Pyra stared at him for a few moments, his dark orange eyes holding something that Rilex couldn’t decipher, and wondered if even Pyra knew exactly what he was experiencing. It was something close to gratitude and surprise, but also uncertainty and resistance. Finally, he nodded.
“Alright,” he said. “Rilex will go to the vehicle where Ciyrs and Oro will meet him. They will then return here and we will determine what we should do from there.”
“I’ll go with him.”
Rilex turned toward the voice, shocked and thrilled that Severine was offering herself to go along with him on this mission. He thought that maybe her seeming to try to get away from him through the crowd was a misunderstanding and that she really did feel what he was and want to be with him. As she stepped forward, however, Rilex’s heart fell into his stomach. She kept her eyes focused squarely on Pyra, not even glancing at Rilex for a moment as she stepped through the crowd.
“That could be very dangerous,” Pyra said. “You have already had hybrids attack and try to drag you back to the Valdicians. They might do it again.”
“They might,” Severine agreed without hesitation, “but I know more about them, the training that they’ve gone through, and their fighting techniques than any of you ever will. It is unlikely that that they know what happened in the facility on Earth. They would have no reason to be suspicious of me. If I walk close enough behind Rilex, it will to any of them look like I have taken him hostage. They will have no reason to attack if they think that I have already gotten him under control.”
Rilex hated the way that the words sounded in his ears. They not only confirmed that she wasn’t volunteering to go along with him because she wanted to spend time with him, but also the type of training that she had had to endure.
“Thank you,” Pyra said. “We appreciate your help.”
Rilex knew that Pyra didn’t know the name that he had given to Severine and waited for her to offer it to him, but she didn’t. Instead, she gave a terse nod and turned back to move back through the crowd toward the passenger pods.
“I’ll help her gather the supplies that she’ll need,” Eden said, giving Rilex a glance before leaving Pyra’s side and moving through the crowd toward where Severine had disappeared.
There was something in the glance that told Rilex Eden could see that there was something that was happening between him and Severine, and he hoped that she would say something to her that would help him to understand the sudden and unexplained change that had come over the beautiful hybrid woman he could feel himself falling so hard for.
“Elianna,” Pyra said, bringing Rilex’s attention back to the Denynso leader. “Will you please contact Ciyrs and let him know that Rilex and one of the hybrid women is coming?” he asked. “Ask that he wait a few minutes and then release the sight blocks on one of the windows so that he can watch out for them.”
“Yes, Pyra,” Elianna said.
She moved to the side of the room and turned to face the wall. Rilex could only guess that she was trying to find some quiet and privacy so that she was able to connect with her mate through her mind. It was a capability that astounded Rilex. He had never seen anything like that among the species he had come into contact with and found himself wishing that he could experience that type of intimacy. After a few moments, Elianna came back and nodded at Pyra.
“Ciyrs said that he will be waiting for them,” she said.
“How are we to find the vehicle?” Rilex asked. “Where did they land?”
“Turn your face to the sun and walk,” Pyra said. “You will come upon them.”
Out of the corner of his eye Rilex saw the crowd shift again as Severine approached. She carried a bag over her shoulder and her hair had been swept back so that it was knotted tightly at the back of her head, getting it completely out of the way rather than letting it flow down her back as it had been.
“We should leave,” Severine said. “Do you have your supplies?”
Though she was speaking to him, Rilex felt like she was looking right through him. The connection that they had built while they were in the lounge was gone now, replaced by a distinct chill as if she had put a wall between them and was intent on keeping him at a distance from her.
“Yes,” he replied.
She gave another terse nod and looked at Pyra.
“We’ll have Ciyrs alert you as soon as we’ve arrived at the vehicle and then we’ll head back. If the hybrids attack while we’re gone, close all access points and put up all defenses. Do not open the doors for anyone, even us.”
“We can’t leave you out on a strange planet without any protection,” Pyra protested.
“It’s better that a small number of us are in danger than they get into the ship and put everyone at risk. If it happens, we will drive them away. You remain inside until you can’t see or hear us any longer, and then you get to those who are here as fast as you can. Don’t stop. Do what you came here to do.”
She stared at Pyra unflinchingly until Rilex finally saw the massive Denynso warrior nod almost imperceptibly.
“I will,” he said.
Severine lifted her chin and headed for the door as Rilex fell into step behind her. The strength that she was showing was incredible, and unnerving in a way. When they were talking in the lounge she had seemed so much softer and more delicate, as though she were finally allowing herself to set aside the intensity that she always carried. Now, though, all signs of the tenderness were gone. He couldn’t reach her. He couldn’t get anywhere near her, even when he was walking along right beside her. She had disappeared somewhere and he didn’t know where she had gone. He could only hope that he would be able to find her.
