Ria followed the heat signatures with her eyes until she could no longer catch even a glimpse of them. Only then did she relax and sit up.
“Well, this isn’t what I expected,” she murmured softly.
“While I appreciate your aid, I must admit that I’m somewhat confused,” the Brun said in a distinctly feminine voice that Ria heard in her mind, not with her ears. For some reason she hadn’t expected the Brun to be female, and was curiously pleased by it.
“You’re somewhat confused?” Ria asked with a soft laugh. “Is that all?”
“Perhaps more than that. You don’t seem surprised that I can speak with you.”
“I’m not,” Ria said, glancing at the Brun, then back in the direction she’d last seen the Nomen. She sensed the Brun’s curiosity and fear very strongly, which confused her since even when her empathic ability worked she’d never been able to feel animals. She frowned, wondering if Brun could be classified as animals since they were sentient. No, she decided. Definitely not.
She checked, then double-checked, but she was not drawing on her empathy. It was as absent now as it’d been for the past six months. “I can feel how tense and worried you are. And curious. Do you normally project your emotions or is it just me?”
“I can feel how tense and worried you are too,” the Brun said, shocking Ria. “I’ve experienced this to a small degree with my pack mates, but never this strongly, and never with anyone not Brun. I thought it was something you were doing.”
Ria looked at the Brun for a moment, wondering what color eyes she had. Then she shook her head before looking around them carefully again, afraid a Nomen might sneak back and catch them. “Nope, it’s not me.”
“They’re gone,” the Brun said. “I heard them talking of coming back after the storm. Right now they want food and drink in a warm place.”
“Excellent idea. I hope they get food poisoning and puke all over each other.” She sensed the Brun’s amusement and surprised herself when she turned to grin at her. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d grinned. Or the last time she’d felt so relaxed in the company of another person. Creature. Being.
“My name is Star.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Star, though I’d hoped it to be under somewhat better circumstances. My name is Ria.”
“I don’t understand any of what just happened, Ria,” Star said, a hint of strain in her tone. “Where we were a few minutes ago, or how I got there, or how we both got back here. That did really happen, right?”
“Yes, it really happened,” Ria said, automatically stroking the Brun’s neck in a motion that soothed them both. “My people are in a ship in space,” Ria paused. “Do you understand what that means?”
“Yes, the Doftle factories that my pack used to guard make ships, so I have knowledge of them.”
“Good, that helps. My people noticed this was a Doftle held world which, as you probably know, is never a good thing. So they decided to take a peek and see what the little blue thugs were doing down here. When they caught sight of you being chased by Nomen it was immediately decided to try and help you.”
“They could see that from…space?”
Ria considered her answer and decided to keep it simple. “Basically, yes.”
“What was that place I was in, with you and the foul one?”
“Foul one, I like that. That was a transport room on one of our ships. The moment you arrived, the foul one decided to send you back which was a HUGE mistake on his part. I’d like to see his face when my sister gets hold of him.”
“I don’t understand transport.”
“Yeah, neither do I to be honest. I know it takes you from one place to another in a just a couple of seconds. I know it always makes me feel dizzy and sick. I know it works.” Ria smiled. “Now you know as much as I do about it.”
Ria heard a soft laugh in her mind. “You ease my worry, Ria. That hasn’t happened in many weeks. I’m not complaining, but why did you allow yourself to be sent here with me?”
“It was kind of strange, really,” Ria said slowly. “When I heard they were going to transport you, I had a strong feeling that I had to be there. Maybe it was because of the foul one, though nothing like that has ever happened to me before. When I saw you starting to transport away, I just had to come with you. I don’t know why. It just felt right, so I did it.”
Star was silent for a long moment. “I don’t know why the Cloud People wished to aid me, or why they chose you as the instrument of their aid. But I am deeply honored, and very grateful to you for choosing to follow their guidance, Ria. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, Star. You may not want to thank me just yet though, since you’re back where you started, and so am I. Not sure that constitutes actual aid at this point.”
“You covered me with a blanket to hide me, reminded me to lower my head and hold silent when the Nomen came near, and most of all, you did not allow me to be sent back here alone,” Star said. “To me, that is very much aid.”
Ria patted Star, a little embarrassed by such high praise. “Well um…I guess we need to figure out what we’re going to do next.”
“I can scent rain in the air,” Star said. “It will be cold, and last many hours. I must return to my den and see to my cubs.”
“You have cubs? Never mind, you just said that.”
“I don’t have them yet, but they will be born soon. Too soon I’m afraid.”
“Oh. That’s uh…not good. I’ll help you get back to your den if you can tell me which way it is. Well, and promise me that your pack won’t bite first and ask questions later when they see you’re hurt.”
“I no longer have a pack,” Star said, a wealth of sadness in her voice. “They hunt with the Cloud People now.”
“I’m sorry, Star. I didn’t mean to bring up sad memories or sound so unfeeling.”
“You did not sound unfeeling, and you’ve no need to apologize. I do not mind thinking of my pack, but they are not here. You are.”
“Then I guess we better get back to your den before the little ones arrive. Which way is it?”
