by ammyford1
I sat there feeling like a naughty child. “I’m sorry,” I said feebly.
Ahran arched an eyebrow at me.
What did that mean?
Before I could ask him the nurse reappeared. She spoke in Ramian and we followed her into one of the inner rooms where the doctor was waiting for us. He was an older looking man with silvery grey hair.
Ahran said a few words and the doctor nodded. The nurse lowered the couch into its horizontal position and I lay down so the doctor could examine my head. He shone a torch into my eyes and cast his eye over the wound. He indicated for me to open my mouth and he took something off the stainless steel tray the nurse was holding. He spoke and Ahran translated. “He’s giving you something to help with the pain.”
The doctor laid a small square of rice paper on my tongue. To my amazement, the pain in my head, neck, back and pelvis dissolved away in a matter of seconds.
“Wow! That’s some pain killer,” I said.
“It should last for twenty four hours,” Ahran explained.
The nurse placed a pair of over-sized goggles over my eyes and I closed them waiting for the prick of the needle that would administer the local anaesthetic but all I felt was a tingling sensation where the wound was.
The doctor spoke.
“You can sit up now,” Ahran said, relaying the doctor’s instructions.
I sat up feeling a hundred times better than when I had come in. The nurse removed the glasses and handed me a mirror. I looked at the doctor’s work. The wound had been cleaned and there was a fine pink scar where the cut had been, I could hardly believe that it had healed already.
“Good God! It’s almost gone, what did he do?” I said as I gingerly touched the small welt and examined it more closely in the mirror.
“He treated it with a laser and has applied some anti-scarring gel. You should hardly notice it in a couple of days’ time.”
“That’s amazing,” I marvelled as I looked at it from different angles.
I smiled at the doctor and thanked him. He smiled and nodded.
As we left the place that performed tiny miracles, in spite of my ordeal and the lateness of the hour, I felt surprisingly alert and buoyant. How was it possible that I felt even better than before I’d been attacked?
“How are you feeling?” Ahran asked.
“Remarkably well actually.”
“That will be the drugs the doctor gave you.”
“What was it? Cocaine?”
Ahran laughed. “Not cocaine. The painkiller the doctor gave you would have contained a mood enhancer, the idea is that if you feel emotionally strong you will heal quicker.”
I nodded slowly. Clever.
We walked down the darkened street to the main road at the end and although I no longer needed Ahran’s support he insisted on holding my hand, in case I felt faint, apparently. Whilst this was a banned activity in my book, in my enhanced state of mind, I chose to go with it. He had slowed his pace so that I didn’t have to trot to keep up.
Back at the airport I’d had a glimpse of Ahran the soldier, cold and implacable. He had dispatched my attacker’s body without a second thought. But with me, he had been attentive and caring. I was probably reading far too much into it, either that or it was something to do with the drugs I had just been given, but it seemed like a change had come over him. He’d gone from acting like I was an annoyance, an irritation that he couldn’t swat away fast enough, to someone he could tolerate, feel protective over even. My close shave at the airport had confirmed that we were indeed being followed by people who were out to kill us, but to my greater peril all I wanted to do now was melt into Ahran’s side and let him shield me from whatever threat we faced. Of course, it wasn’t right, I was supposed to be distancing myself from him, but the more distance I tried to create the closer I wanted to be.
We walked towards the main street. I did my best to silence the spiteful voice in my head reminding me that whilst Ahran had spent the last hour being my knight in shining armour Toby remained a hostage and no doubt scared out of his wits. It occurred to me that if Ahran hadn’t been babysitting me he could have been closer to rescuing Toby. I disengaged our hands but Ahran put his arm around my shoulders and pulled me closer to him.
I looked up at him and his expression challenged me to pull away.
“The closer you stay to me the better; I’d rather not risk your safety again.”
“I shouldn’t have come,” I said.
He gave me a squeeze. “I’d be lonely if you weren’t here.” I looked up and gave him a weak smile.
We walked in silence for a few minutes. The air was cool and I could feel the heat of his body next to mine. I struggled to concentrate on the simple task of putting one foot in front of the other. “Where are we going now?” I asked as Ahran hailed down another hover cab that was vacantly cruising down the street.
“To a hotel to get some sleep and then in the morning we push on.”
The cab stopped at the curb and we climbed in. The car pulled away smoothly and we made our way back down the street towards the nearest hotel. It turned out to be a no frills affair with a self-service check-in just on the edge of town.
We finally entered our room and I eyed the large bed nervously. How on earth was I going to get any sleep sharing a bed with him?
I groaned inwardly.
“I’ll sleep on the couch,” he offered, sensing my uneasiness.
“Don’t be ridiculous, the bed is huge,” I said as brightly as I could. “Do you mind if I use the bathroom first though?” I was desperate for a shower.
“Go ahead,” he said as he sat down on the bed and leant against the headboard, stretching his long legs out in front of him. I couldn’t help but notice the way the denim of his jeans pulled taut across his thighs. Feeling flustered, I began to rifle through my bag and realised that in my hurry to pack I hadn’t put any nightclothes in. I would just have to wear knickers and a t-shirt. I grabbed my toothbrush and heard the canned laughter that suddenly blurted from the T.V. as I shut the bathroom door behind me.