Chapter Four
Severine stepped through the ship door and felt the rush of searing hot air sting her face. The dryness filled her lungs and the sensation created an assault of memories on her mind. She didn’t want them. She didn’t want to experience any of them or let them take over the thoughts that she was trying to let control her steps. The further she and Rilex got from the ship, however, the harder it became to deny what immediately came to mind as they began to cross the vast desert of Penthos. In the back of her mind she could hear Ryan’s voice and the shouts of the Valdicians put in command of the training for the hybrid army. Many of the hybrids that she had trained alongside had been undergoing this type of training since they were just a few years old, while others had given themselves into the training, wanting to be a part of the experiment and join the army that they believed would be responsible for giving complete control and power over the universe to Ryan. Severine didn’t fit with either group.
Instead, Severine had been born into the experiments, intended for one purpose but then changed into a soldier later when Ryan’s perceptions of her shifted. There had been nothing more terrifying than those first few days of her training, when she was thrown into the intense, often brutal training that expected her to participate in drills and simulations from the moment that she woke up in the morning until her body gave up and she fell asleep at night. Frequently this sleep wouldn’t last for long before Ryan or members of the Valdician troops that he used as extensions of himself would appear in the barracks and wake them up to force them through further training experiences to test their ability to respond and to fight when deprived of sleep and unprepared.
Sometimes this training would involve being put into chambers that were then filled with incredibly hot, dry air and light so vibrant it burned the backs of her eyes. They would remain there for hours, brought to the brink of what Severine felt like she could endure. There were many times when she felt like she wasn’t going to survive the experience, and they were never told the purpose of the experience, somehow making the intensity of her suffering worse. Now as she took her first steps across the sand of Penthos, she knew exactly why Ryan had subjected them to the blazing heat and blinding light. Those seemingly endless sessions were in preparation for the strenuous condit
ions of this planet and the battlefield that Ryan knew he would one day use.
Knowing that Ryan had put her through that training to prepare her for the extreme situations that would present themselves when she arrived on Penthos only told Severine that each of the drills meant something very specific. He wasn’t just training them to make them into weapons that he would be able to use however he pleased when the chance arose. Instead, he had planned out how he wanted to use them and was training them to develop the specific characteristics that would ensure they could accomplish the goals that they had for them. This thought pushed her even harder. She needed to get to the ship and to the baby who waited inside.
As her steps sped up, she could hear Rilex rushing to catch up to her. She didn’t turn to look over her shoulder at him or even acknowledge that he was there. Even when he called out to her, she kept her eyes focused ahead of her and never hesitated in her progress. Anything that she thought that she was feeling for Rilex had to be put aside. It didn’t matter what they had experienced or even what Rilex had said. That could never be her life. Her life had been predetermined for her and even if she was no longer in Ryan’s hands, that still defined her. Putting Rilex behind her was the only option that she had. She didn’t know what was waiting for her now or the type of life that she would have, but it didn’t matter. When they left Penthos, Rilex would return to his own life and there was no way that she could be a part of it. Any thought that she ever could have was only a fantasy designed to fool herself. Now it was time to come back into reality, to embrace the path that was already laid down for her and do what she could to redeem herself.
They had walked several yards from the ship when Severine suddenly remembered what she had told Pyra. She paused and waited for Rilex to get to her side.
“You need to walk ahead of me,” she said. “If the other hybrids see us, it needs to look like I have you captive.”
“Won’t they realize that you aren’t one of the army who was here already?” Rilex asked. “Won’t they be able to recognize that you were one who remained in the facility on Earth? That should tell them that you don’t actually have me hostage.”
Severine stopped and turned angrily toward Rilex.
“What do you know about how the hybrids think?” she demanded. “What do you know about anything that we do or know?”
“You aren’t one of them,” he said.
“Of course, I am. I always have been. I always will be. Nothing is going to change that. Right now, you should be thankful for that because it means that I know how these soldiers were trained and what they are most likely to do if they do decide to attack. I also know that they are much less likely to do that if they think that you have been taken hostage and I am forcing you to give me intelligence about the others on the planet. And to answer your question, no, they aren’t likely to recognize that I stayed behind on Earth when they were brought here. We have no names. No friends. No family. No connections. They would see me as just another soldier. There’s no differentiation.”
Rilex seemed like he wanted to say something, but hesitated. Instead, he stepped in front of her and walked along with her close behind. Severine hated to admit what she had. She knew that it didn’t apply to all of them. In her mind, she knew that she would be able to recognize some of the soldiers and remember some of the times that she had encountered them, and she would hope that there were some of them who would feel the same way about her. In reality, she knew that few of them would. They had been raised as solitary beings with no sense of connection among them. Without names or relationships, there was nothing to differentiate each other, and no reason for them to need to identify each other as separate entities. All that mattered was the maneuvers and drills that they were taught to run, and the efforts to get rid of the dead after a battle or bring survivors back for retraining. Those were the only circumstances when it would matter for any of the hybrids to recognize or acknowledge the others.
Severine could almost feel eyes on her as they made their way across the sand, but she didn’t know if she was genuinely sensing the army that had been sent ahead to Penthos watching them as they made their progress toward the vehicle that was waiting for them, or if it was just the knowledge that they were there, the understanding that the soldiers were finally on the battlefield for which they had been crafted and honed, that made her feel so obsessively aware. She knew all too well that if they wanted to be, the hybrid soldiers would be impossible to perceive. They would be implementing the skills that they had learned to keep them totally concealed until they found the right moment to attack.