“That way,” Star said. Ria could see that Star had moved her head but she couldn’t see which direction she indicated.
“Maybe it would be better if I just follow you.”
“Very well,” Star said. “I may need a moment before I can stand.”
“Wait, no, if you’re that close to giving birth you shouldn’t try to move.”
“It’s not that.”
“What is it then?”
“I’m afraid that, due to my injury, moving my leg is proving to be more difficult than it should be.”
“Injury? What injury?”
“You cannot see it? Oh, it’s covered by the blanket.”
“I wouldn’t see it anyway, Star. I’m sort of blind.”
“You can’t see?”
“I can see heat which is better than nothing, but it has its limitations. What sort of injury do you have?”
“A Nomen shot me with a light weapon. It struck my hip.”
“This gets worse and worse,” Ria muttered as she began fumbling with her disrupter bracelet. “I think we’re probably better off staying where we are. It won’t take long before someone realizes what happened, if they haven’t already. The closer we stay to the position that moronic foul one sent us to, the easier it’ll be for them to find us.” Ria finally got the bracelet off and slipped it into her pocket, careful to be sure it didn’t close. It was a risk, especially given that she was currently sitting on a Doftle planet, but one she had to take.
“Are you sure they’ll try to save me when they learn it’s my fault you are here?”
Before Ria was able to answer it began to rain. Heavily. Ria automatically raised her hands to her head, but it was a useless gesture. She was soaked in moments.
She rose to her knees and moved around Star, making sure the blanket covered her as completely as possible, tucking it in along her back and pulli
ng the edges together around her neck to cover her chest. The Brun was quite large, but so was the blanket.
“This is an emergency blanket,” she said as she tugged the blanket out to cover her legs and paws. “It has two layers of heavy fabric with a waterproof sheet in the center that’s coated with a material that reflects your body heat back to you, so it’ll keep you dry and warm.”
“What about you?”
“I’m fine,” Ria said. “A little rain won’t hurt me.”
“A little rain won’t hurt me, either,” Star pointed out reasonably.
“Yes, it will,” Ria argued. “You’ve been shot, and you’re in labor. That means you get the blanket. Next time we do this, I’ll get shot and use the blanket.”
“Next time?” Star asked in a high pitched mental voice of surprise.
“Joking, Star,” Ria said, reaching up to pat Star’s neck over the blanket. “Now, where were we? Oh yeah, I remember. It’s not your fault I chose to come here, and of course they’ll want to save you. Not only that, but they’ll do it as soon as possible.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because someone will go to Transport to be sure you arrived safely. When they discover we’re missing they’ll tell my sister, who’ll know what happened within moments of seeing the foul one. Then she’ll rip him limb from limb.” Ria paused. “Okay, she won’t rip him limb from limb. She could, but she’s not normally violent. Except when it comes to Doftles. She has a tendency to detach their heads whenever she sees one.”
“Detach their heads?” Star asked in that high pitched mental tone. “Is that a joke, too?”
“Referring to their heads as detached rather than lopped off is sort of a joke. Killing Doftles isn’t.”
“It’s not easy to kill a Doftle.”
“No, it’s not, but Vari’s good at it. I doubt she’ll detach the foul one’s head, but he won’t get off easy, that’s for certain.”
“What if he doesn’t tell her?”
“He won’t have to tell her, she’ll read his mind.”
“Read his mind? I do not know what that means.”
“She can tell what a person is thinking.” Ria noticed that Star’s rapid panting had increased and understood it was a reaction to the pain she was in.
“It might be…uncomfortable…to have one’s private thoughts known by another.”
“That’s for sure,” Ria said. “But Vari never dips into people’s minds unless they’re bad or thinking of doing something bad. I don’t know how it works, but she can sense that. Otherwise, she doesn’t invade people’s privacy.”
“That’s good to know,” Star said, her panting increasing.
“Is it the pain from the injury that’s getting worse or labor?”
“Both,” Star replied. Before she could say more, they were both distracted by a loud noise. Whatever it was, it sounded big and heavy.
“Do you have any idea what that was?” Ria asked, leaning closer to Star and lowering her voice.
“No, I don’t. It sounded large.”
“Yeah, I thought so too.” Ria tilted her head, listening intently, but the rain was so loud it was impossible to hear much. “What’s in that direction?”
“A clearing. It’s where I was shot.”
Ria’s heart leapt. “The last place you were seen would be the first place they’d begin to search for us.”
“They would not…transport…us?” Star asked, hesitating over the unfamiliar word.
“They would if they could. Since they haven’t already done it, maybe there’s some sort of problem.” Ria continued to stare in the direction the sound had come from. The rain was cold enough that it was lowering the temperature of everything around them, which had been cold enough to start with. The longer it rained the more difficult it would get for her to see. She was going to have to try to find the source of the noise, and the sooner the better.
“Will you be all right here for a few minutes Star?”
“You are going to see what that noise was.”
“Yes, I think it might be help and if it is, they’ll be looking for us.”
“I would go with you, Ria, but I cannot.”
“I know, Star. Please don’t try, okay? No matter what, I will come back here in just a few minutes. Then we’ll get you somewhere safe as soon as possible.”
