Keeping With Destiny
Page 15
How was he to explain there wasn’t room for love in his life? He had known, once the union was made, he would have to look after her and he would see to it she lived comfortably. But beyond that, he had not given it any further consideration. Now, he simply felt like a heel.
The next morning, they headed out, traveling for days. Leaving the valley floor and slowly making their way farther up into the rugged terrain of the mountain range that bordered the region before the great waters farther east. The slow incline would make passing through the mountain cut easier than traveling the valley and then taking the steep climb over the last ridge; a climb that was difficult enough in the summer. But winter was coming and if the mountains were cold during the day, then they were downright frigid at night.
Each morning, Tannin freed her hands and feet and they ventured out on foot. There was no point in her trying to run; the first time she tried, he proved to be quite capable of hunting her down. She had hidden in the smallest crevice she could find, and he’d found her as easily as if she’d been standing out in an open field waving a flag.
“I haven’t time to play hide and seek with you. Do it again and I’ll add you to one of the backpacks,” he gave a menacing threat as he held her dangling at the tips of her toes by one arm locked in a immeasurable grip of his hand.
“I may be small, but the added weight would slow you down.”
“Not if I cut your legs off first.”
She gulped. “You’d maim me?”
“They’ll grow back later,” he added smugly. “You going to behave?”
She nodded.
“Say it. I want to hear you say the words,” he demanded.
“I won’t try to run while we travel,” she huffed. But she meant it. More so out of fear that he might actually play good on his threat. Especially if he figured she could heal that well. She wasn’t so sure, but she wasn’t going to risk the chance that he might be. Still, she was surprised when he believed her enough that he didn’t even bother place a rope leash on her the remainder of their day’s journey.
But his trust only went so far and when they stopped for the night, the ropes were back on again. That, of course she earned a few nights before—
She had waited half the night, allowing herself to relax but not fulling give over to sleep. Just enough to be rested and ready. Her captor, however, slept soundly— audible by the deep raspy breaths he let out. Not the log sawing snores she’d had to endure from him in the days traveling in the scamper but something she found on a level of pleasantness. Making her feel as though a guardian bear slept close by protecting her. But in truth, he was a beast— a monster that was anything but her friend.
A fox or jackal could be heard yipping out in the distance and for once Tannin didn’t stir. It was time.
She rolled to her belly and scanned the camp. The fire was banked and burning low. Just enough to keep the chill at bay and enough amber light to see by. She dodged her own pack, carefully minding the tin can she’d been using as her drinking cup and crawled around the pit to the other side of the sleeping beast, making no more a sound than a snake would slithering across the sand.
She reached for his pack, her fingertips easing a side flap open, then pushed in until she felt her pulse gun. She was almost free when Tannin stirred. Along with the lightning blur of movement, she reacted— she rolled, and her fingers curled into a tight grip just as hands thick and heavy grabbed her, slamming her shoulders into the ground where they pinned her. Tannin’s leering face hovered over her while the echoes of her pulse gun going off bounced off the nearby cliffs. He let out a tight growling sound then slapped the gun from her hand, sending it flying out into the shadows. Her own eyes coming to focus on the singed hole in his tunic where the released pulse had grazed his shoulder. She’d accomplished nothing more than get him drenned up.
She often thought she wouldn’t try again, as she feared he would actually kill her if she did. Except, she didn’t want to be a breeder in a union. And she was, after all, an opportunist.
On their fifth day, they’d crossed much of the stretches of a plateau before stopping so Tannin could go hunting, and Aari found herself tethered to a tree.
Still, she continued to find ways to remind him, she was anything but complacent and not to be underestimated. Which was probably why she was tethered to the tree while he was off hunting as the free man.
Half the afternoon passed. She tried to work the coils loose, even attempted to break her thumbs by smashing them against the tree, but she was still trapped. She was, however, grateful the tree provided shade. Though the rusted shell of an old-world vehicle they were using as a wind wall for the camp also blocked much of her view.
