by CM Raymond
Laurel, smiling like a child, ignored him as she rolled over and closed her eyes in the tall grass. He snorted in response and turned to take in their surroundings.
Gregory had done well to land them in a field at the top of a small rise. Spring had come to the region, sooner than it would have made it to the Arcadian valley, and Karl knew just how far away from the Heights he was. The hills rolled off in either direction, a stand of pines growing up around them. Further off to the north, a crag of rocks grew up out of the boughs, the dark rocks warmed by the morning sun.
Laurel tugged on his sleeve and broke him from his admiration of the rocks which looked nothing like the stones he knew so well in the Heights.
“Looks like we both want to go that way.” She smiled. “I’d like to get into those trees, and you’re looking at that rock face like a man looks at a beautiful woman.”
“Aye, child. Rocks are often better company. Steady, reasonable, and they don’t say much.”
She smacked him on the arm playfully, but with enough force to cause a sting through his leather cloak. “No wonder you’re still alone, Karl. It’s your preference for hardened rock over anything soft and tender.”
“Nah,” Hadley finally chimed in. “I’ve seen the women of Craigston enough to know that that outcropping is frail in comparison to any of the women Karl’s been with.”
The rearick laughed and patted his hammer. “This girl right here is the only company I need.”
“Well, someday, I’ll introduce you to a woman from the Forest who will blow your mind… among other things.” She raised her brow. “We have a way about us.”
“Scheisse, lass. With a mouth like that…”
She held up her hand. “Stop right there. I don’t want to hear Hadley’s jokes on this one. Now, before we spend any more time on Karl’s love life, let’s get moving. We don’t have much time before we need to be back here for the pickup. Beyond those trees, down the rise, sits the sea. I say we take to the pines, see what we can find there, and then skirt close to the rocks toward the water.”
“How the hell do you know all of that?” Hadley asked.
“Ah, mystic, you’re connected to the minds of others, my connection is with nature herself. Did you think I was just taking a nap there in the grass? It’s what we call communion, and the flora has more stories to tell than you can imagine.”
Karl shook his head and snorted, unsure whether or not to believe her story. “Aye, let’s get ta work then. If we were underground, I’m sure I’d be takin’ the lead. But the forests belong to you. Take the lead, lass.”
Laurel nodded her approval, and without a command, Devin took off toward the line of trees with her master on her heels. Karl and Hadley followed in silence and watched the druid as she wove her way between the thick pines that made up the canopy overhead. Little grew beneath their boughs, but the druid would crouch in a little patch of undergrowth, plucking handfuls of herbs good for cooking.
“She ain’t bad, really,” Karl finally said, growing tired of the silence.
Hadley nodded. “Yep. I wouldn’t want to be on the other side of her wrath, that’s for sure. And if she can find a thing or two to add flavoring to your bland meat, well, I’m not gonna throw her overboard.”
“My meat is just fine,” Karl grunted. “Thank ya very much! And ‘tis an important role, cookin’ and all. I just can’t help but wonder what good ya are to the group, mind jockey. I got me hammer and the girl a whip. I still haven’t seen you do much of nothin’ in a fight.”
Hadley laughed. “Short and short-sighted, are you, Karl? I think you’ve seen the mystics contribute often enough in and out of battle with our gifts.”
“Blood on the ground. That’s the only contribution that really matters when a fight breaks out. And if we run into an angry bear or something out here, then what? The girl would likely tame it with her nature magic, my hammer is magic enough. What are you going to do? Read its mind or something? Try to talk it down?”
Hadley continued walking, lengthening his stride to mess with the short-legged rearick. “Nah, you’d stand a better chance at that, Karl.”
“Oh?”
“Well, it seems the mind of a bear is closer to a rearick than a typical human,” Hadley said with a grin. “And they look alike, too.”
