his emotion over her traumatic history.
“They sold us to the Amarotu Combine.”
“You don’t have to tell me any more if it’s too stressful. I can color in the rest for myself.”
“No, to be clear, we didn’t become part of their slave trade and prostitution activity,” she said, guessing where his assumptions about her fate had gone. “They wanted us because certain Tulavarrans have a power to influence others, bestowed by our deity Thuun. How did you think I awoke you from your drug addled sleep the other night? Or rendered Matikian and Peters unconscious? Our high priests and priestesses can do such things and more.”
“Psychic powers?” He withdrew his hand to adjust a control.
“Of a sort.” She missed the comfort of the skin to skin contact with him. Marcus was a very reassuring presence, even debilitated as he was tonight. “The Combine handlers called it empathy. I can see into the soul of a person, read their emotions and desires, and influence them to take action, or to refrain from action.”
“Can you kill?”
“I have on several occasions, at my handler’s command. I’ve done many things I’m not proud of. I believe most of the people I killed or influenced against their own best interests were other Combine members—it’s amazing to me how violently each group plots against the others at times. But I had no choice on who was a victim and I may well have harmed innocents, to my everlasting shame and regret.” Her throat closed with emotion and she bowed her head. Marcus glanced at her but he remained silent.
After a few moments she continued. “The Combine held most of our people as hostages for compliance. If we refused or failed, we had to watch others from our planet die, as penalty for our misdeed.” She circled her throat with one hand for a moment. “I was forced to wear a necklace with a bomb inside, so if I rebelled or threatened Dobkin, my assigned handler, he could kill me in an instant. The woman in charge would execute a Tulavarran with a bomb necklace on occasion for no reason at all, as a warning to the rest of us.”
Marcus swore a lurid oath. “How did you stay sane through four years of horror? And how did you finally escape?”
“As to sanity, who can say? I had hope. And in the beginning there were quite a few of us together so we encouraged each other.” She shrugged. “Over time, hope shriveled as I came to understand the reality and how irretrievably in thrall we were to their evil organization. I was in so deep I saw no way out, yet I was afraid to kill myself.”
He reached over to squeeze her hand again. “You’re a victim too. You were kidnapped and coerced—”
“I chose to live and my deeds were the price of life,” she said, refusing to accept comfort on that point. “Someday I hoped to get revenge, for myself and for the others.”
“Understandable. Once we get clear of the current mess, we can work on your situation. There must be a way for you to get immunity in exchange for testifying. I know people in the Sectors I can call for advice.”
“Your offer to help makes my heart glad, truly, but I can’t involve you in this. Better if I lose myself, as I did for a while in River Wind. I learned much there—I can hide more seamlessly in the next place.” Not let herself get drawn into anyone else’s problems. But she couldn’t have walked away from Marcus. Separating from him at some future point was going to be hard enough. Already his quiet strength and competence, as well as his care of her, were becoming addictive. Not being alone was such a relief.
“A life on the run, working dead end jobs and hiding from the authorities and the mob, is no life. Look, it’s decided, I’m helping you get your name cleared and get you resettled in a truly safe location.” His jaw was set and his tone brooked no argument.
Carialle could see how he was a leader of warriors.
His interrogation, gentle though it was, continued. “How did you manage to escape on this planet then?”
“When I arrived here to do a job for the local Combine, no one met my handler and me at the spaceport, which was highly unusual. When we eventually found a hotel room, Dobkin got drunk and ingested even more types of other feelgoods than usual, to the point where he passed out, fell, hit his head and died. I freed myself from the restraints, took off the explosive necklace, stole his credits and the blaster and ran. I had nothing to do with his death, but I know how the situation must appear to the authorities. I’m innocent in his case but—”
“I believe you.”
“He was immune to my powers, like Mrs. Trang is. The Combine went to great lengths to find handlers with the right genetic quirk.”
“But I’m not immune.”
She shook her head. “No, you’re not. But I’d never hurt you—you’re a warrior of Thuun, and those are rare.”
“I’m a what?” He laughed again. “I’ve been called a lot of things but never that.”
“Thuun is our god, the source of our power. His highest command states a priestess must always come to the aid of a warrior, or lose her abilities. So when you arrived, I was compelled to act, even though I’m no priestess and you aren’t Tulavarran.” She studied her clasped hands. “I resisted the call to take direct action at first.” It was hard to believe she’d hesitated at all, now she knew more of him as a person. Of course he’d needed and deserved her help.
“Hey, it’s the result that counts. One thing bothers me though—how many guys did we leave behind? There were a lot of doorways on my hall. How much time do we have to rescue them too?”
She shook her head. “They were already brain dead when I arrived weeks ago. Nothing but the gray mist of the drugs left in their souls. You had the blue fire of Thuun’s warrior in yours, and you wanted to live so much—how could I stand aside and let them kill you, soldier of Thuun or not?”
“So how did the Combine find you again, do you know?”
“Dobkin managed to reach one person before he died, Edmorad Zymmer. He was the number four man on Devir Six for a while, so he was well aware of what I could do. Edmorad told Dobkin the SCIA had taken down the mob’s leadership in a big raid somewhere and now it was every person for himself. So at least one Combine operative knows I’m here on this planet. I have no Sectors ID so they know I’m trapped on this world. I’m considered a major asset.”
