by Auryn Hadley
Arctic canted his head and shrugged. "Worth a try. Still got it, Dom?"
He made a focused affirmative noise.
"Ok. Don't let go, man." Arctic began pulling Dominik's mind the long way through his head.
Slowly, so slowly, Sal felt glass against her brain, the back of her eyes, and down her spine. With each scrape of Dominik's mind through his head, Sal winced, as if her own was being pulled open, too. But she couldn't let go. Entwined with Arctic, she could see what he was doing and helped. If someone asked, she couldn't explain it, but she could feel it, like gravel against bare skin, as she added her mental strength to help tie Dom's mind with theirs.
"Shit," she mumbled, struggling to ignore the feeling.
Zep looked at her, and his eyes widened. "Arctic, you may want to drop Sal."
"Not now, bro."
"Ok, then fucking yank, man. I'm serious."
"I can't, bro, not now," Arctic said. "We're almost there."
Zep pulled Sal to him, blood trickling from her nose. She felt him wrap his mind around hers and gave in, her head slowly falling to his shoulder as the glass dug away at her brain. Zep held as much of it from her as he could, but she wouldn't let go. She couldn't. No matter how bad it hurt, she knew that what she was doing mattered. And then it just stopped. Sal gasped at the sudden release.
Can you hear me? Arctic asked Dom.
"Yeah," Dom said smiling. "I really fucking heard that."
"Good," Zep said. "Now Arctic, tell me what we just did to Sal."
Arctic turned to her, and stood, his eyes widening in shock. "Fuck. Sal?"
She waved her hand at them, shooing the pair off before they could start acting like overprotective mothers. "I'm ok. I just need a damned rag for my nose and a shot of Dom's whiskey. That shit isn't good on iliri minds."
While Arctic hopped up to get the cloth, Zep rocked her against his shoulder. Sal? he asked her softly.
I'm good, she promised. My head hurts like a bitch, but I'm good.
He nodded, switching to his voice. "Ok, kid. You gotta stop doing the weird shit, ok? Got a headache in there?"
"No. Well, yes, but thinking to you doesn't hurt."
Zep looked relieved. A moment later, Ilija passed Sal a wet cloth, and she held it to her nose. The blood had already slowed. The burning in her mind was another story. Every sound in the room made her ears ring, but there was more. It wasn't just a headache. Linked with Arctic, she'd seen exactly how his skill worked - in excruciating detail. She knew it. She understood it. She even thought that as soon as the lacerations in her mind healed, she might be able to replicate it.
She looked up at Zep, right into his dark, worried eyes. I think I just learned something big, Zep. A bloody nose is worth it.
Chapter 48
It only took a few minutes for her head to start feeling better. Her mind was bruised, but if she didn't push at it, it didn't hurt. Needless to say, Sal had no intention of pushing. She just wanted to relax, so headed back to the Blade's camp. For the next few hours, all she had to do was wait for the CFC to decide they really weren't going to apologize.
"Sal!" Geo called through the canvas.
"Yeah?" she asked as she pulled off the last piece of armor and threw it into the travel crate.
"Company, sir."
"K. Gimme a sec."
"Ain't going anywhere." This time, the voice belonged to Rayna.
Sal slipped her boots back on and ducked out of her tent, grinning. "So, you're free and clear now. How does it feel to be Anglian?"
"Oh," Rayna groaned. "Come, come. Fuck, grab some knives, just in case, but come."
Sal leaned back inside the door, snagged her belt from the saddle rack, and both sets of sheaths for her legs. She buckled them on, reaching down to secure the straps that attached over each knee. The whole time, Rayna watched.
"Nice. How many does that give you?"
Sal paused, counting. "Five on each leg, the steel, and one in each boot. What's that, fourteen?"
"Yeah, then we're good. Come on, you can't have more crap to do, can ya?" Rayna begged.
"Nah, I'm free. Zep and Tyr are training up a girl. Jase and Blaec are working with Ilija and Pig to settle our move, since it looks like the Conglomerate won't be returning to the alliance table. I've got a whole lot of nothing ahead of me for a few."
"Sal?" Geo said. "I'm threatened with my life to keep an eye on you."
She chuckled, knowing it was one of her mates who made that threat. "Which one?"
"Cyno."