Karl failed at his attempt not to smile. “Yer a sonofabitch.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right… But she was my mum, so watch your mouth. Otherwise I’ll twist your brain and make it so you only eat vegetables.” Hadley slowed and glanced over his shoulder. Karl looked outright nervous at that suggestions, so Hadley flashed his eyes white. “Besides, my role here isn’t to kill bears. My job is to let Hannah know where we are. If we get into a world of shit, you’ll be glad when I can call in the cavalry.”
Karl watched his friend’s face lose all affect, and he knew that Hadley was connecting with Hannah back on the ship. “I’m telling ya, kid...” Karl began to say to the mystic in his trance, but before he could finish the sentence, a rock the size of Karl’s fist flew in from nowhere, knocking Hadley to the dirt.
“Shit!” the rearick screamed as he pulled his hammer from his hip and turned placing his body in between the bleeding mystic and whatever hell was waiting for them.
****
Hannah held a finger up at Sal. “Wait.”
His tail swept to the side across the deck of the ship, his eyes fastened on the bucket in her arms.
“Stand clear of that weapon,” Gregory said, watching the spiked tail. “He’s dangerous even when he doesn’t know it.”
“He’s a freaking kitty cat,” Hannah said, her finger still raised. She looked down at Sal. “Sit.” She said. He responded immediately. “Good boy.”
“What’s next?” Parker asked from his seat on the railing. “You gonna start playing fetch?”
“Hey, you guys train up here all the time. No reason I can’t try to teach this old dog new tricks.” She glanced back at the dragon. “Sit up.”
Sal shook his head and stayed seated.
“OK, pal, no sitting up, none of this.” She nodded at the bucket.
Sal paused and glanced over at the guys.
Parker shrugged. “Don’t look at us, Sal. She’s your human. I’ve been trying to train her since we were three. It’s useless.”
Dipping his head, Sal gave her one last glance. Knowing cute would never win the day, Sal sat up on his haunches, front legs hanging in front of him awkwardly. Hannah responded with a deep laugh, followed by her spilling the leftovers of the deer Sal himself had hunted for them on the deck. The dragon kept his eyes on her.
“OK. Now! Get it.”
He dove at the pile of remains and starting chomping on the pile, bones, skin, and all.
“You’re cruel,” Gregory said as she walked over to them. “It won’t be long before he realizes that he can just eat the deer he catches—worse he’ll understand he can make all of us sit up and roll over for the food he brings us.”
Hannah smiled. “When that day comes, I’ll be happy to play pup for him. Until then, I’ll keep reminding him who holds the leash.”
“Speaking of being kept on a leash, what the hell is going on with you and Laurel?” Parker asked Gregory. “I mean, is that actually happening?”
The young engineer turned bright red as he turned to look out over the horizon. “I kind of have my hands full with the ship right now. Not to mention, I…”
“What?” Hannah asked, bumping her hip across his. “Oh, wait. Hell, are you not into—”
“I AM!” Gregory yelled. “I mean… women. Yes. I am.” Gregory stuttered like the early days of their friendship.
“Ladies and gentlemen, old Gregory has returned.” She tousled his hair into a mess. “Don’t worry about it. Parker here has never known how to talk to women.”
Parker snorted. “Guess that’s why I’ve spent most of my life talking to you, Hannah.” He turned back to Gregory. “Listen, I don’t want
to push you, but it seems like Laurel really likes you. I mean she laughs at your jokes, which aren’t really that funny, and she always seems to be checking in on the cockpit.”
“You said ‘cockpit’,” Hannah snorted.
Parker glared at her. “Do you mind? I’m trying to educate my man here.” Turning back to Gregory, he said, “Maybe you should just let her know how you feel.”
“Yeah,” Hannah said. “I mean all the dudes on this ship are totally excellent at telling women how they feel.”
Gregory ignored her and looked up at Parker. “I’ve just, well, never done this before.” He finally turned to Hannah. “Remember when you were trying to learn how to dance?”
“I’m trying to forget… So, thanks.”
