“We must leave now to find an acceptable place to stay the night.”
Emma nodded and got up to collect the baby. Kadin was there before her, though.
“I will carry him. He is a large fellow for a tiny woman to carry.”
Emma felt her face heat with discomfort. Tiny compared to them, she supposed with some humor, but not among Earth people. She didn’t argue, though. “Well, we’re ready. Nothing to pack and take except Nye’s things and those were taken out a while back,” she said when she saw Kadin looking around as if searching the cabin for anything forgotten.
She was wearing the clothes Gaelen had returned to her—not the under things. She wasn’t comfortable wearing someone else’s intimate apparel even if it had been washed. It felt weird to be naked under jeans but it beat the hell out of being totally naked and she’d begun to get used to it.
Once they’d disembarked, she discovered that Hauk and Gaelen and, unfortunately, Valee, were mounted on some of the beasts she’d seen pulling the ship into hiding, and waiting, apparently.
There was another beast between the riders that had some sort of boxy contraption attached to its back.
Emma had a bad feeling about it.
When Kadin led her to it, she had a very bad feeling about it.
Transport.
They traveled all over the universe in space ships and she was expected to ride in a box attached to some beast’s back?
She was almost tempted to volunteer to ride on the animal’s back without the box, but the beasts weren’t even close to the ‘noble’ horses she’d seen. They were scary looking things.
Kadin helped her inside and handed her the baby.
The beast stood up and Emma was convinced it would lose the box before it was standing and braced. Thankfully, although she and the baby were tossed about, their perch remained firmly attached. When it stopped moving, she climbed off the floor and planted her ass on the padded seat again.
Nye seemed to be torn between the belief that it was a fun game and terror.
As the beast started walking, she did her best to convince him it was a fun game.
Within an hour she was so ‘seasick’ from the rocking motion of the box that she had to lean out one window and puke.
She made sure she did so on Valee’s side of the beast.
It was just unfortunate that Kadin was also on that side.
Valee screamed at her like a banshee.
Kadin nudged his beast close enough he could examine her and speak to her. “You are ill?”
She gave him a look. “You try bouncing around this damned thing and see if you don’t feel like puking.”
He bit his lip, struggling to hide his amusement and Emma wanted to punch him. “You can ride on the front of my beast with me.”
Without waiting for a yay or nay, he called a halt and held his arms out for the baby. “Gaelen—you have nanny duty,” he said, handing Nye over to Gaelen and ignoring Valee’s gasp of outrage that he’d completely bypassed her.
When the baby was settled, Kadin helped Emma climb out of the box and onto the front of his saddle.
At Kadin’s urging, Emma settled back against his chest with a sense of profound relief as the beast set off again. The slight rocking motion soothed where the box had rocked enough to make her ill. The fresh air cooled her face and the view from the back of the animal didn’t bounce and make her dizzy.
A sense of awe filled her as she looked around.
Not that there was a lot to see—they seemed to be following a trail through a forest—but it was all alien!
Her parents would be as thrilled as she was if only they could see it and explore it.
The thought brought a wave of homesickness. She dismissed it with an effort. More as a distraction than curiosity, she turned her head to look up at Kadin. “What happened to the other ship that came with us?” she asked Kadin.
“They returned to escort the crippled ship back and guard them.”
As coolly and calmly as he had stated the situation, it brought home the fact that these people were at war with another species that had no conscience where it came to exploiting other species.
And they were a technologically advanced space faring people—which meant no place was safe.
She glanced up at the sky at that thought and was instantly distracted by the discovery that the planet revolved around binary stars. “Oh my god.”
Kadin jerked a look up and around. “What?”
“Sorry! I’m sorry. I was just shocked to see two suns up there.”
He looked annoyed—which didn’t surprise her since she’d obviously startled him—but dismissed it fairly quickly. “It takes some getting used to, I am certain.”
“I can see why you wouldn’t think twice if the planet you were born on had two,” Emma said apologetically, “but we only have one.”
“The planet where I was born also.”
Emma stared at him. “You aren’t from this world?”
He shook his head. “This is Ach—the world of the Hirachi people.”
She was curious to know how he’d ended up on Ach if he’d been born on another world, but since she recalled abruptly that he’d said he was taken and enslaved by the Sheloni before he was full grown she decided it would be tasteless and painful for him for her to pursue her curiosity.
“It’s … well, a very interesting place. I think I will have to get used to it because it’s really very different than Earth … well in most every way.” She laughed. “The air seems … lighter. I can smell all sorts of plants. I don’t think I could really smell the forest where I lived. I mean, I guess I was just so used to the smells of plants and dirt that I was nose blind.”
“How fascinating,” Valee intruded in a bored voice. “Ob course we most pleased you find our world interesting.”
Emma hadn’t noticed she’d rode up beside them.
She was sorry she didn’t have any more ‘ammunition’—and tempted to pretend she was going to puke.
Except that wasn’t the sort of image she wanted firmly planted in Kadin’s mind. She wanted him to think she was attractive.
