Still, after being with them for nearly a week and a half, she felt as if she was starting to understand them. They still scared her; she still held a deep, strong fear of them. But, on the surface, she was able to relax a little. They weren’t going to hurt her, at least not yet. She enjoyed watching them interact with each other. They were kind at heart, and the strong feeling of loyalty that spread throughout them ran deep.
She hadn’t spoken to Hakona since seeing him at dinner that one night. She saw him occasionally, at the tribe meals or while working out in the fields. He seemed to ignore her completely. When he looked in her direction, she felt like he was looking straight through her.
That bothered her. She didn’t know why, but it bothered her a lot. It was his fault she was with them. He even admitted to being responsible for her. So, why was he acting as if she wasn’t even there?
Whenever she did see him, he always seemed to be in the company of that woman—the one who interrupted their conversation. She did see Allison, and she made sure that Allison knew it. She would give her disgusted, dirty looks across the fire or shoot her a sly smile as she slipped her arm through Hakona’s out in the orchard.
For some reason, that bothered Allison, too. She couldn't help but remember the feeling of his hands wrapped around her waist or the way he looked down at her as he leaned in to whisper in her ear. She couldn't forget the warmth that came off of him whenever they got close and the way it seemed to overwhelm her and wrap around her completely.
When he appeared at her door one morning, she was surprised. “What are you doing here?” she said to him, almost angrily.
Since being with the Samou, she found that she had become bolder. She didn’t know how, or why, but she had started to shake off her naturally shy demeanor and become more expressive and vocal.
“You need to come with me,” he said gruffly.
“I have to fill my basket,” she said calmly. “If I don’t, I don’t eat, remember. Queane will be here any minute.”
“Don’t be difficult,” he scolded her.
“I’m just trying to follow the rules,” she replied passively.
He stormed across the room quickly. She pushed herself back against the cold stone wall behind her mat. She couldn't understand him—one moment he was friendly, the next he was aggressive, and most of the time he ignored her completely. It was as if he was harboring some angst towards her.
He leaned in close and looked her in the eye. Again, the air around them filled with a heat, this time, more intense and suffocating than the others.
“Come,” he said lowly but firmly.
She inhaled slowly, trying to calm her pulse, which was racing quickly. She swallowed hard before answering. “Where are we going?”
“The Bodaway wishes to speak to you.”
“I don’t want to speak to him,” she said softly. She was trying to make her tone firm, but she couldn’t. The fear that was quickly gripping itself around her kept her voice small and barely a whisper.
“You don’t have a choice,” he replied, reaching out and taking hold of her wrist.
“Fine,” she muttered. She tried not to let the feeling of his touch impact her too strongly. She pushed herself up from her mat. He kept his hand tightly around her wrist as he led her out the door.
Again they wove their way through the maze of tunnels and halls until they came out in the large cavern at the heart of the complex.
Kasma was waiting for them, seated on his large stone throne, surrounded by at least a half a dozen of his men.
“Glad you could make it, Allison,” he said as he pushed himself up to greet her.
“I didn’t have a choice,” she said sharply.
Kasma laughed, looking at Hakona. “You were right about this one. I didn’t believe you at first.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, turning to look up at Hakona quickly.
“It means,” Kasma answered as he walked towards her, “that you are not what you appear.”
“So what am I, then?” she asked.
“Useful, I hope.”
“What do you want from me?”
“Answers,” he said pointedly.
“I don’t even know the questions!”
Hakona maintained his grasp on her wrist and tightened it slightly as she raised her voice. "Calm down," he said to her firmly.
“Screw you!” she yelled back at him. “And screw you Kasma! This is ridiculous. What is it that you want from me? You’ve kept me here for over a week now! Why am I here?”
“Who is in charge of your group?” Kasma asked her slowly.
“You’ve been watching us, haven’t you? Shouldn’t you know that by now?”
The Bodaway didn’t seem detoured by her quick response. He simply remained calm and continued speaking. “There are two men who we believe to be heading up your operation. One is called Commander Peterson, the other Dr. Cooper. Which of those two controls the other?”
Allison laughed. “They’re both in charge of different things.”
“Explain that to me.”
“Dr. Cooper is the leading researcher,” she said knowing there was no point refusing the answer. “And Commander Peterson is in charge of military operations.”
“If they are responsible for different things, why do they meet together so often?”
“I don’t know,” she said.
“Perhaps not,” Kasma said walking in a circle around her and Hakona. “But, perhaps you can still be useful to us.”
“How’s that?”
“Why did you come to our planet?” he asked.
“You know that.”
“No, I mean why did you come here, to this planet?”
“The atmosphere is similar to ours. We can breathe the air without needing help from any type of respirator or equipment or anything. The mineral content in the soil is also like ours—nothing that could be considered toxic. Things like that.”