“That’s what this feels like. I keep thinking I need to do something, but I’ve never done it before. Just like dancing, I think I know how to do it, but it’s still so damned foreign.”
Parker put his hand on Gregory’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, man. It will come.”
Hannah snickered. “It will come. Zing!”
“By the Matriarch!” Parker shouted. “Are you a thirteen-year-old boy, or what?”
“Or what,” Hannah replied with a grin.
Gregory laughed and Parker shot her a glare. She knew he was speaking not only to Gregory, but probably to her as well—and himself. The romantic tension had ebbed and flowed between them since puberty, but there was nothing like the shared fight for the universe to bring two people together.
Her eyes cut back over to Parker and his glare had turned to something different. Something like longing. But what did she know about such things?
And as usual, as of late, her thoughts of Parker were interrupted by Hadley.
Hey, captain. How are things topside?
Hannah closed her eyes and thought her response. Tip top. How’s your field trip?
No problems down here. The druid seems to have new life breathed into her. The only thing is… Suddenly, Hadley’s communication trailed off.
Hadley? She called back. Hadley? What’s the thing?
He came back. Cool your jets, beautiful. Except... I might just punch your rearick friend in his little, yellow teeth before all is done down here.
She laughed, and her mind quickly wandered from Parker to the mystic—once mysterious and attractive, now, just damned attractive.
Take it easy on him, OK. Same time for pick up?
Yeah. Laurel is working the ground, pulling weeds like…
And then there was nothing.
Hadley? Stop dicking around. What’s going on?
She waited, glancing to Parker, then to Gregory, and then toward the ground beneath them.
“What did he say?” Parker asked. He had become accustomed to the look on her face when the mystic was speaking in her head, and, when he was honest with himself, he didn’t really like it.
“Don’t know. He just—” Hannah grabbed her head in her hands and screamed. She fell to her knees.
Gregory and Parker rushed to her side, and Sal looked up from the spot on the deck where she had dumped the food.
“What is it?” Parker asked, pulling her into an embrace.
“He’s gone,” she whispered.
“Gone?”
“Don’t know. Got cut short. Something’s happened to them.” Hannah sat up and grabbed Parker’s hand. “We need to go after them.”
Before he could answer, Gregory jumped in. “Laurel,” he grunted. “We have to go.”
Hannah shifted her eyes to him. “Gregory, no. You need to get us down there, and then get the ship out of range. We have no idea what’s waiting for us, and the ship is too valuable to risk.”
“But—”
“Have you seen me in action?” she said with a smile. “I’ll bring your hot, little, wood nymph back. But we need this ship in one piece.”
Gregory furrowed his brow in concentration and nodded. “But don’t come back without her.”
“If she’s not with me, I won’t come back.” Hannah patted him on the shoulder. She stood and starting walking to get her things. Stopping, she turned to him. “And Gregory, no matter what, do not wake Zeke up.”
Hannah saw his face go pale, but then Gregory gritted his teeth. “I’ve got this.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Parker worked his way down the rope, hand-over-hand, as his muscles burned. The ship had a large door that opened at ground level, but it was a pain to get open. A large crank had to be turned by hand, and it took damned near forever. So, most of the time, they opted for climbing the rope.
Looking down, between his legs, he saw Hannah sitting, legs crossed, leaning against her dragon. She had said that Sal couldn’t handle both of them, but he had a sneaking suspicion that she just wanted to see him struggle his way down the line.
When his boots finally hit the ground, he heard her clapping. “Nice finish!” She laughed as Sal snorted in his direction.
He bowed and then walked toward her. “Why don’t you two get off your asses so we can go find our friends?”
“Just waiting for you.”
They waved as Gregory lifted the ship in the air. Parker knew Hannah wasn’t in love with the idea of Gregory guarding their most precious asset all by himself. But Parker figured that as long as he stayed above the clouds, there was very little that could go wrong.
