by Jaleta Clegg
"Because we refuse to live the way they tell us to," the man holding his jacket said.
"You're working with the rebels," Paltronis hazarded a guess.
"And why shouldn't we? Our population has more than doubled over the last few years. Most of them are rebels looking to escape. The army is outnumbered at least three to one."
"So you take in refugees?" Paltronis asked.
"Are you asking to join?"
Paltronis shook her head. "One world isn't enough for me."
"Then why did you come here, prepared to wage a small war of your own?" The woman waved her hand over the pile of explosives.
"That's not nearly enough firepower. She usually carries a lot more," Scholar said. Paltronis suppressed the urge to hit him. The woman ignored him.
"There's a Patrol agent on Tivor. We want her back," Paltronis said.
"Tivor is a large place."
"We were told she was here, in the mountains."
"By whom?"
Paltronis just smiled. She nudged Scholar with her foot, hoping he got the message to keep quiet. "Our source is confidential."
The woman shook her head. "You tell me why you're really here and perhaps we can help you."
"We are here to rescue her, as I said," Paltronis said as patiently as she could manage. "She happens to be a good friend of ours."
"And does this person have a name?"
Paltronis glanced at Scholar. He raised one eyebrow. Whatever that meant.
"Dace," Paltronis said turning back to the woman.
"She may be going by a different name," Scholar added. "In fact I'm pretty sure she is."
"And that name would be?" The woman was skeptical.
"Zeresthina Dasmuller is the name she was born with," Scholar said. "She grew up on Tivor. That may be what she's using."
"Zeresthina?" Paltronis echoed. "No wonder she changed it."
One of the men leaned over and whispered urgently in the woman's ear. She waved him back with a sharp gesture of her hand, like she was chopping something off. The man stepped back.
Paltronis felt her senses heighten, on full alert. Dace hadn't been recognized, but Zeresthina had. She felt muscles tense, prepared to fight or flee. She shifted her weight to the balls of her feet.
"I am sorry," the woman said. "We cannot help you."
"You know her," Paltronis accused. "Don't lie to me. She's here, somewhere. You recognized her name."
The woman shook her head. "We have heard rumors of her, true. But we can't help you."
"Why not?"
It suddenly didn't matter that there were at least a dozen villagers in the room. Paltronis radiated threat to the point all the villagers shuffled back a step from her. Scholar shifted behind her, out of the line of fire, fists or feet. She didn't need a blaster to be dangerous.
The woman didn't back down. She held her ground at the table. "We know of her. Who in these mountains hasn't heard she's back and finishing what her mother started?"
Paltronis cocked her head. What had Lowell not told her about Dace?
"We were going to wait until the snows fell. It would hamper the army, not us." The woman stopped, looking down at the equipment on the table.
"What happened?" Paltronis asked, her voice low and very dangerous.
The woman looked up at her. "The police planted a spy. He found her and killed her."
Paltronis swore under her breath as she visibly deflated. She hadn't known it would hurt so bad. First Tayvis, now Dace. Who was next?
"Did you see her body?" Scholar asked.
Paltronis turned on him. He flicked one glance at her then ignored her.
"He chased her up the mountain," the woman said. "It was snowing, hard, and the wolves were hunting that night. There won't be a body. I'm sorry." She didn't sound sorry. "You'll be going then?"
"Going where?" Scholar said. "We were dropped here in an escape pod. There aren't any Patrol ships in the system. We have no way of going anywhere."
"Shut up," Paltronis told him, too late.
"There is a Patrol base in Milaga," the woman said.
"Which is how far away?" Paltronis asked. "And how many armies are in the way?"
"About three hundred miles and only one," the woman answered.
"Then if we help you fight that army, you'll help us find a way to Milaga?"
"We don't need your help." That came from the man still holding Scholar's jacket, more loosely now.
"I know tactics," Paltronis offered. "And Scholar can crack any datanet or com signal. We help you, you help us."
"It beats sitting in a shed full of animal crap," Scholar muttered.
"The village council will have to decide," the woman said.
"If you lock us in the shed again," Paltronis said, just a hint of threat to her voice, "we'll find our own way to Milaga."
