by Ravyn Wilde
Returning to her weeding, Ahnika contemplated the idea of Brac being the one to kidnap her. The women in Jandai had mentioned a man called Brac, and it sounded like their experience with him had been very similar to hers. He would have access to tunics bearing the ruling crest. She frowned. In fact, he could make up tunics of his own and she and her people wouldn’t have known if they were legitimate or not.
It was definitely something to think about. If she truly felt Zylan royalty had nothing to do with her capture and didn’t know what was being done to the women in the fortress…maybe she should go to the Ruler and tell him. Gardeil worked for the Ruler illustrating the histories and he could probably get her an audience.
Or she could talk to Tar’s mate. After her kidnapping and the experience with those inhumane men, it would probably be easier for her to approach a female. She didn’t think she could explain her ordeal to the Ruler.
It was something to think about.
Ahnika’s head snapped up and her eyes glazed in a sort of trance. She felt a dark shadow move over her, searching…
Trouble was coming. Concentrating, she tried to focus on where the sensations might be coming from. Was it someone searching for her? Did the feeling stem from something else she knew nothing about? Cursing, she wished again that she had some way of knowing how to develop this growing power.
Ahnika needed to do something but the feeling of unease was too vague to be of any help. Frustrated, she closed her eyes and tried to open her mind to any internal suggestions but the whispers were silent. Shivet!
Considering her options, she decided once again she wouldn’t take any chances. She refused to be a victim any longer. She couldn’t stay hidden forever, unless—maybe—she wanted to go back to Jandai. No, she dismissed the unsavory option very quickly.
Instead, she would gather her courage and go to market tomorrow. Using the little money she’d earned working for her new friends, she would purchase a few provisions and another disguise.
Then she would talk to Gardeil and Nebet and tell them what had happened to her and see if they would give her a paper of introduction to the Ruler’s mate.
This moons rise she would relax and rest, struggle to enjoy a final night of safety and normalcy before she started her dangerous trek. It would be impossible to guess what might happen to her along her journey to Tanar. She needed to be ready for anything.
Chapter Five
Raj contemplated where he should go from here. Sitting outside Jandai, he was carefully hidden both physically and with full psychic shields in place, as he didn’t want to take the chance of meeting any of the crazy women of this village ever again. Letting his thoughts roam as he mentally scanned the area, he found no trace of Ahnika’s vibrant blue and red soul threads. He really hadn’t thought she’d still be hanging around this area, nor did he think his powers would be strong enough to catch a trace of setnon-old soul trails. Jandai was just the last place he’d seen a trace of her, so it made sense it would be the best place to start.
This whole situation was strange and growing stranger. His brother hadn’t heard of anyone missing and if it involved one of the Ruler’s Council of Ten, Mica should have been told. In fact, Mica hadn’t even known the councilor had a daughter.
After much discussion, Raj and Mica concluded it would be better not to alert Brac to their suspicions. They wouldn’t question him, nor would they alert him to Raj’s connections to Tar and Mica.
Raj realized he had no intention of taking the girl back to Brac. His plan now was to find her—not for Brac but because he knew with inner certainty she needed help. In fact, he had a hunch she was the woman who had been calling to him for help in his dreams. While he didn’t recognize the dim outline of the woman, the aura surrounding his vision matched the colors in Ahnika’s soul trails. And…the dreams were always the same.
Feeling a sense of sadness, of terror emanating from the woman before him, Raj became overwhelmed with the need to help her. The woman’s long hair curtained her upper body and fell to the floor concealing thin arms bent to cradle her face in her hands. It was too dark to tell what color her hair was, or to see much beyond the slight figure kneeling on the stone floor. But he could tell she was crying, bent double and shaking with the force of her sobs in a cold, dark room reeking of fear. Struggling to get to her, he tried to ask her what was wrong and what he could do to help. But a thick, mental barrier kept him away from her. Kept his words from being heard. Some unseen entity held him back when he desperately wanted to help. His body fought to move to her side. He tried again to reach her. To call to her.