They left the grassy spot on the top of the rise where they had last seen Karl, Laurel, and Hadley only hours ago. Hannah cut off for the north. It was all she knew, except for the fact that she had received the message from Hadley not too long after they had dropped them for their simple mission. They couldn’t have gotten far.
She reached out with her mind for the mystic but got nothing. Her heart was as heavy as her footfalls as they walked toward the pine forest.
“We’ll find them,” Parker said, assuring himself as much as he was her.
“I know. And, if something happened to them, there’ll be hell to pay.”
The shade of the pines greeted them, and Hannah was glad for it. While it was still only early spring, the air was hotter and heavier than in the Arcadian Valley. She and Parker walked silently through the needle-covered floor, both of them searching for some clues of where their friends may have gone, and what might have caused the disconnection of her and Hadley.
“There,” Parker said. His keen eye picking out a place where a patch of undergrowth had been picked. “Laurel’s been here.”
Hannah only nodded and pushed on, looking for more places that the druid might have harvested the weeds that might someday season their food. They followed the trail that she had inadvertently left behind. Sal bounded beside them, sniffing in the dirt. They crept from one patch to another until it led them to a spot in the forest where the trees met the outcropping of rocks to their right.
“Trail ends here,” Parker said.
A branch snapped somewhere in the distance, and Sal took off running. Parker opened his mouth to yell for him, but Hannah just laughed it off. “He’s probably just hunting for rabbit or something. He’ll be fine. And this way, he won’t step all over the evidence.”
Hannah searched the ground where they were standing. The needles, which mostly lay spread out over the forest floor as if carefully strewn, were a mess where they stood. Marks were made as if a great dance had taken place upon them.
“There was a fight here.”
Parker nodded. “You’re right. This is where it happened. Where Hadley was cut off.”
“We’re close then.”
Parker’s eyes scanned the rock wall overhead. The sun danced off its surface and created dark lines, indicating deep seams in the otherwise smooth surface. He wondered if the rearick had somehow scaled the surface and crawled into a cave to have a little piece of home surrounding him. The thoughts of Karl left, as a scream filled the air.
“Trespassers,” the high, shrill voice cried, just as a rock shot from one of the seams toward them.
W
hoever had thrown it had the aim of a master marksman. Parker would have taken it in the face, if not for Hannah’s quick thinking. A shield of glowing blue rose up around them, deflecting the rock off onto the forest floor—and then another and another.
“The hell?” he shouted.
“Quite the welcome,” Hannah said, scanning the rocks for their attackers.
She didn’t have to look long. A body emerged from a crease thirty feet over their heads. Whoever, or whatever was attacking them, quickly scrambled down the rock face. Its proportions, even as it moved quickly, looked anything but ordinary. There was a torso the size of a normal person, but their arms and legs were long, as if they had been stretched out on a torture device.
Landing on the ground, the figure crouched, staring at them. Although its body looked completely abnormal, its face was clearly that of a young girl. There was a wild look in her eyes, a look that Parker recognized. It was the same look he saw in Hannah’s as she lay in the streets of Arcadia after the murder of her brother. This kid—or creature—wanted revenge or restitution.
And if the look in her eye didn’t prove it, the fact that she charged them was a clear sign.
Hannah kept her shield up, but the girl didn’t know it was there. As she dove to attack them, Hannah shifted the barrier, sending their attacker’s body, with its gangly limbs, sprawling on the pine needle floor.
The girl sprang to her feet, another rock already in her left hand. It was then that Parker noticed her right hand was missing—half the arm in fact, cut off just after the elbow.
What the hell? he thought.
Dropping the shield, Hannah raised her hands. “Wait! We only want to talk. We’ve lost our friends.”
“Yeah, well, join the club. I’ve lost something, too. And I want him back.”
Hannah glanced at Parker who shrugged. Before they had a second to discuss the situation, the girl pulled a knife from her belt and threw it. Her aim with the rocks paled in comparison to her precision with a blade.