And she was probably easy enough to trace, once they got organized to look. Her hair is beautiful with those fernlike green curls but too distinctive—she didn’t even try to disguise herself. She has no idea how to play the game she’s in. He shook his head. Carialle was lucky to have stayed under the scanners as long as she did. Fortunate for him. Marcus took the offramp to the next major highway, the groundcar accelerating smoothly. The crochety landlady understood how to maintain vehicles at any rate. Once he got his life squared away, he was going to do something nice for her. He and Carialle owed her big time.
Marcus realized his companion was nodding off despite fighting sleep. “Hey, it’s fine with me if you want to catch a few winks. We’re not being tailed, no immediate danger.”
“Where are we going? You seem to have a plan.”
He realized she was teasing him a bit.
Lords of Space he liked her. She’d been through a hell of her own and come out strong, and now he’d heard her story he was even more incredulous and grateful she’d risked everything to save his ass. He was nothing to her, all comments about warriors of alien gods aside. "North, to the Gartall Mountains. My grandfather had a cabin in the woods, sitting on a pretty remote parcel of land and I used to go hunting and fishing up there as a kid. Isolated. It belongs to me now of course, haven’t been there in two decades, but I never formally transferred the place into my name, so hopefully we can’t be traced there. It’ll probably be fallen to wrack and ruin by now but it’s a safe hideout.”
“I can handle roughing it. A forest sounds lovely.” She stretched and shifted position in the seat to rest her head against the cushions.
“Are you war
m enough?” He set the environmental controls slightly higher.
“I’m fine, thank you. What will we do next, after we reach the cabin?”
He’d been thinking through the issue and had a few ideas. “I’m going to see who’s around, who I can get in touch with for reinforcements to get Trang’s house of medical horrors shut down. The people I need are probably off planet, so it’ll take time. And now that I understand your situation better, I’ll work on getting a deal for you.” Glancing at her, he took note of the flicker of doubt on her face. He’d have to watch her closely, to make sure she didn’t try to run in an effort to save him. He was sure he could save both of them—he just needed a small window of time.
Her yawn was prodigious. “Wake me if you need anything?”
“Of course.” He felt like more was required, something to ease her into sleep. What did his mother used to tell him as a kid? “Sweet dreams.”
She was asleep in minutes, a shy smile on her face.
He continued to steal glances at her as the miles ticked away on their journey. Shadows under her eyes told him how exhausted and on edge she must have been. She slept all curled up and he wished he could make her more comfortable but the best thing was to get them to the cabin and then figure out a way to work on the next steps. No one was going to make her a prisoner again, not without coming through him. The SCIA or whoever else was doing the anti-Combine work these days would have to accept her innocence based on being a victim herself. Marcus had a lot of back pay banked, which could buy high priced legal help. Carialle risking herself to rescue him had to count in her favor with the authorities as well.
Carialle cried out in her sleep and curled even tighter, as if avoiding a blow. With his free hand he squeezed her shoulder for reassurance. Her tumbled hair was soft against his skin and he forced himself to break the contact. Yeah, she was beautiful and his need to protect her was fierce and instinctive, but now wasn’t the time to become infatuated. Or worse.
Might be too late already. The first time he found himself lost in the beauty of her emerald eyes was already one of his most cherished memories.
She needed him to stay frosty, on the edge, combat ready. He was sure the Combine would be after them, with Trang egging them on because he could blow her whole deal. It was only a matter of time.
He frowned as a sudden cramping sensation ran through his gut, followed by a wave of vertigo. A few moments later the pain repeated and his skin began to itch first on his arms, then the sensation spread to his abdomen and his legs. There was a particularly pernicious itch in the middle of his upper back he was totally unable to reach.
“Fucking hell, did they get me addicted to the junk they were pumping into my veins?” And how bad was the withdrawal and detox going to be? He’d naively hoped all the antivenom and other experimental stuff the military had injected him with over the years would prevent any serious side effects.
He checked the car’s chrono to mark when the symptoms began, and estimated how much time they had left to drive. Sure he could set the autodrive function and the groundcar would deliver them to the general area of the cabin, but he had to navigate the old woods road personally and he’d bet a month’s pay the track was overgrown and nearly nonexistent by now. His grandfather hadn’t welcomed guests other than immediate family so the road was easy to miss. And Carialle couldn’t drive under the best conditions, let alone on an unmaintained rural road.
Calling on all his discipline and training, Marcus fought the worsening symptoms for another hour before pulling over at a rest stop, parking in the farthest corner with the groundcar facing out for immediate departure, although there were only a couple of cargo haulers and one camper in the lot. He used half the remaining adrenaphix injects and waited with gritted teeth and clenched fists until the drug kicked in, reducing the worst of the withdrawal symptoms, including the pounding headache he’d developed. He got the car on the road and boosted the speed to the redline.
Carialle didn’t wake up, for which he was glad. She didn’t need this new worry to add to the stack on her mind.