She struggled for a few moments to think of something to say and couldn’t and finally just closed her eyes, pretending to dose. It didn’t take much of that before it wasn’t pretend anymore.
When she woke, she discovered there was only one sun in the sky and the forest around them was darkening.
“We will stop soon to make camp,” Kadin said when she sat up.
That was what Kadin had meant by ‘finding an acceptable place to stay the night’?
“Yes, how timely for her to wake up in time to bed down for the night.”
Emma narrowed her eyes at the woman. “It’s called jet lag back home—when you travel somewhere very fast and the time is different so your body is on ‘old time’ and you’re out of sync with everyone that lives there.”
“And, of course, you are de only one who has dis problem?”
“I’m really surprised your parents didn’t smother you as a child and start over,” Emma said before she could stop herself. “But being a bitch doesn’t make you a princess. It just makes you a bitch.”
Kadin coughed and then kneed his beast so that it surged forward. “Take care that mouth does not get you eaten alive by that female,” he said in a low growl that gave the lie to the amusement she’d seen moments before.
A shiver skated down her back at the warning.
He was right, unfortunately.
She couldn’t fight her way out of a paper bag and she had a feeling Valee was no stranger to fighting—besides having the advantage of weight and reach over her.
She bit her lip when she overheard Valee asking Hauk ‘what is beech?’.
It might be funny that Valee didn’t know exactly how she’d been insulted, but she’d certainly figured out that it was an insult.
Thankfully, Kadin kept her well away from Valee when they stopped to make camp, helping her t
o set up the tent where she would sleep with the baby.
She hadn’t realized they had an escort of about a dozen warriors trialing them until they’d stopped. The discovery, far from making her feel safe, made her more uneasy. “Are the … uh … soldiers for the Sheloni? Or something else I don’t know about?”
Kadin flicked a speculative look at her. “Nye is High King. He goes nowhere without an escort. Any time.”
A modicum of relief flickered through her until she realized he was under guard because of a possible threat to him. “Is this because of … uh … an unknown, possible, threat? Or because there is some danger you know of?”
He seemed to wrestle with himself. “There are some not glad that an heir to the throne of the High King was found, it is true. But, so far as I know, they would have no way to know that we had arrived with him.”
“Unless they saw that city sized space ship when it came in to land,” Emma said dryly.
He grinned at her. “Except for that.”
“Soooo … we’re not really expecting a threat from anyone in particular?” Emma asked for clarification.
“No. However, these are the wilds and there are other things that might be a danger to the infant king.”
Emma felt the hair on her neck stand up. She didn’t know why it hadn’t occurred to her that there would be wild animals in the woods. There were plenty in the woods around her place—even the occasional wild cat, which could be a danger—and sometimes animals that were rabid, but the woods around her cabin seemed … safe. Maybe just because they were familiar?
“Uh … what kinds of things?”
He shrugged. “This is not my world. Gaelen is familiar, however, and it was he who suggested a large escort.”
Abruptly, a dozen giant warriors built like bodybuilders didn’t really seem like enough of a wall between her and the wild.
It was an alien world! God only knew what might be out there in the gathering dark, just waiting for an opportunity to drag her off and eat her!
And she couldn’t run worth a shit carrying Nye!
Well, if she was honest, a snail could almost outrun her completely unburdened. She actually couldn’t claim to be a good runner or a good fighter, which meant she sucked ass as a survivalist. She would damn well give it all she had, but she didn’t think it would take much to wipe her out.
That being the case, she decided to see what she might learn from Gaelen once she had set the tent up. He still had the baby, after all, so that was a good excuse. If he seemed unreceptive to chatting, she could just leave with the baby.
He’d settled near a campfire to play with the baby, she discovered. The look he gave her when he heard her approach wasn’t exactly welcoming, but his expression cleared so quickly she decided the anger behind it wasn’t directed at her.
“You have come to collect His Highness?”
Emma smiled, thinking how ‘heavy’ that title was for such a tiny being. “Yes.” She hesitated. “I was sort of hoping you’d tell me a little about the local wildlife?”
He seemed to have trouble following that question.
“Things that live in the woods that might eat me,” she said with an attempt at a joke.
“Ah!” he said, nodding. “Tiny morsel—Emma hardly mouthful for most tings.”
She smiled uneasily. “That isn’t very reassuring.”
He studied her then and finally pointed at the beasts they’d ridden. “Dem no let nuting come too close.”
“They’re that fierce?” she asked doubtfully.
He shook his head. “Dem scared ob eber ting. Scream.”
Emma chuckled in spite of her anxieties—which he’d done nothing to appease.
Chapter Eighteen
It transpired that Gaelen hadn’t actually been joking. The damned things were scared of anything and everything that moved in the dark—including windblown foliage. Emma thought it might be partly because she was still getting used to the time rhythm of the planet. And it might have been the long nap she took when she was riding with Kadin. Undoubtedly, her uneasiness at being in a strange land with the strong possibility of dangerous alien creatures made sleeping difficult and she would have slept lightly anyway. But the shrieks of terror those damned things let out any time a limb brushed them or they heard a rustle was mostly what kept her awake half the night.