She sat waiting, eyes just watching the horizon; she’d already napped earlier after he left. Now, her sym pushed for a backrub. That need spiking within her every time she moved just to shift her legs which were growing stiff with fatigue. With nothing else to preoccupy her thoughts, Aari finally succumbed and began scraping her back from side to side against the rough bark of the tree. The rough friction set off a euphoria at certain pressure points, and her body ignited with the pleasure.
Followed with a moan which escape from her lips.
She peeked her eyes open and scanned around her surroundings. With no Tannin in sight, for the first time in so many years, Aari let herself surrender to her sym’s need completely, letting it intoxicate her. Something she had dared not do inside the Skaddary base.
For the first time in a long time, Aari could give in to the flood of euphoria her sym created for them. It felt just as good she let out another long moan.
Each sweep of the tree’s surface across her back sent wave after wave of rippling bliss running like trickling warm water over her nerves until it reached the epicenter of her private parts between her legs. There, it continued building until finally it exploded, and her body quaked from the strange solo orgasm.
Aari slumped over in a panting mess when it passed, lying on the ground while she caught her breath. By Destiny the release felt so good. She couldn’t recall if she had ever been able to give in like she’d just done. It was risky enough just to allow some small minuscule of pleasure and not have to worry about getting caught.
Footsteps moving up the rocky slope pulled her from her dreamy state and no sooner she was aware of his return. Tannin came up over the ledge, his face burning with an uncontrolled animal-like lust. His nostrils flared. He sucked in a deep breath, and his heavy gaze locking in on her.
Aari felt his gaze as if he were already handling her and it didn’t help any that her sym warmed up and sent out another ripple across her back as if it too could see the predator in the man. Only, her sym welcomed him. That was the last thing Aari wanted and when Tannin stepped for her, she sent her feet out, kicking and flailing at him. “Don’t you dare touch me!” She finally broke her silence with him.
Tannin slapped at her next attempted kick, sending her boot from its aim. He countered any next move from her by catching the tethered line holding her, yanking the rope up and her along with it until her arms were straight up overhead, nearly lifting her from her feet.
She kicked again, nailing him hard in the shin.
“By drenn, stop!” His face tightening around his jaw as he struggled with some inner furies of his own.
She kicked again. “I swear to you, if you rape me, I will take my own life, and we both die!”
Tannin let her ropes go and she dropped with a hard thud to the ground. A sharp rock jabbed her in the left cheek of her bum making her wince, but she recovered quickly and kicked at the ground to draw as far from him as her leash allowed.
“I have no intentions of raping you!” he growled. His lungs still sucking in deep draws of air around him, his entire upper body expanding from the effort. “But be warned, if you keep sending out mating pheromones, that may change!”
Aari’s face blanched with the instant mortification. She ha
d pheromones? And how the hell did he smell them? Could all men— the thought made her sick to her stomach. “I didn’t know.” Her anger now mixing with a slight pout of regret.
Tannin took one look at her and let out a hard huffed; “Now, why doesn’t that surprise me,” he mocked her.
Dirt was sent flying up from the ground with good aim. Much of it catching him in the face. He let out another growled warning, “Do it again and next time I’ll tie up your feet as well as your hands.” With that he turned, disappearing back down the slope.
“I can’t defend myself like this!” she shouted after him. “At least leave me a gun so I can protect myself while you’re gone!” she pushed her voice even louder.
Nothing.
“Hello?”
Still nothing.
She yanked on the rope, testing it and like all the tugs before it, the leash held tight. In a huff, she waited.
“Why?” Tannin suddenly reappeared and asked. “You’ll just shoot me with it.” His rare but calm demeanor restored as he came back over the edge, toting the day’s kill, and dropped it over the hood of the old-world vehicle that was the décor of their camp.
“So,” she fussed indifferently, and slunk down where she sat with nothing to do until he allowed it.