At this point he always woke up feeling frantic and afraid for the woman, his body drenched in a cold sweat and his heart pounding furiously. He knew intuitively that he needed to find the woman in his dreams—the woman he believed to be Ahnika. Time was running out.
Even more disturbing was the memory of Ahnika’s soul trails bringing him to climax. It became progressively more difficult to ignore his recollection of the red and blue energy and the sweet release brought by those psychic tendrils. Wondering how she could do this to him and why she seemed to matter more than any of the others he’d helped over the many past life cycles…drove him crazy.
Raj’s thoughts circled back to his present dilemma. Ahnika wasn’t in or around this village and it made him nervous being close to this place Where would she go? He picked up on the psychic impression of others out there, looking for her. These Hunters were a dark, somewhat heavy presence in the psychic fabric surrounding him. This meant, as he got closer, they would also be able to feel him, unless he shielded himself. Shielding would take psychic energy to maintain. Thank the Goddess for Shalan’s potion!
This led him back to his original reflection. Where would a girl in hiding go from here? Not to any sparsely populated area because she’d be easily spotted. Since he hadn’t caught a glimpse of her soul trails as he’d made his way back to this spot—and he would have if she’d gone toward Tanar, that really only left one other option.
Ahnika must have traveled closer to the mountain crossroads. There were always strangers moving through the area, on their way to the far lands and the inhabitants of this region wouldn’t pay attention to one girl. Well, it was a plan. He would head up into the mountains toward Vidar. If he shifted to the form of a Peela, he could be there by the next suns’ rise.
Picturing in his mind the shape and substance of a Zylan dragon, Raj shifted his physical form. The creature rose above the land, circled and headed for the mountain range in the distance. The Peela’s wingspan spread over twenty feet and would allow him to cover great distances in a short period of time. Another advantage to this form was the Peela’s eyesight, since with it, he would be able to distinguish soul trails from far above in either sunlight or night’s darkness.
Covered in dark brown scales matching Raj’s hair perfectly, the Peela expelled a gust of fire as the giant creature filled the late afternoon sky. In the dragon’s form, Raj took perverse satisfaction from hearing the cries of fear coming from the women of Jandai below.
Early the next bi-non, Raj walked down the road leading to Vidar’s main outdoor market. The small streets were crammed with colorful, fabric-draped booths and the wares on display appeared to be varied and plentiful. Food, metal goods, clothing and books filled the temporary shelves.
Unfortunately he wasn’t the only Hunter in the marketplace, there were many others circulating through the crowds. Like him, they were searching for the girl. For Ahnika. Even though his skin crawled with the sensation of eyes passing over him, none of them would be looking for him, as he’d deliberately neglected to inform Brac he felt well enough to resume the hunt.
To disguise his long hair and muscular build, he’d dressed in an elder’s light blue tunic and loose-fitting black pants and had added a floor-length drab gray robe with a hood. After shrouding himself with a psychic shield, Raj had confidently entered the bustling market knowing his presence would not be det
ected.
Raj knew all Hunters had an inherent ability to track…hence the choice of profession, but each Hunter’s gifts and accomplishments varied greatly. His ability to see soul tendrils was unique and gave him an edge over the others.
Discreetly looking around the bazaar, he could feel and see many traces of Ahnika. Her tendrils ran through the market—some older, some more recent. The distinctively vibrant twist of blue and red signifying her proximity crisscrossed and ran haphazardly from place to place. It seemed Ahnika had, at one time or another, touched each and every booth in Vidar’s busy public square. Once again, he was forced to fight against those filaments of her soul as they reached out to stroke along his skin.
A commotion near the end of the street drew his attention away from the mesmerizing draw of Ahnika’s essence. A slight figure dressed in a costume similar to the one he wore, was being held captive between two very large and obviously irritated men. Raj sighed with disgust, it was just his luck to be a few minons too late to find and remove her without detection.