"You're good, then. Rayna counts as a guard. We're just wanting to get away from all the men for a bit. Second rise over the hill. I'll make sure the grauori know and yell at you first if anything moves."
"K. Thanks. Not like that piece of resin on your head makes you any less able to kick the shit out of anyone - "
Sal waved him off. "I know, but it paints a target on me. That's why it's still in the tent. If they can't figure out the only white bitch in town is the Kaisae, we have bigger issues."
Geo laughed and told the girls to have fun. Together Rayna and Sal set off into the prairie, finding a nice spot beyond a hill, well out of earshot. Sal pushed down some long grasses and laid back, staring up at the clouds. Rayna joined her. With the stalks hiding them from sight, it was perfectly private.
"You know how long it's been since I've done this?" Rayna asked. "Just take a bit to watch the clouds go by?"
"Nope."
"I was just a kid." Rayna smooshed the grass beside her hip, enlarging the natural enclosure. "We flew kites."
"Never did that," Sal said. "What's so fun about them?"
Rayna shrugged. "I have no idea. It's something, though. You just get them in the air, then hang on for a bit and relax. You've never flown a kite?"
Sal shook her head. "Nah. Slave to army."
"Fuck, Sal. I'm sorry."
Sal looked over. "Why? It is what it is."
"Still doesn't seem right. You know we never even had servants at my place. We lived next door to iliri instead."
"Being poor sucks, doesn't it?"
"Yeah," Rayna breathed. "All Blades are iliri, right?"
"Except Zep, if you mean how we grew up. Not that things were that much better for him. I think I got off easy in some ways," Sal told her. "From the stories, it sounds like scrubber lover was worse than being a scrubber."
"How'd that happen anyways? I mean, Zep grew up well-off, didn't he?"
Sal lifted her hands, then let them drop. "Well, financially they weren't hurting, no. I guess his dad was a merchant, and his mom was an addict. They had some iliri staff. It was the nanny who raised him, basically. He loved that woman."
"What happened to her?"
"His mom. Zep told his nanny he loved her, and his mom had her beaten for it. She died a few days later from the injuries - he was like ten or twelve at the time. He hasn't cared for humans much since."
Can't say I blame him," Rayna muttered, then changed the subject. "I think that one looks like a dog." She pointed at a cloud.
Sal looked at it and laughed. "Only if your dog has eight legs. That one," she pointed, "looks like the battle of Namisa."
"Nope, not in the rules, Kaisae. You can only pick things your pups would know."
Sal grinned mischievously. "Ok. That one looks like the battle of Namisa."
"Serious as shit, the pups know military tactics?"
"I'm joking, a bit. I don't think we've taught them about Namisa yet - That was before I was conscripted - but yes, we train them in tactics. They aren't human kids. They'll be in the fighting lines when they're two. Since my court-martial, they've gone from barely speaking Glish to being nearly fluent. They grow up so fast, and the war won't let them really be kids, ya know?" Sal sighed. "We make sure they're happy, though. That's why Rhyx is still playing iliri."
"She's cute. Don't say anything, but Pig and Ryek are making her armor."
"Serious?" Sal sat up to look at Rayna. "She'll lo
ve that. Thank them for me?"
Rayna giggled and shook her head. "Nope. Wasn't supposed to tell you because it's for Rhyx. They love her. You hear she bit Pig?"
"That girl," Sal grumbled, flopping on her back. "No."
"He smacked her one and told her if she's going to act like a dog, he'll treat her like one. The kid went all belly up, and he caved. He told her if she grows up to be a strong iliri, he might even consider making an exception for her in the Dogs. She's been smitten with him since."
Sal was grinning. "Oh, I bet. No one wants to upset them. Downside of how cute they are, I guess."
"Zep's horrible with them," Rayna teased.
"Oh yeah," Sal agreed. "He loves them and hates the idea of ever telling them no. Jase is the other way. He wants to make sure they know what they need, then makes them proud of what they accomplish. It balances."
"That what that memory was about?"
"Oh no." Sal shook her head. "No. The pups had nothing to do with that."
"You're going to make me pull this out of you one bit at a time, aren't ya?" Rayna asked, tossing a handful of grass over.
"It's an iliri thing, Ray."