The adrenaphix began to wear off sooner than he’d hoped, and his physical symptoms worsened. Then the road around him suddenly switched into the empty space in the vicinity of a certain planet where he’d done a hellacious mission. The controls in front of him weren’t those of a groundcar but the pilot’s readouts for a one man infiltration flyer. “Whoa.” Gritting his teeth and operating on sheer muscle memory, he thumbed the car’s autopilot on and lifted his hands off the controls. They had an hour or so to travel on the major roads, which the autopilot could handle. But then he had to get them through the dense forest to the cabin. “We’d be sitting ducks stuck out on the main road.”
“Did you say something?” Rubbing her eyes, Carialle sat up, although he was only dimly conscious of her presence. “Where are we?”
“About an hour of driving left.”
“You’re not well—what’s happening?” He felt her hand on his arm.
“I’m having withdrawal symptoms from Trang’s drug.”
“How bad?”
“Pretty fucked. I’m having hallucinations.” He hated to admit what subpar shape he was in but she needed to know. “Car’s on auto right now, don’t worry.”
“I’m worried about you.” Her voice held a gentle reproach. “Do you have any of the adrenaphix left?”
He closed his eyes tight against the hallucinatory vistas he was seeing. “Pulled over and used up a few earlier. Got two left for when we reach the entrance to the forest.”
“You should have awakened me.”
“You needed your sleep.”
“Stubborn man. Would it help you to sleep now? Until you can use the rest of the meds?”
”I don’t know. Why?”
“If the car will drive itself, I can use a touch of my power, put you under, and then awaken you when we reach the appointed spot,” she said, looking hesitantly at the control panel.
He stared at her, struggling to concentrate on her face through a mist of overlaid nightmarish visions flickering in and out. “You can send me to sleep?”
“Of course.” She gestured at their surroundings. “I see no other traffic, no problems. I can waken you at once if anything changes.”
Marcus struggled with his innate reluctance to leave her essentially alone and responsible for standing watch, but he had to admit his control was ragged at the moment, fighting the physical and mental symptoms. “All right, we can try it, but not a deep sleep mind you. Not like you did to those bastards at the clinic.”
“Of course not.” She scooted over in the seat and set the tips of her fingers on his temple. Her touch was cool, comforting, and a sensation of well-being rippled from the spot where her skin met his. Marcus’s eyelids grew heavy and he let his head fall against the cushioned rear of the seat. “Feels good,” he murmured.
Carialle withdrew her hand and her power as soon as he was asleep. “Sweet dreams,” she said, echoing his earlier good wish for her. Touching him in this condition was painful, as if his skin was harsh sandpaper and she didn’t dare go too deep into his aura, which made her nauseous to contemplate. The dead gray of the toranquidol lay over his colors again, the cobalt flames subdued beneath. She wondered if he would be able to throw off the effects of the drug. What a tragedy if they both fought so hard and then he lost the gamble. I’ll do everything in my power to bring him safely through.
At least the dead black of the alien incursion had gone from his aura, one less battle to fight.
She stared at the landscape they were driving through, the car taking them north at a breathtaking speed. This area was more overgrown than the city and she liked it. She wished she could pull energy from the trees and plants but the car’s velocity rendered a draw impossible. Maybe when we arrive wherever we’re going at this mad rate.
In the next hour she saw no traffic at all, which she found encouraging, and the forest on the verge of the roadway became den
se. The vehicle veered into a narrow side road, decelerated and rolled to a halt, the engine shutting off. The sudden silence was deafening. Carialle nudged Marcus. “I think we’re here. Well we’re somewhere.”
He sat up, already fumbling for the remaining adrenaphix injects as he stared a bit vacantly out the windows. “You didn’t see anything suspicious?”
“Nothing but a deserted road all the way. We didn’t pass any structures.”
“Good. Need to stretch your legs or can you hold on till we get to the cabin?”
“How far away are we?”
“Maybe another hour. Depends how bad the private road has gotten in twenty plus years of neglect.”
“I’m fine. I’m anxious to be holed up where we can regard ourselves as safe.”
“All right then.” He jabbed first one and then the other inject into his upper thigh, rubbing the spot absentmindedly. “Oh yeah, the upper helps.”
“No more hallucinations?”
“Peripheral. At least I don’t itch like I have Denebian sand ants crawling all over my skin right now.” He disengaged the auto pilot and initiated the car’s engine, driving slowly along the narrow road and peering to the left intently. “Good thing we got here in the late afternoon. Impossible to find this in the dark.”
“What are we watching for?”
“A pair of trees, which are probably giants by now, bracketing a boulder resembling a sleeping cat,” he said. “My grandfather’s private access road was a mile beyond.” He flashed a smile. “And the entrance to the road was camouflaged. Gramps was an ex Special Forces guy too, and got a bit intense as he got older.”
“You really admired him, didn’t you?” she asked, catching the reflection of the familial love in his aura.
“Spent a lot of time with him, up here at the cabin. My Dad was Special Forces too, and gone all the time. My mother was sick a lot.” He slowed even further and pointed. “See, there’s the rock formation.”
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