Ahnika’s blue and red essence completely enveloped the small figure. On closer inspection, he recognized the two men. Jondil and Zaben. His eyebrows rose in contemplation. Brac’s choice of Hunters for the girl had certainly bottomed out. These two were not known for their skill but for their willingness to take any job. Both men were utterly ruthless and were wanted for questioning about a death that had occurred during their last mission.
In fact, Tar had asked Raj to take on the chore of running these two to ground when his current job was completed. Unfortunately for Ahnika, both Jondil and Zaben were strong and well-trained in psychic battle. Raj wasn’t pleased to have to deal with them together. Fighting both men and shifting the woman to another place would require a great deal of psychic power—almost all he had left.
Apologizing silently to Tar, he realized his first and only priority was to get Ahnika away from Jondil and Zaben. Once he’d assured himself of Ahnika’s safety, it wouldn’t be too difficult to locate and bring the two men in for questioning.
Watching them drag the woman down a side street and away from the market, he quickly moved to follow. Raj could feel additional Hunters in the area. Were they working on their own or were they helping these two? He needed to move while he had the chance. The odds—two against one—were bad enough but he didn’t want to stick around and see if they’d get worse. Nor did Raj want to give the Hunters an opportunity to transport her some distance away with their psychic location shifting. He couldn’t leave Ahnika unprotected and vulnerable to the brutality these two brutes often used against their prey—if they shifted with her, they’d be almost impossible to track.
Ahnika was frightened. Like a fool, she’d sensed the Hunters nearby but decided to take the chance her shielding and disguise would be enough for this quick trip to the market. Her perception of danger had been little more than a vague warning and she hadn’t realized they were so close.
It was unfortunate that the clothing vendor, a friend of Nebet’s, had called to her and asked how she liked Vidar while the two Hunters were close by. They’d each grabbed an arm and escorted her to a back alley. She couldn’t allow them to take her back.
Before she’d escaped from her imprisonment, she’d decided that she would rather fight to the death than submit to being caught and returned. Those feelings hadn’t changed. Fighting with all her strength to pull away from the two men, Ahnika kicked and screamed in the hope that someone would take the chance and help her. Or, if escaping her captors failed, she planned to make her retrieval so difficult they would just kill her.
As Raj moved close enough to intervene, he watched the men struggle to keep a hold on the twisting, snarling woman between them. She wasn’t going with them willingly and her resistance kept Jondil and Zaben from noticing him. But Raj knew the men were very strong and she wouldn’t get away on her own. Raising his arm to send a psychic blast toward the men, he stopped and cursed. Before he could release the bolt of energy, an angry Jondil knocked the woman unconscious with a stunning blow to the right side of her head. Raj watched in stunned disbelief as the men dropped her to the ground.
Raj’s temper exploded. Thrusting a strong psychic punch to Jondil’s head, he knocked him on his ass to sprawl in the dirt beside Ahnika. Following up with a quick exchange of solid energy blasts with Zaben, Raj stepped aside and Zaben’s shot glanced off Raj’s shoulder. Fortunately, one of Raj’s hits struck Zaben in the center of his chest, knocking the wind out of him. Raj’s injury would hurt for a while but he was thankful it hit his shoulder and not his head, as he would have been knocked out and unable to help Ahnika in any way.
Jondil was out cold, and Zaben was on his knees unable to breathe. Running forward, Raj scooped Ahnika into his arms and immediately location-shifted with her. He moved in the direction of Tanar, resting after the first transfer long enough to make sure Ahnika was still breathing. Twice more, he gathered his strength and relocated. Pushing his abilities almost to the point of exhaustion, he moved them as far away from the other Hunters as he could manage.
Finally stopping beside a small lake, he felt they’d covered enough ground to allow them to rest and to give Ahnika time to regain consciousness. Concentrating on using his dwindling psychic reserves to shield them from anyone who tried to follow, he shook his head in private disgust. It seemed since he’d taken the job of looking for Ahnika, he hadn’t had more than a non of time where he didn’t have to worry when his next Vampen feeding was going to take place. This is not the time or place for me to feed.