At some point he tossed her a fresh water skin which she drank from while he prepared the meat and a fire for the meal. The meal, she once again, never ate.
Over the next several days, Aari drank only water when they stopped to rest, but continued on in her refusal to eat. To further her rebellion, she took to silence; never speaking to him. Not even to answer his questions to her comfort or her bodily needs when he asked.
She was growing weaker with the long hours of constant trekking. She tried to keep up, just so he wouldn’t drag her, but even that was becoming a struggle as Tannin showed no signs of slowing his march northeast. However, the aggravation she caused him was also becoming more prevalent on his face, and in his increasing impatience with her. A condition which earned her more than a few scoldings from him along the way.
Trees became sparse companions as they climbed higher into the chain of varying mountain ranges. With it, the change in the season becoming more observable. What green there was turned brown or came from the various evergreens and a few wild ground brushes, which refused to give up their color so soon. But more so, making itself known, was the wind.
After eight days of traveling over harsh arid lands, they reached a city retrofitted into the decayed buildings from a city long ago. A trader outpost called Quinenset. The outmost city of what used to be under the rule of Blood Lord Maegrethe. A territory, that despite the barren surroundings and the broken mountains, managed to thrive due to an underground water source and from those wishing to trade goods outside of marked territories of the warlords.
NO SMELL TO TRACK
Tannin was one step away from throwing Aari over his shoulder and carrying her, but as it was, he was already toting most of the gear. The weaker she got, the less she was able to carry and still keep up. Topping it off, was the strange occurrence of her scent continuing to fade. Eight days with barely enough water sources to drink from, neither of them had been able to bathe. Covered in days of dust and sweat, her body odour should have been ripe, but it was anything but, as if she was fading from existence.
By the time they reached the city, her absent odour wasn’t the only thing bothering him— someone was following them. Someone who had no scent at all. Yet, Tannin detected him all the same. Felt him just shortly after they’d arrived in Quinenset. The one trailing them, also stayed undetectable in the way of being visually identifiable.
Tannin scoured the faces of the marketplace as they passed through. None rang up as their tail. He watched Aari, even in her weary condition, her eyes gave no hint that she knew someone was following. She was steadfast in her silence as well, so he couldn’t even lure a lie out of her.
They stopped at a produce stand, along the first street of vendors where he purchased some unknown fruit, having a light sweet fragrance he hoped would suit his reluctant captive. It was a no-go when he offered.
When he forcibly placed it in her hand, she let it drop to the ground without even looking at it or him.
Tannin bit back the urge to scold her right there before all in public. Though that wouldn’t get him any credits with her either. Just an audience he didn’t want. For all his strength and skill, she was besting him with this childish fit, because he couldn’t do anything to make her stop.
Begrudgingly, he picked up the fruit and shoved it in one of the packs, then tossed a credit to the old woman, “Is there a nearby place with a bed?”
“On the far end of the square. Go across the suspension walk over the water. There’s a row of two-story thatch houses. Go to the red door and knock four times. She’ll let you in for five credits a head,” the fruit vendor told him.
Tannin hoisted the packs back over his shoulder, took Aari’s arm, and steered her through the crowd, careful to keep her close so she didn’t get separated from him in the thick crowd of people. He wasn’t going to risk losing her to another, even if she didn’t like him right now. If she attempted to run on him now she might could actually succeed in alluding him in a city that reeked of more odours than she did. He’d be drenn if he’d give her the chance. Though looking at her, she didn’t look to have the strength to try. Nevertheless, he wasn’t taking any chances.
After paying for a boarding room, the landlady of the thatch boarding house gave him directions to a nearby bathhouse. He would have remained and watched her invasively— maybe even enjoyed the aggravation it would cause her as she had done to him. But the one following was near. Too near for his comfort that he had to chance one or the other. She didn’t even look at him. “Don’t even think about escaping,” he warned. “There are far worse monsters in this city than me.” He received nothing more than a meek nod of her head in response, but it would have to suffice. He needed to scan the area and he hoped the threat was enough as he left Aari in solitude. Just to be certain, he left her with no clothing or even a linen to cover herself with, should she try to slip away.