She was so tired when she heard the camp stirring all she really wanted to do was pull her covers over her head and go back to sleep, but of course Princess Bitch wasn’t going to let that pass.
“She slept all time,” she muttered as she passed Emma on her way out of the tent.
“Your English sucks,” Emma retorted.
“Your Hirachi, also,” Valee flung back at her.
Since Emma’s grasp of Hirachi was non-existent, that went without saying, but she supposed Valee was having difficulty flinging insults back at her.
Nye, thankfully, was still sleeping so that gave her a few minutes to wake up. Remembering they’d made camp near a small stream the night before, she left the tent, blinked her watering eyes until she was able to focus them and headed in the direction she thought the stream lay.
Fortunately, she wasn’t off by much. She decided to pretend she’d meant to wander off course and used the time to relieve herself.
She really, really hated going in the woods, but it wasn’t the first time she’d found herself in a situation where it was that or soil/piss herself and squatting sure beat the hell out of that!
When she’d finished, she headed to the small stream and fell in.
The damn bank was slippery with some kind of moss-like vegetation and damp with morning dew and all she had to do was plant one foot in the middle of it and she slid to the bottom and into the water.
When she’d stopped moving, she glanced around to see who might have observed her mishap and discovered Hauk was standing on the bank grinning at her. She shot him a bird, but she chuckled. “Shut up! This shit is cold as hell! Must be mountain water.”
It certainly woke her right up, though.
It was amazing how fast dipping one’s ass in icy water could do that!
Irritation flickered through her at the reflection that she was going to be stuck with one of the gown-like things since she’d wet her pants, but she tried to be philosophical about it. She’d rode on the stinky beast yesterday. She still smelled it and that probably meant her and her clothes needed a bath.
It was a damned shame she didn’t have soap!
Hauk made his way down the bank very carefully and held out a bar of soap.
Emma gasped in surprise and delight, grabbing it. “Where did you find this?”
Hauk looked taken aback. “Onboard. You didn’t find the soap in the bath?”
“It took me half a day to find anything to dry off with,” Emma said dryly. “And that tank thing was filled with salt water so I didn’t feel clean even when I bathed.”
Hauk studied her thoughtfully. “I will go out on a limb here and guess that Princess Valee did not show you the bath? That was not the bath, by the way.”
Emma stared at him, struggling with the rage that surged through her. “That … total bitch!” she growled.
“I thought you had already determined that,” Hauk said dryly.
“Yes, but ….” She dragged in a calming breath and released it. “She has no reason that I can think of to act that way toward me. I didn’t do a damn thing to her!”
He shrugged. “Except that she thinks Gaelen, Kadin and … I are enamored of you.”
Emma gaped at him. “What? What in the world would give her that idea?”
Hauk looked uncomfortable. “I cannot imagine.”
Emma frowned. “Well, Gaelen’s her brother, isn’t he?”
“Yes. But I am thinking she blames you for the rift between them.”
That time Emma’s wrath boiled over. “She did that herself when she … uh … when she … uh … stuck her nose in his business,” she finished lam
ely, feeling her face turn ten shades of red at the knowing look in Hauk’s eyes.
Unable to sustain that look, she focused on using the soap. She really wanted a thorough bath but the water was cold enough she was starting to feel numb.
He declined to take the bar when she tried to hand it back. “Keep it.” He paused for a long moment. “Consider it a gift.”
Emma looked at him in surprise and then smiled at him. “That is so sweet! Thank you! Maybe we could find some warmer water so I could get a real bath?”
He grinned at her. “I will see what I can discover.”
He helped her to her feet then and leapt up the bank with her.
She was tempted to hug him, but she didn’t know how he might feel about it and she was soaked and had already dripped all over him. Instead, she thanked him again and hurried away.
“You ride with me today,” he called after her.
She pivoted to smile at him and then resumed her rush to find something dry. She wasn’t quick enough. The bitch had already told them to take the tent down and pack it up. Thankfully, she’d tossed Emma’s small bundle of belongings into the dirt. Emma rushed to the loose bundle to make sure everything was there, stowed the bar of soap and dragged out a gown. Then she had to find a place in the woods to change.
By the time she got back pretty much everyone was mounted.
Kadin was assisting Valee in climbing into the speti—torture box as Emma thought of it—on the beast with Nye. She was tempted to dash over and demand that Valee hand the baby over, but she quelled it. He’d grown used to Valee. He clearly didn’t like her any more than Emma did, but he put up with her when he had to and she saw Valee had bribed him with his morning bottle.
Dismissing her, trying to dismiss her pique, she looked around for Hauk and saw he was mounted and already moving toward her. Reaching down, he caught her hand and helped her to climb up on the beast and then helped her get situated.
Birth of a King Page 14