“Are you not aware that there are other planets like this one not far from ours?”
“We checked all of them.”
“Did you?”
“Yes. We were searching for six months before we landed here. It was our last hope.”
“I told you she didn’t know,” Hakona said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Kasma replied quickly.
“What didn’t I know?”
“Never mind all of that. That’s not important for right now,” Kasma answered. “We have a few other questions for you before you can return to your cell.”
Hakona released her arm and stepped around in front of her. “Those large vehicles you brought with you. What do they do?” he asked.
“The bulldozers? You saw what they do. They knock stuff down.”
“Yes, we know that. But there are others as well.”
“What others?”
“They unloaded them a few days after you arrived.”
“I didn’t see anything but the bulldozers,” she replied.
“They unloaded them when all of the research teams were out collecting samples or whatever it is that you do.”
“Where are they? They’re not in the camp.”
“They took them a few miles into the forest. They hid them there. They’re planning to do something with them.”
“What did they look like?”
“They were large, and had a long tube coming off the front.”
“Did they have wheels?”
“Not really, but they rolled.”
Allison shook her head quickly. “No,” she said softly. “It can’t be that…”
“Can’t be what?”
“Tanks,” she said looking down at her feet.
“That’s it,” Hakona nodded. “I heard some of the men saying that word.”
“What do they do?” Kasma asked.
She looked at them, surprised. “You don’t know?”
“We’ve never seen anything like that before,” Hakona explained. “The last groups that came d
idn’t have them. They had guns and grenades and bombs, but not those.”
“What other groups?” Allison asked. “You mentioned other groups before as well. What do you mean by that?”
“We’re asking the questions now,” Kasma said before Hakona could answer her. “What do the tanks do?”
“What do you think?” she said staring up at Hakona, ignoring Kasma’s accusatory stare.
Hakona looked down at her, an expression of worry on his face. “They’re weapons?” he asked.
“What else would they be?”
“That settles it, then,” Kasma said decidedly.
“Settles what?”
“Take her back,” Kasma ordered Hakona with a wave of his hand.
Hakona set his hand on her shoulder, turning her away from the Bodaway, “let’s go.”
“Wait!” she yelled out, trying to plant her feet in place. “What does that mean? That settles what?”
She turned quickly to face Kasma again, yelling her questions over and over again. Her voice was high-pitched and echoed around them, bouncing off the stone walls and seeming to fill the room completely. Everyone around them froze in place, staring at her as she made a scene in the middle of the large chamber.
Hakona pushed her forward, but she still fought back. “What are you going to do?” she yelled.
Hakona reached out and scooped her up in his arms. “You need to stop this,” he said firmly. “Allison, stop.”
The warmth coming off of him seemed to have an immediate calming effect on her. She let her body relax in his arms, tears streaming down her cheeks and her hands shaking violently. He carried her back to her room.
The entire way her mind was racing. Why did they bring tanks? What other groups had been to the planet before? Was it possible that they knew about the Samou before they came there? What were the Samou going to do now? There were only four dozen in her group, and at least 100 in theirs… not to mention the fact that they’re dragons!
Hakona set her down, somewhat delicately, onto her mat. She curled up, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her back on the wall behind her.
“Queane will be here later,” he said to her over his shoulder as he walked towards the door.
“I’m not working today,” Allison replied.
“What?” he asked. He stopped but didn’t turn to face her.
“I’m not going out today.”
“You won’t eat.”
“I don’t want to.”
She had stopped crying, but her cheeks were still moist from the tears. She kept her knees at her chest and rested her chin on them, staring at his back. It was completely exposed. She hadn’t noticed before, but he also had scales running down the right side of his back. On the left side, the tribal pattern he had on his chest weaved around and turned into some intricate design that disappeared down the back of his tight-fitting shorts.
“Don’t be stubborn,” he said softly.
“I’m not hungry,” she replied.
“You will be later on.”
“No, I won’t,” she objected. “I won’t be hungry until I get answers. I can’t even think of eating until I know what’s going on.”
“That’s ridiculous,” he said turning around to face her.
“Why?”
“Eating is a basic need. Knowing something isn’t. The one shouldn’t affect the other.”
“Well, for me it’s not that simple.”
“You’re just being difficult.”
“I just want to know what’s going on, Hakona,” she said. As she said his name, he seemed to soften slightly. She pushed herself forward, letting her legs hang over the edge of the suspended mat. “I deserve that much, don’t I?”
“You don’t deserve anything,” he said quickly.
“How can you say that?” She felt saddened and frustrated by what he said.
“How can you think that you do?”
“I have done everything you have asked me to. I answered your questions; I work for my food.”
“You’re a prisoner, Allison. It’s as simple as that. Here, you’re nothing; you deserve nothing.”