The hairs on the back of his neck were prickling, warning him of trouble. He didn’t like being watched. Certainly not by someone he had yet been able to spot. He had no choice but to trust she would stay put. If not, as challenging as he feared, he would use his skills to track her, or so he hoped. As long as her scent didn’t continue to fade any more than it already had.
Tannin left the bathhouse, taking only his sword and the hunting knife he kept on his side. He kept to the back alleys as he circled back around to the thatch house where they were staying. The stench alone from the raw sewage that was dumped from overhead balconies masked any scent he was carrying. Still, while tracking one without any, he preferred to keep to the shadows as he moved.
He’d only gone down a few blocks when the hairs on his neck bristled again. Tannin felt him. His tail was close-by. He paused beside a tree, eyes searching the dark recesses of the surrounding buildings. Then he closed his eyes and listened—
There.
Tannin leapt, reaching into the branches of the fir tree. His fingers sought out and found their target and wrapped around it, yanking someone out with him, and then letting gravity pull them both downward. The second Tannin’s feet touched the ground, his arm grappled his prey around, slamming him against the wall and set a blade to the man’s throat. “State your business, old one,” Tannin sneered.
A man of his late ages stared back at him with muted surprise but only a vaguely relevant amount of concern for his throat. His clothes seemed light, soft to the touch, and matched the color of the playa of the surrounding barren wastelands. Clean, yet looked as though— not covered, but made from its dust. A sage soul.
“The child,” the sage spoke as though it were a riddle. “We always watch over the child,”
Tannin blinked a moment. “Y
ou mean the woman with me?”
“Yes,” The movement in the sage’s eyes begat the motion of a head bow, which could not comply for the blade. “She was directed to free you, but we did not expect her to disappear after succeeding.”
Tannin thought about the man’s answer a moment. What was it she had said that first time in his prison cell?
~~ They want you freed. ~~
She said —They— “Why would you send her to free me?”
“We are the Keepers of Destiny. You are of greatest concern for us.”
“Then how is it she disappeared from your watch, Keeper sage? You know my destiny included her union for her gift.”
The aged and dusty man shrugged with a gentle shake of his head, “We could not see her. She grows weaker with the days, with such she has vanished from our sight. We became concerned. We came to see if she was indeed traveling with you. Nevertheless, Man of Destiny— be trusting, your kismet only includes a union with a breeder.”
“You speak of my destiny. What of hers? Hers is to be mine— in union.”
“The child has no destiny,” the answer came back flat of tone— the concern the Keeper had first spoken with, now absent his tongue.
Tannin stilled. He hadn’t expected such a reply. She was a breeder— she had to be special. His nostrils flared with anguish that the Keepers would suddenly disregard her. “Why is that?”
“We have discovered another breeder Symbiotai bonded with a suitable host. She travels to meet you as we speak. She has agreed to accept her union with you. Whereas Little Aari—” he shook his head softly, moving despite the blade still tucked just under his jaw. “—life has conditioned her to always refuse. Her predestination is no longer necessary. Though, she is still precious to us.”
Just the suggestion alone irritated every internal organ and nerve in Tannin’s body. He didn’t need another breeder. He’d already found the one he wanted. There would be no acceptance on his part of another and Keepers be drenn if anyone was taking Aari from him. Tannin tensed, pressing the blade harder against the sage’s throat, forcing him to rear his head back. “Aari is mine,” he growled through clenched teeth. “I don’t need another. You stay away from her. You hear me? Mine.” He flipped his wrist, leaving a nick against the man’s jaw, and a rivulet of blood trickled down. “Mine,” Tannin repeated the word then stepped back, permitting the sage to leave.