“Please be careful, Ria.”
“I will be.” Ria gave Star a reassuring pat, then climbed to her feet. Moving slowly, and wishing she had her cane, Ria headed toward the sound. It didn’t take long to reach the clearing. They were much closer to it than she’d expected. She knew she was making a lot of noise because of the leaves and branches scattered all over the ground that she couldn’t quite see, but the storm was loud enough to cover them. She hoped.
Staying at least two trees deep inside the tree line, she made her way along the length of the clearing, pausing now and then to look for anything warm or moving. While she walked she thought about Star, and her own reaction to her. She’d never felt so comfortable with anyone before. Not since early childhood at least. In the past few minutes she’d spoken more to Star without stopping to worry about what she should or shouldn't say than she’d done with anyone else in…well...ever. She liked it too. She liked it a lot.
She looked up, realizing she’d reached the end of the clearing. Taking care to move more quietly, she moved closer to the tree line so she had a better view of it.
To her eyes the clearing was a flat, deep purple area with little variation. After a few moments she noticed a strange distortion not very far from where she stood. Blind Sight? she wondered. She started to move toward it when a large red and yellow shape appeared from nothing.
The outline was humanoid and unfamiliar, but all that told her was that it wasn’t one of the Dracon-Bats. When the form began running straight at her she knew she’d been seen. Her heart began to race and she backed up, fear snaking around her throat again, making it hard to breathe. She wanted to turn around and run, but she couldn’t force herself to look away from the approaching threat.
When the man, the very big man, she noted, reached her, he grabbed her upper arm and pulled her deeper into the trees, causing her to stumble and lose her footing. After dragging her along behind him a few feet he let go, dropping her to the ground.
“Don’t you know better than to stand in the open?” a rough voice growled at her as she climbed to her feet. A rough familiar voice. One of the Katres.
Of course he’s a Katre. With my luck, it couldn’t possibly have been anyone else. And joy of joys, he’s not only a Katre, but the one who hates me most. I must have been a truly hideous person in some other incarnation to have earned this much bad karma. Honestly, I wish they’d just drop a house on me and be done with it. That wicked old witch had no idea how lucky she was.
The good news is that he obviously has no idea I’m his berezi. Otherwise I doubt even he would’ve dragged me across the ground and dumped me like a bag of dirty laundry.
“I wasn’t standing in the open,” she said, calmly. Almost calmly. “I was trying to see if that really loud noise you made was help coming to find us.”
“Now you know,” the man said, reaching for her again.
“Keep your hands off me,” she hissed, backing away before she could stop herself.
“Why?” he demanded harshly. “You afraid ugly is contagious?”
Ria blinked in confusion. She had no idea what he meant, and immediately decided not to ask. This man was rough, rude, and grouchier than a wet cat. Whatever his anger issues were, she knew better than to tickle them any closer to the surface than they already were.
An impatient grunt reminded her that he was waiting for a response to his last question. “You nearly yanked my shoulder out of its socket already. I’m not giving you a second chance at it.”
The man stood motionless for a long moment but since she could see neither his eyes nor his expression, she had no idea what his reaction w
as. When he spoke again she flinched slightly.
“Where’s the Brun?”
“Not far. She’s injured and in labor.”
“If she’s beyond saving we need to leave her and get back to the ship,” he rasped. “Come on, there’s no time to waste.”
“I am not leaving her,” she said, offended by the very thought. “If you want to go, then go.”
Ria waited for a response but when he didn't say anything, she turned and began walking back toward where she’d left Star. She was getting worried that she’d left her alone too long and that made her want to hurry. How or why she felt such a strong bond with the Brun she neither knew nor cared. She just did.
Just as she’d expected, everything was getting colder with the continuing downpour so it was even more difficult to see now than before. She had to move more slowly despite her desire to go faster, and feel her way carefully. She concentrated most of her attention on the ground in front of her with quick looks toward the clearing to make sure she didn’t stray too far from it.
“Can’t you move any faster?” the man snapped from just behind her, startling her so badly that she stumbled forward, caught her foot on a tree root and fell. A muffled snap, followed by agonizing pain engulfed her upper arm and, at almost the same moment, the underside of her chin struck something hard and sharp, causing a deep burning sensation.
She bit down on her lip to hold back a scream, knowing that if Star heard it, she’d try to come to her. When the need to scream faded she used her good right arm and her knees to push herself to her feet. The movement increased the pain in her arm and she broke out in a sweat that the rain immediately washed away along with the tears of pain she hadn’t even noticed.
Once she was upright she stood bent over for a few moments, panting harshly as she fought through a fresh wave of pain. When she managed a long deep breath she straightened slowly, careful not to move her injured arm.
She reached up to touch the area under her chin, flinching at the sting though she didn't think the injury was too bad. She wondered for a moment why her throat felt warm, then dismissed the thought. It didn’t matter. She could think about her own injuries after she got back to Star. Keeping her back to the Katre, who hadn’t even bothered to ask if she was all right, she continued walking.
Ria's Visions (Hearts of ICARUS Book 6) Page 21