"And? You're fucking half your unit by now. I'm oozing with jealousy because not only are they lovely, they're all perfectly ok with it, and now you're saying it's just an iliri thing?"
Sal plucked a piece of grass. "You know about cessivi, right? And I told you about linking?"
"Yeah. You get Dom in a link yet?"
She nodded. "That's why I was just getting out of armor when you got here. He's still screaming in heads, so talk softly around the Shields today. They're all gonna have headaches."
"Worse than Tyr?" Rayna sounded impressed.
"Oh yeah. He clatters around in our heads like a CFC regular."
"Gotcha." Ray scooted around to face her. "So what's this link thing? I mean, you use the word a few ways, and I'm not sure when I'm keeping up and when I'm not."
"Ok. So all of the mental conversations? That's the link. Linking, though, is either setting someone into a link, like we did with the Dogs this morning, or it's melding. Most of us just call melding linking. Dunno why."
Rayna nodded, finally starting to understand. "Ok. So what's the meld?"
"It's allowing everyone in a pack to become one. You share senses; you share everything on the surface. That means feelings, thoughts, and everything." Sal looked over at her friend. "We use it for battle. It lets you see behind your back. Here, lemme show you. Take this."
Reaching out with her mind, Sal found Rayna's spark. The human went mentally limp, letting Sal pull her mind around however she needed. That made it easy. Sal gently entwined herself with Rayna and felt her friend responding, helping to join the meld. Their senses slowly flowed together, and Rayna sat up.
"Fuck me. What is that?" Rayna gasped.
"That's the meld."
"No, I mean that smell. It's amazing, like roasting fruit or something."
Sal swallowed back a laugh. "Oh, yeah. I forgot to warn you. That's my sense of smell you're getting."
"But what smells so good I want to eat it?"
"You." Sal shrugged it off. "That's how humans smell. Now you know why you can't sneak past us. Wanna see something crazy?"
"That's not crazy?" Rayna asked flopping back down. "Sure. Shock me."
Sal pulled one of her knives from the sheath at her back. "Steel, right? You've seen this before. Watch." She held the blade up to her face and inhaled. A tantalizingly sweet scent caressed Rayna's mind, and the girl sucked in a breath. Sal gestured for her to wait, and then licked the blade. The taste of the metal on her tongue almost tickled as it hit her taste buds. Through the link, Rayna experienced all of it as if it were happening to her.
"Wait. That's steel, and it smells kinda like me?"
Sal nodded. "Yeah. We don't know why. It just does. That explain why I lost it the other night?"
Rayna nodded emphatically. "Sal? What do we taste like?"
With a groan, she flopped back. "Better than you smell. Sucks that we can't eat our enemies."
"No kidding," Rayna agreed. "Shit, I don't care. You know that, right? I'd rather you didn't eat me, of course, but wow. I smell amazing."
"Oh!" Sal said, remembering why she'd brought Rayna into the link to begin with. "Yeah, so now check this out." She turned around and looked behind Rayna, focusing on a strand of grass blowing in the wind. Rayna whipped over onto her stomach to make sure it was real.
"Damn. You always do this in combat?"
Sal nodded, grinning. "Always. Then there's this." She flipped her knife over in her hand and held the point to her finger. Pressing gently, it just pricked her skin, and Rayna's eyes widened.
"I feel that."
Sal moved the blade higher up her arm. Slowly, she pulled the edge across her white skin, the sensation tantalizing. Lifting the blade away, she licked her blood from it and released the link. Rayna slowly returned to her own mind.
"Damn," Rayna mumbled under her breath. "Yeah, you told that dead fuck you like it rough, but wow. Like and rough have two different meanings in my mind, now." She chuckled. "I guess you use this in bed, too?"
"If we're lucky. That's why we tend to stay inside the pack, you know?" Sal shrugged. "Thing is, Ray, my skin doesn't feel things the same way yours does. Human skin is so sensitive. I mean, I can feel it, but it's not the same. Like that knife." Sal held out her arm, showing the pale line of blood just dotting the surface. "What would that feel like to you?"
"Hurt like a bitch, not sexy shit." Rayna smacked her head. "That's why everyone says you bite. Makes sense now. It feels good because your skin isn't the same!"
"Yeah." Sal wiped the blood from her white skin. "As crazy as that sounds to you, the idea of just running a finger down a line of hair seems the same to me."