Just as Pyra had told them, they had turned toward the sun and started walking to make their way to the vehicle, and the further they walked, the brighter the light seemed to become. It wasn’t the pure light of the sunlight on Earth. Instead, it was a darker orange light that soaked into them and obliterated everything ahead of them so that it looked as though they were walking ahead into a wall of flame. Severine wanted to look down, to look away from the burning light, but she had spent too much time looking down already. She was going to keep her head up even as she walked back toward a life of control.
Finally, the horizon ahead changed and she saw the dark outline of the vehicle appear. Rilex quickened his steps and she followed suit until they were moving more rapidly toward the vehicle, hoping that Ciyrs was doing as they had asked and was watching out of the window for them. They were within a few feet of the vehicle when Severine heard a series of clicking and buzzing sounds as the locks and protective shields released, and then a door at the side of the vehicle opened. Ciyrs looked out at them and gestured for them to get inside. Compared to the ship that they had just left, the vehicle looked miniscule and Severine didn’t like the idea of getting inside knowing how many others were in there. She knew, however, that she had to complete what she had offered herself into, and what she knew that she needed to do.
Rilex climbed into the vehicle first and then Severine followed, perching on the edge of the seat and sliding fully in before closing the door behind her. The interior of the vehicle was small, but not as cramped with the number of passengers as she thought it would be, which offered some sense of relief as she climbed her way over the seats toward the back where she could hear women’s voices talking frantically. A few of them immediately recoiled when they saw her, showing a fear that she was sure the appearance of one of Ryan’s hybrids usually warranted for these stolen humans. It was obvious that they hadn’t registered that she was one of the hybrids that had been in the infirmary with them and that they needn’t fear her. Ciyrs, though, held up a hand as he appeared beside her.
“Don’t be afraid,” he said. “She is with us.”
“Where is the baby?” Severine asked, trying to avoid looking at the figure lying across the floor, a blanket draped over it.
A woman whose name Severine didn’t recognize turned toward her and Severine saw the bundled baby in her arms.
“Here,” the woman said.
“I had her hold him while I waited for you,” Ciyrs said. “He seems to be doing well. He’s small, but he’s been breathing and the women say that his color looks good.”
“It’s a boy?” Rilex asked.
There was something in his voice that Severine tried to block out of her thoughts and she looked at the woman, holding her hands out toward her.
“Give him to me,” she said.
The woman looked resistant, slightly tightening her grip on the baby.
“Why?” she asked.
“He needs special care,” Severine said. “Do you know how to care for a hybrid newborn? Especially one who was born prematurely?”
The woman’s face dropped and she shook her head. Severine briefly regretted the way that she had said it, knowing that her words had immediately brought to mind the babies these women were carrying and the concerns that they likely had about caring for the children that they never thought they would see, much less have t
he opportunity to raise. The emotion quickly left her, though, as she reminded herself that she needed to get them back to the ship as she had promised Pyra and then move on. She held her hands out toward the woman more insistently and finally she rested the bundle in them. Severine drew the baby toward her and looked down into his tiny face. She could see that he was several weeks early and knew that he would need careful care to get him stronger and help him survive.
Holding the baby close to her, she climbed back over the seats and positioned herself near the door to the vehicle. She looked back at Ciyrs.
“Let Elianna know that we arrived and then get ready. We need to get back to the ship.”
Ciyrs nodded at her and relayed the message to the women, instructing them to prepare for the trip to the ship. From the front of the vehicle Oro reassured Ciyrs that he would carry the most wounded and Rilex offered to carry another. Ciyrs confirmed that he would be able to carry others, and that those who were not carried would be strong enough to get the short distance to the ship where they would be more comfortable. Severine waited for them to gather closer to the door before opening it and stepping back out into the brightness of the sun again. Now that she had the rest of the group out of the vehicle and they were moving back toward the ship, she was less concerned about how they looked. If the hybrids were going to attack, how close she walked to them wasn’t going to stop them. Now her concern was the baby in her arms. The small amount of milk that he got from his mother’s body wouldn’t be enough to sustain him for long. She needed to get him to the ship as quickly as she could and find the proper supplies. She knew that Ciyrs did everything that he could to help the baby when it was born, but there were things that even the healer didn’t know.
The journey back to the ship seemed longer than the way to the vehicle and every few seconds Severine found herself glancing down into the little child’s face to make sure that he was still breathing. Finally, they got close enough to the ship that Pyra opened the hatch and she barreled her way into the ship and through the crowd that still filled the open area where she had left them. She tucked the baby as close to her chest as she could and bent her head down over him as she went, wanting to protect it from even the prying eyes of those who had remained in the ship. She could hear the voices of some of the women calling after her, but she ignored them. Just as she had with Rilex, she had closed herself off to them and had to resist the urge to even look at them. They couldn’t be a part of her any longer, either.
Rilex & Severine's Story (Uoria Mates IV Book 6) Page 3