"And why should we trust you to help us? What guarantee do we have you weren't sent here to betray us to the government?" The woman studied her, her face hard again.
"Does it help to know that most of your current government is going to be charged with treason soon?" Scholar blatantly ignored Paltronis's warning glare. "They've been dealing with the Federation. But what they don't realize is that the Federation will force them into a different form of government as part of the agreement to join. If they don't join, the Patrol should be here soon to enforce martial law, which I think you'll find is much more tolerant than the current regime."
"How did you learn all that?" Paltronis asked before she could stop herself.
Scholar grinned and nodded towards his pad. "It's amazing what the Patrol thinks is safe because it's encrypted."
"But how do we know we can trust you?" the woman asked.
"What reason do you have not to trust us?" Paltronis replied.
"Wait here." The woman left, the others trailing behind her into another room.
They were left with two guards. Scholar found a chair and draped himself over it. Paltronis remained standing, watching the guards watch her.
"I'm bored," Scholar said, staring at the ceiling. It was made of rough cut timber, like the rest of the building.
Paltronis ignored him. The two guards watched her, rightly assessing her as the bigger threat. Scholar was the sneakier threat. He slipped out of his chair and snagged his computer from the table. He lay back in the chair and spread it over his belly.
A ball of colored light rose from the pad. The guards turned to him.
"Harmless, see?" Scholar said, waving his hand through the yellow ball. The colors swirled faint pink before turning yellow again.
Paltronis used the diversion to edge over to a window. She peeked out. It was night, snow still falling thickly. With Dace dead, their mission was a bust. It didn't matter to her now if they were stuck here all winter.
The guards moved towards Scholar, entranced by the strings of light he played with. Paltronis turned her back. It didn't matter now. Nothing would be quite right again.
"Holy Hannah," Scholar whispered behind her.
She turned quickly, caught by the strange tone of his voice. He had a weaving purple light dancing in a complex pattern with blue strings. "What?" she asked, unsure what the significance of the light was.
"I've never seen anything quite like this." His fingers flashed through the lights.
Paltronis came to stand next to their guards, who shifted uneasily. She watched Scholar as he twisted the light intently, pulling it into new patterns.
"It's some kind of signal," he said. "That's weird."
The ball of light flashed orange and died. Scholar pulled his hands back quickly and stared at his pad. He muttered curses under his breath as he tried to reboot the system.
"I need a better power source," he said finally, rolling his pad up and tucking it into his shirt.
"So what was it?" Paltronis asked.
"Some kind of homing beacon," Scholar answered. "If I pinpointed it correctly, it's located at the top of the next mountain.
Pretty high up anyway."
The man on her left made a strange gesture with his left hand. Paltronis watched him, wondering what it meant.
"The forest spirits," the other man muttered.
"The what?" Paltronis asked.
"They live up high, in secret valleys," the man answered. "They take what they want, but usually leave us alone. As long as we leave them alone."
"They took your friend," the second man said. "If the wolves didn't eat her or the spy didn't kill her. Either way, you're never going to see her again. They don't give anything back."
Scholar chewed his lip, something he only did when he was trying to make connections in his head. "There's something, I can't quite put my finger on it. Find me a power source so I can access my files and maybe I can tell you what it is."
"We don't have much here," their guard answered. "Unless you can plug it into a fire."
"Sunlight will do," Scholar said.
"Then you'll just have to wait," the man answered.
The far door swung open again. Paltronis looked up expectantly. The woman came back alone. She studied the two of them for a long moment before dismissing their guards with a wave.
"Show us you will help us," the woman said. "The men are leaving on a raid in three days. To steal weapons and supplies. You go with them. Your friend," she looked at Scholar, "will remain here. If you make a wrong move, we'll kill him."
Scholar frowned.
"Good enough," Paltronis agreed. "Do you have maps? Information?"
"Tad will take you to their meeting," she said as another man entered through the back door. "You'll be kept in separate quarters."
"And not allowed to share any information, I understand." Paltronis was suddenly tired of it all. She just wanted it to end.