It had been a traumatic and exhausting day.
I turned the water on and climbed into the shower, my thoughts turning to Toby. Where was he? How were they treating him? It was his first night away from home with complete strangers in a strange world and he didn’t even have his teddy to help him sleep. My heart hung heavy in my chest and I began to cry. I slowly washed my hair and soaped my body as I sobbed. I stood there for a long time my tears mingling with the running water. When they finally began to subside I got out and wrapped myself in one of the fluffy towels from the heated towel rail.
I cleaned my teeth and towel dried my hair before brushing it and letting it fall in damp waves over my shoulders. I put on a fresh t-shirt and clean underwear and glanced at myself in the mirror. At least the heat of the shower had brought some colour to my cheeks. I unlocked the bathroom door and Ahran looked up as I came out.
Dammit! He was still awake. I was hoping he might have fallen asleep.
“Are you okay?” he asked
“Yes, I’m fine,” I said self-consciously. I felt like sprinting to the bed and diving under the covers but I made myself walk at a normal pace, all the time aware of Ahran’s eyes on me.
“I am shattered.” I was feeling awkward and this came out slightly more exaggerated than I had planned. My attempts at acting like I was unaffected by our sleeping arrangements were failing dismally.
“Is the television bothering you?”
“No, not at all.”
He shifted over so I had more space. Now that I was lying next to him there didn’t seem to be nearly as much room as I had first thought.
I took a sip of water from the bottle I’d got from the vending machine in the foyer earlier.
“Night then,” I said, wriggling down under the covers.
“Goodnight.”
I struggled to get to sleep. Maybe this had something to do with lying in a strange bed, in a s
trange universe. But probably it had more to do with the fact that Ahran was lying next to me.
*****
I gradually came to, aware that I was lying on my side, my back nestled into a large, warm sleeping form and an arm draped heavily over my hip. My first instinct was to move away but I allowed myself a few moments longer, it felt so good to have skin to skin contact with someone. I lay there and welcomed the feel of Ahran’s warm body knowing I should move away but not quite able to do it. I froze when he moved and pressed his thigh up against the back of mine. The contact made my stomach clench and my drowsiness vanish. I tried to put some distance between us but his arm wrapped around my waist holding me in place.
“Don’t move,” he said. “This feels good.” How long had he been awake?
“Which is exactly why I should move,” I replied, taking hold of his wrist and using all my willpower to lift his arm up and slide away from him.
I sat up. He raised himself up onto one elbow and I did my best to ignore his spectacular shoulders and chest.
“You did that on purpose,” I accused, and self-consciously pulled the sheets up to my chin.
“And who can blame me when I’ve just woken up next to a beautiful woman who is all warm and sleepy? I challenge any man to resist,” he said with a wicked smile. I tried to ignore the fact that he had just called me beautiful.
“Ahran, please,” I said in exasperation.
“Please what?” he asked with a devilish glint in his eye.
Was it just me trying to do the honourable thing? “Ugh!” I jumped out of bed and headed for the bathroom, putting as much distance between us as the room allowed. I heard him chuckle behind me and it made me angry. He should be concentrating on finding Toby not trying to seduce me. I felt even angrier at myself for reacting to his touch like I had. Wasn’t it only yesterday I had met his fiancé? I washed my face and brushed my teeth ferociously. I really was going to have to set some boundaries because all of a sudden he didn’t seem to have any.
I spat out the toothpaste and examined the barely noticeable scar on my forehead. I rubbed my hand over the dull ache in my abdomen wondering what sort of night Toby had had. If only he knew we were on our way. I brushed my hair and put it up into a ponytail, it was likely to be warm outside and I wanted it up off my neck.
I came out of the bathroom and Ahran was standing in just his close fitting boxers with his back to me tapping something into his phone. I tore my eyes away from his tight backside and grabbed my jeans and bra before diving back into the bathroom. I proceeded to silently counsel myself. Okay, I haven’t had sex in a while. He is an extremely attractive man. Any woman would react in the same way. I was going to have to be stronger. If Ahran tried anything like that again I would set him straight once and for all. He had a fiancé waiting for him back home and in case he had forgotten, he had a job to do. Once I was dressed and my resolve had strengthened I went back into the bedroom.
“I’m going to have a shower,” he said turning towards me, “and then we ought to get going. We’ll pick something up to eat on the way.”
“Okay,” I said picking up the controller and switching on the television just so I didn’t have to look at him still in his boxers. Whilst he was in the bathroom I flicked through the channels. Ramian T.V. wasn’t a lot different from television at home as far as I could see; music channels, shopping channels, a morning chat show. Same stuff just different planet. I quickly skipped through the news channels just on the off chance that there was a news story about a woman found dead in an airport cleaning cupboard. After ten minutes I felt satisfied that no such story seemed to feature. I switched over to a music channel and absentmindedly watched a long haired brunette crawl seductively along a beach as I worried whether they were feeding Toby properly. Just as two overly enthusiastic presenters were about to sky dive off a cliff, Ahran came out dressed in black jeans and a khaki shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
“Ready to go?”