Carefully laying Ahnika in the soft blue grass, he took off his robe. Checking to make sure she wore something other than her outer garment before gently sliding it from her body…he could well imagine her reaction if she woke after being terrorized to find herself naked with a man she didn’t know. Glancing around the area, he checked the small cove. They were nestled at the edge of a small lake of violet water. There weren’t any places to hide or defend themselves in this pretty place, he would have to move quickly to wake her and get them somewhere more secure.
Before tending to his own injuries he would see what he could do for Ahnika. The side of her face was covered in dried blood so he quickly shrugged out of his shirt and ripped the sleeves out. Using one of the sleeves he’d torn from his shirt to dip in the lake, he then dropped to his knees beside her and gently cleaned the dirt and the small amount of blood from her face. The small cut had quit bleeding but she was still unconscious.
Raj moved his injured shoulder in a circle to try and release some of the tension, looking down he saw the wound was red and swollen but wouldn’t require treatment. He absently used the wet cloth to clean the area, he had never been much of a healer so he wouldn’t waste the energy trying to heal either his wounds or Ahnika’s as they weren’t life-threatening.
Leaning back against a small boulder while waiting for her to regain consciousness, he took the opportunity to study the woman he’d been seeking. Ahnika’s tall, supple body was garbed in a modest emerald gown gathered lightly just under her breasts. The neckline made a slight vee and had a high collar, with long sleeves ending in points over the top of her hands. Only the unclaimed women of Zylar wore this dress design. It covered her completely from neck to ankle, but couldn’t disguise her full curves.
Stroking a finger tenderly down the side of her face, he marveled at skin the color of a pale pinkish-red Nui fruit. Frowning in anger, he very carefully turned her head—at least the skin on one side of her face was pale red. The side where Jondil struck her was an angry purple.
Ahnika’s eyebrows were a deep brown and arched perfectly over her closed eyes. She had full, pale pink lips, and her long brown hair, rich with red and blonde highlights was braided, it looked as if her hair would hang far past her waist. Lovely.
Raj restrained himself from taking more than a glimpse of her chest, only doing so to be assured she was still breathing regularly. His quick look told him she was amply e
ndowed and he wondered for a minon if her nipples were the same pale pink coloring as her lips…
The red and blue aura surrounding Ahnika quivered, sending a tendril toward him. Groaning as one of the ribbons softly stroked his upper thigh—he slammed his mental shields in place. She is hurt, he mentally chastised himself, I cannot be lusting after her like this. I just need to feed the Vampen hunger and this poor child is in no condition to help me. Remember that!
Slowly moving his gaze back to her face, he found her studying him intently with soft, shimmering green eyes. Brac had been wrong when he told Raj her eyes were hazel. Very wrong.
Smiling reassuringly, he eased back a bit more and said, “Good, you are awake.”
“Who are you? And where am I?” she demanded quietly.
“My name is Raj. Do you remember what happened to you in the market in Vidar?” he asked.
Frowning, Ahnika suddenly took a quick breath and tried to sit up, but Raj gently restrained her by placing one hand on her shoulder and holding her in place. “It’s okay, you are safe.”
“Those men who grabbed me—” she put her hand up to the side of her face, “—and hit me. Who were they? Where are they?” she cried.
“The men were Hunters sent by Brac to find you. I knocked them out for a bit, and then got you out of there. Using my ability to location-shift, I moved us several times so the men would have a difficult time finding us. However, I have no doubt that they or others like them are looking for us.” Raj kept his voice calm and matter of fact. “Brac has many Hunters searching for you. I promise to help you escape them any way I can.”
Ahnika scowled at him. “How do you know Brac is after me? Why would you do this for me? How am I supposed to believe you aren’t one of them? Who are you?”