"Ohh," Rayna gasped. "Zep, right? How'd that go anyway?"
Sal laughed, pressing a hand over her mouth to hide her teeth. "It's crazy. He's as good as you thought, too."
"Keep talking, girl," Rayna begged.
"So," Sal said, laying back and looking at the clouds again. "The first night, nothing happened. The next morning he pretty much caved. Second night? Wow! Ray, he's like nothing else." She glanced over at her friend. "He treats me like I'm special."
Rayna bumped Sal's shoulder gently with her toe. "You're the Kaisae of Anglia. Kinda special."
"Yeah, but, it's different. Blaec treats me like I'm his equal, Jase treats me like I'm the reason for his life, but Zep..." Sal shook her head, looking for the words. "He treats me like I fulfill his wishes. You know, like all those things you always said you wanted, but never really expect. Like a million krits, a home on the ocean, or a pink pony? Those kind of wishes. It's like," Sal sighed. "He floods me with how much he can't believe I chose him."
Rayna shrugged. "He can't. He thinks he's just a human."
"I'm just a scrubber."
"No, Sal. You're not. You're the only female iliri left on the continent. You're the Kaisae of Anglia. You're a Black Blade! There's nothing 'just' in any of that."
Sal wanted to believe her. She did, but years of being told she was worthless made it hard. "Zep's the best swordsman in our unit. He's been an elite for ten years, and he knows moves I've never even heard of. He makes me laugh, too, you know?"
"That's so human of you. That's what we say about our men."
Sal shrugged. "I'm just not used to it. That's how it went from big brother to maybe Taunor in three days. Zep still says no, though."
"Why the fuck not?" Ray gasped. "Is it the other men?"
Sal giggled. "Nope!"
"You sure? I mean humans have an issue with that," Rayna asked gently.
"Oh, I'm sure Ray. I'm very sure."
Chapter 49
Ray gestured for her to keep speaking. "Storytime, it sounds like?"
"So." Sal sighed, then giggled, feeling foolishly girly. "I think it was the third night? The one you spent with Dom. W
e fell asleep, and Zep was all cuddled around me, right? Well, Rragri, Dom, and Tseri wanted to make sure I was at the meeting. Jase was working over at the nuvani camp, and they asked him to get me. Plus, there's like this tradition in the Blades. They love waking each other up when I'm in someone's bed. Kinda like saying that the man I'm with can't deny it, that kinda thing."
"Oh no, so Jase came in and Zep's all over you?"
Sal shook her head. "No. Zep heard something, so reached for the knife we had close, right? And Jase said he'd already moved it, which woke me up. I knew he was full of it, but Zep had to check. Anyways, so Zep's barely awake, naked in the bed with me, and Jase is flooding me with how attractive I am through our link."
"Like, the link you showed me?"
Sal giggled and nodded. "Cessivi means we're always like that, but just the emotions, not all the senses. Like right now, he's annoyed at someone for acting so damned human. I can feel it, always."
"Yeah," Rayna said. "That's nice."
"Very. And Jase is all iliri. Well, basically. So he's getting me all hot and bothered, and I was laying on Zep, right?"
Rayna gasped. "You didn't... right in front of him?"
Sal giggled and nodded.
"What did he do?"
"Linked in."
"Oh, my. Seriously? How does that work?" Rayna grabbed Sal's wrists. "No, really. Spill it!"
"Jase taunted Zep, and he told Jase to leave. Well, no one saw him come in, and after the stupidity over the last few days, he's like 'can't do it.' So Zep's like, fine, close your eyes, and about the time I climbed on, Jase linked in. For each mind you add, it has an exponential effect, too. There I am, riding away on Zep, and they're both loving it. Finished with him, went for Jase, and Zep's fine with it."
"I'm so jealous! Was it any good?"
Sal nodded emphatically. "Best ever. Zep's so Iliran about it."
Rayna shook her head. "What does that mean?"
"He doesn't look at it as a competition. It's not like a mine and his thing, but an ours thing. He watches me with Jase and shoves it back into the link, which means he gets it back. It's like," Sal looked up, thinking. "Like, a memory for them, or something. They can feel me, even if I'm not with him, but the other one. Jase said men focus on the woman, and women focus on ourselves, so it works."