"You help us, we'll help you," the woman answered.
Paltronis nodded and followed Tad out of the building.
Chapter 25
I leaned on the wall by the door. The button to open it was next to me, glowing soft yellow. All I had to do was raise my arm and push it and walk out.
I had no idea what was out there. Were the wolves still waiting? Was it still snowing? Was it day or night? I hadn't been able to find a way to see outside. The equipment had been stripped from the ship. I did know if I stayed in the ship any longer, I would die. I was starving and weak. The water was almost gone. What was left was brown and tasted bad and made me sick. It was now or never. Either I opened the door and left or I stayed here and died.
I closed my eyes. I could almost feel Tayvis with me. What had he said on the mountain? Things might not be what they seemed. Trust him. Only it was my mind conjuring him up. Could he be alive somewhere, looking for me? Could I dare hope? It hurt too much.
Staying on the ship meant a slow painful death. At least freezing to death wouldn't hurt much. I didn't want to think about being eaten by wolves. Maybe they would kill me first. Did any of it matter?
I pushed the button. The door slid obediently to one side. A drift of snow spilled into the ship. The air was frozen, still and cold and barely lit by a rising sun. The cold burned my lungs. I shivered and pulled the ragged blanket tighter around my shoulders.
The snow crunched under my boots as I stepped out. The snow around the ship was deep and unmarked, except by a single line of bird tracks. The door behind me slid shut.
I looked up at a sky just fading to blue. Sunrise painted long streaks of pale pink and gold over the top of the mountains. There were no clouds. The air was still. My breath came out in great clouds of white.
Down or up? The clearing I was in was fairly flat, level, and ringed by dark trees. A faint trail led through the trees, a dimple in the snow. It was better than nothing. I waded through snow up to my knees.
It was less deep under the trees. The going was still slow and painful, shoving my way through crusted drifts, but easier than trying to push my way through the deeper drifts on each side.
The only sound I heard was the crunching of my feet in the snow. Not even the wind stirred as the sun climbed the sky. The path twisted through the trees, climbing slowly. So it was up, I thought. I gave a mental shrug and kept going.
I fell into a waking trance, focused on just putting one foot in front of another. I lost the trail at one point, in a wide clearing, and stopped, looking around for any sign of it.
I stopped, freezing in place like a hunted animal, when I caught sight of the wolf in front of me. It was the leader, a huge gray female. She stared at me with pale blue eyes the color of the winter sky overhead. She gave a sharp yip and turned, bounding up the trail ahead of me. She stopped at a curve and looked back.
I whirled around. I wasn't going to go near that wolf. I'd watched the pack kill Jhon and eat him. I found I didn't want to face the same fate. I didn't want to die, even if living meant pain.
There was no going back. The rest of the pack was behind me, heads lowered and teeth bared as they crept towards me. I backed away, fear closing my throat. One wolf darted at me, snapping its teeth just short of my blanket. I turned and ran, finding a surge of energy in fear.
The leader, the big female, sat in the snow on the trail. She looked at me for a long moment before turning and trotting farther up the trail. I could have sworn I saw intelligence in her eyes. The wolves behind me relaxed, dropping back a few steps. They were still there, I heard them padding across the snow. I knew that I would have heard nothing if they hadn't wanted me to hear, to know they dogged my footprints.
My burst of speed didn't last long. I was too worn, too hungry, too thirsty and sick from drinking bad water on the ship. I slowed to a staggering walk. The wolf ahead of me kept just in sight, the others keeping pace behind me. They were herding me, again. I stopped short, staring at the wolf leader. Did I want to go where they were leading me? Did I have a choice? I glanced back at the wolves behind me. They sat in the snow, watching me with eyes full of more intelligence than any animal should possess.
I didn't have the energy to fight them. I trudged up the path, after their leader.
The sun played tag with clouds overhead, casting brilliant shafts of light to sparkle on snow and blind me, followed by shadows so dark I stumbled on unseen obstacles. A teasing wind stole my breath and froze my face. The wolves kept pushing me, threatening me with their growls behind and their leader encouraging me in front.