“Yep,” I said, tearing my eyes away from him. I clicked off the television, stood up and picked up my bag. Ahran slung his over his shoulder and we headed down to reception. He pressed his fingertip to a pad on the wall and the inner door clicked to let us out.
“If someone opened the door couldn’t we just sneak out without paying?” I mused.
He shook his head. “No, they have an image of my finger print from our check-in last night, my account is automatically debited if we don’t manually check out.
“Oh right and by the way, I will pay you back,” I promised.
“Don’t worry about it, the King is paying all our expenses.”
A hover cab was waiting for us outside, Ahran had obviously called it whilst I was in the bathroom.
“Where are we going now?”
“To hire a car,” he replied.
“Is that the quickest way for us to travel?” I asked, doubting the rationale behind his decision. Surely it would take us forever to get to Morana by road?
“No, but I received intelligence this morning that Bazeera’s agents are all over the airports and it’s better that we avoid public transport for the time being.”
I had a flashback of hands around my throat and was forced to agree with him.
After a short journey we stepped out onto the pavement. It was already warm and there wasn’t a cloud to mar the brilliant blue of the sky. Under any other circumstances I would be enjoying the warmer climate, but I already felt hot in jeans and regretted my decision not to put my new shorts on. My dress choice had been driven entirely by vanity; I hadn’t shaved my legs for a week. Maybe I’d be able to borrow Ahran’s razor without him knowing.
We walked into the car hire place.
A well-groomed woman who looked to be in her early forties in Earth years was sat at the desk and she looked up as we walked in. She gave me a cursory glance but her gaze rested on Ahran. She smiled and perceptibly straightened in her chair.
I rolled my eyes.
He flashed her a dazzling smile and I watched the movement of her throat as she swallowed. Ahran spoke to her in Ramian and she gushed her response, they exchanged a few more words and she checked a computer screen embedded in her desk. The woman tapped the screen and spoke to Ahran. He thanked her and she touched her hair self-consciously. Yet another female falls for the looks and charm of Mr Elessar.
“We need to go to their underground car park to collect the car,” Ahran said, totally oblivious to the woman’s attempts to get him to notice her.
I swapped my bag onto my other shoulder and followed him into the lift.
“Here, let me take your bag,” he offered.
“No, I’m fine thanks,” I said hitching it further onto my shoulder. I would show him I could do this.
He smiled. Another private joke obviously.
The lift doors opened onto a well-lit underground car park and a young lad approached us. He greeted us and we followed him to our hire car which turned out to be sleek and nondescript. The boy gave us a thorough rundown of how the car worked. Ahran was remarkably patient with him considering he had probably been familiar with these cars since before the lad was born. He even asked him a question or two. The boy walked away with his chest puffed out like a little bird, satisfied that he had yet another happy customer.
We put our bags in the boot and got into the car. Ahran’s fingers flew over the keypad on the dashboard. Unlike the cabs I had been in so far, this car had a half steering wheel, the kind you see in sports cars.
“We should be able to get to Rosrua before nightfall.”
I nodded even though I had no idea where this was.
“Are you hungry?”
“Starving,” I replied. We hadn’t eaten since the meal on the plane.
“We’ll stop and grab something before we leave Zanzin.”
We travelled for about ten minutes through the streets of the town. The impression I’d got of the place last night shifted slightly. It was just as modern looking but in the light t
he sense of space and tranquillity was enhanced by the greenery and the colour of the planting schemes. There were people going about their business just as they would in any bustling town back home, but everything seemed more organised somehow. The town lacked the usual chaos of the morning rush hour. There were no beeping horns, no delivery lorries blocking the right of way of the oncoming traffic and there didn’t appear to be any traffic lights. The traffic flowed smoothly and silently.
“Are all your towns like this?” I asked, breaking the silence between us.
“Pretty much.”
“It seems so organised and less random than back home.”
“There are very strict planning regulations which are designed to keep built up areas as uncongested as possible,” Ahran replied.
“It’s very quiet, there aren’t the usual sirens or delivery vans blocking the roads,” I pointed out.
“That’s because all vehicles are automatically programmed to give way to emergency vehicles and all shops have underground delivery bays.”
“Everything is kind of perfect here, isn’t it?” I said, trying not to sound sarcastic.
“We try to live as harmoniously as possible. Our technology is more advanced than on Earth, which means we are able to organise things to allow as little chaos as possible. But I wouldn’t say everything is perfect. There is conflict between states, we still have a crime rate and things do go wrong from time to time.”
It was hard to imagine anyone disrupting the peace and the natural order of things here.
“Although we do have better systems of surveillance and identification, which means it’s more difficult to get away with committing a crime.”
“It sounds like ‘1984’.”
Ahran looked puzzled.
“You know, ‘1984’, Big Brother is watching you,” I said with feigned menace.