“You don’t believe that,” she said defensively.
“Excuse me?”
“You want to hate me, just like everyone else does, or just like they’re supposed to.” She still wasn’t convinced that Queane hated her. “But, you don’t.”
“Hate is a strong word. We don’t want to hate you, or your kind. But, we have to in order to survive.”
“Why?”
“Because if we trust you, you’ll kill us.”
“You don’t know that.”
“We do.”
“How?” she asked. “You haven’t tried.”
“There is still a lot that you don’t know.”
“Then tell me.”
He walked towards her, slowly. When he was standing directly in front of her, he lowered himself down, kneeling in front of her, his face on level with hers. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
He reached out and took her hands in his. The warmth that spread through her instantly upon the contact of his skin with hers still surprised her. She pulled back, but not completely.
“It wouldn’t make a difference. I believe you—that you’re not involved in what’s going on, that you don’t know what’s going on. But, that doesn’t change that it’s happening.”
“What’s happening, Hakona?”
He sighed slowly, staring into her eyes. The tension that was forming between them made her heart race.
“Your camp, they’re bringing more of your kind here.”
“That was always the plan,” she replied.
“No,” he said, leaning forward and holding her gaze. “They’re bringing more of the military personnel here.”
“Why?”
“To attack.”
“Attack who? You?”
“Yes,” he said.
“That’s probably just because you took me,” she said quickly. “If you let me go to them, to tell them that I’m okay. If I explained to them who you are…”
“It won’t matter, Allison.”
“I can at least try,” she said.
“Like I said; there is a lot that you don’t know. But, you have to believe me when I say that it wouldn’t make a difference.”
“But…” she tried to start, but he cut her off.
“Look at me,” he said softly, “look me in the eye. You know I’m telling you the truth.”
She did. She looked at him, deep into his eyes. The tension around them increased, and her hands became sweaty in his. She felt like her heart was going to explode out of her chest, and her breathing became shallow. She should have felt suffocated; she should have felt uncomfortable from the experience. But, she didn’t. And, she believed him. He was telling her the truth.
“What’s going to happen?” she asked.
"We're going to do what we need to, to protect ourselves."
“You’re going to attack them first, right? You’re going to hurt them.”
His expression softened, even more, his eyes seemed sad, and he took a deep breath before answering. "We're going to do what we need to."
“You can’t hurt them,” she whispered. “They’re my friends, my team.”
“I wish there were another way.”
Again, by the way, he looked at her, she knew he was telling the truth. She felt panic starting to rise in her stomach, but he tightened his grasp on her hands, and with that, another wave of comfort washed over her.
“What is that?” she asked, looking down at their hands. Their fingers were slightly intertwined, her pale white skin contrasting sharply with the deep blue of his.
“Nothing,” he said pulling his hands away quickly.
The moment their hands separated, she felt a cold, almost empty feeling replace the warmth that his touch had filled her with.
“No,” she said shaking her head quickly. “You did something to me
!” She pushed herself back away from him.
“Don’t yell,” he said harshly.
“What was that?” she said, her voice growing louder.
“I didn’t do anything to you!” he said harshly, although his voice was still low.
“You did! I felt it. I mean, I don’t know what it was, but I felt something!”
He pushed himself up to his feet and stared down at her, the stern expression back on his face. “It was nothing. You need to get that idea out of your head, now.”
“You’re lying,” she said quickly.
He turned away, walking towards the door. Before he left, he asked, “should I tell Queane to come today or not?”
“No.”
And with that, he pulled open the door quickly, angrily, and let it slam shut behind him. Once he left, Allison let out a loud sigh, almost gasping for breath as she did. Whatever had happened in that instant, she didn’t have time to think about.
The only thing on her mind then was what he had said to her. They were planning an attack. Both sides were planning to attack each other. How? Why? Why would her team want to attack the Samou? Her assumption that it was simply because they had kidnapped her wasn’t true, at least as far as Hakona had said.
She tried to piece together the few things that she knew. It seemed like the Samou had experience with people from Earth before. But, that couldn’t be. If anyone from Earth had been to Planet 48-Z before, surely she would have heard about it.
What did Kasma mean when he said that there were other planets close by that would have suited their needs? They had checked. She was on the ship when they got the results of the tests. She saw them with her own eyes. Perhaps the Samou didn't know as much about her kind as they thought they did. Maybe they assumed the other planets would serve their needs when in reality they didn't.
But, what about the tanks? Why did Peterson bring tanks with them? They hadn't spoken about needing that sort of equipment at any point during the preparations for the journey. As far as she knew, they only brought the military with them as a precaution and one that most thought of as being almost completely unnecessary.
Hakona: Dragon Warrior (Scifi Alien Dragon Romance) Page 4