Day crept slowly past. I stumbled more often. My mouth was dry, my stomach so far beyond hungry it hurt. I was dizzy and staggering more and more.
I heard voices, people I knew who couldn't possibly be there, talking to me on the wind. The lead wolf walked next to a shadowy human figure. If I squinted and blinked away the blinding reflection of sun on snow, I could sometimes see Jasyn or Clark.
I tripped over something and went sprawling on the icy crust of snow. My cheek stung as it scraped over the snow. The cold froze the pain almost as soon as I felt it. I closed my eyes, wanting to just lie there. I couldn't do it anymore.
"Dace, you have to get up," Tayvis said next to me.
"I can't," I whispered, too weak to even look. He wasn't there, I knew it was all illusion. And that hurt almost more than knowing he would never be there again.
"There you go again. thinking I'm dead. Trust yourself, trust what you know. And what you feel."
I pried open one eye, wanting to see him. I saw only sun and shadow and sparkles of ice. A sob caught in my throat. A shadow blocked the sun. I squinted up and saw the lead wolf standing over me. She yipped once then nudged me with her huge, furry head.
I cringed away, expecting to feel her teeth in me. Something wet and rough slid over my face instead. She yipped again. I rolled onto my back, staring at the wolf. She licked my face, my skinned cheek. I couldn't make sense of it, any of it.
She yipped again and nosed snow at me. I stared blankly at her. She bit a mouthful of snow loose and crunched on it, swallowing noisily. She nudged the snow again, pushing a pile near my face.
I could a
lmost see the frustration in her eyes at my incomprehension. She ate another bite of snow. I finally got the idea. I scooped a handful into my mouth. It melted, easing thirst.
The wolf yipped impatiently and nudged me again with her head. Time to move, I could almost hear her thoughts. I pushed myself to my hands and knees. I couldn't go farther. I hung my head, dizzy and sick and weak.
The wolf crowded next to me, tucking her massive body under my arm. She stood, dragging me up with her. I staggered to my feet. She pressed against me, her face almost to my shoulder. I buried my hand in her fur and let her support me.
I felt no more fear of the wolves. The rest of the pack moved in behind me, occasionally pressing against my legs. I scooped snow when I could, feeling it melt in my mouth. It was cold, burningly so, but it helped.
I blinked away double vision, strange colorations and angles on objects in front of me. I could almost smell the sharp odor of a mouse hiding under the needles of a tree. I saw tracks in the snow and knew the smell of rabbit and the remembered taste of warm flesh on my tongue. The wolf growled and jumped away from me, breaking the contact. I staggered to a stop, holding myself up by clinging to a tree. Late afternoon light speared through the ragged growth.
I panted heavily, my breath coming in clouds of white. We'd climbed steadily. I turned to look behind me. The slopes of the mountain fell away in a wrinkled carpet. The trees here were short, stunted by altitude. The snow was deeper. The wolves had been breaking a trail for me. A trail to where? I didn't know. I leaned on the tree, standing by sheer force of habit.
A head with a thick ruff of fur pushed under my arm. The female wolf looked up at me, her blue eyes troubled. She barked urgently and pushed at me.
"What do you want from me?" I asked, my voice a hoarse croak.
"Trust her," Tayvis said. I looked up the hill behind me. He stood there, a shadow of memory. His voice trailed into the sound of the wind blowing through rocks. He faded and was gone, the shadow of a bush playing tricks with the sun and wind.
I closed my eyes, squeezing back pain and tears. Why was I tormenting myself this way? Let him go, he was dead. It didn't help.
The wolf nudged me again. I didn't resist. I let her lead me away from the tree and across the rocky slope of the mountain. I buried my hand in her ruff and let her take me where she would. I didn't try to fight the contact, either. I saw through her eyes, smelled through her nose, let my mind become part of the wolf. I felt the vast emptiness and cold of the winter mountain inside me. I let it numb me, become part of who I was. The warmth of the wolf's fur under my hand was my only tie to reality. I felt as if I could fade into the wind and blow away. I'd be a ghost that haunted the mountain. I was delusional and not thinking straight. And it didn't matter.