Mating Rituals

by Tina Gayle

  “Well, she does tend to strive on being difficult.” Guilio’s mouth slid into a crooked grin.

  “That’s the understatement of the year.” Stihl rushed outside.

  * * * *

  Stihl stood in the middle of the mining office gazing at the mayhem of files, papers, and maps. He wondered if Marohka could be hiding in the mess.

  “I’ve looked everywhere. She’s gone,” Cyd said the moment he entered the room. “Her stuff is not in the cabin where you were planning on sleeping.”

  “Then where did she go?” Stihl flexed his sore hand at his side. He wondered why he’d elected to fight Almon instead of consoling Marohka. She had to be crushed.

  “I don’t know. I asked around, but no one saw her.” Cyd stepped back into the hallway. “I also went down to the corral. One of the alba-oxen is missing.’

  Stihl walked out of the office. He refused to believe she’d left. “Why didn’t she let me explain?”

  “Well, with all the accusations Almon was throwing around, it’s a wonder she didn’t jump in and fight you as well.” Cyd paused in mid-stride. “Did you know about your dad reserving her?”

  “Not at the time, but he told me last night.” Stihl shook his head. “I bet I had guilt written all over my face.”

  “Well . . .”

  “No wonder she’s upset.”

  At the exit, they paused by the doorway.

  “What do you plan on doing about Rock Ridge?” Cyd laid a hand on Stihl’s shoulder. “With the Trisar deal dead, Tankton will push for us to start strip mining. He wants to get the profits as fast as he can.” Cyd shook his head in regret. “I don’t see any way to stop it.”

  “Me either, but right now, I can’t worry about it. I need to find Marohka.” Stihl surveyed the storm raging outside the door, pounding the ground with large raindrops. “If I know her, she’s headed straight into trouble, and I have to follow her.”

  “Do you think that’s wise?” Cyd pointed at the downpour.

  “No,” Stihl grumbled, “but I’m still going to do it.”

  “I could arrange for some of the guys to help and form a search brigade,” Cyd offered.

  The weight of Marohka being in danger fell on his shoulders. He didn’t want to add to the problem by putting others at risk too. “No, it’d only add one more strike against me in Marohka’s eyes, if I endanger others as well.”

  He opened the door a little wider. Rain hammered the rocky soil. Puddles grew, forming larger pools until water spread over the ground and covered any space not already acquired. A lake developed where only dirt used to be.

  “And with this downpour, water-avalanches are likely to happen. I can’t take the risk of someone else getting hurt.”

  The sky lit with bolts of lighting. Thunder roared in the distance. The wind whistled.

  “She ran away because of me, so it’s up to me to find her.” Stihl pictured her in his mind and flashes of the landscape appeared. The path didn’t resemble the one heading back to Central City.

  “You might wait until it lets up some,” Cyd said.

  Stihl frowned.

  “All right, Luke, maybe she hasn’t gotten far.”

  “Right.” Stihl pulled his coat closer to ward off the rain. “Stay here in case she doubles back. I’ll try to contact you either when I find her or by morning.”

  Communication could be tricky. He’d already called her ECD, but he’d lost the signal.

  “Are you taking a jet or an alba-ox?”

  “Jet, it travels faster.” Stihl walked out from under the cover of the building.

  The wind buffeted him. Rain slashed against his cheeks. The icy kiss reminded him a cold wet ride lay ahead.

  He clenched his jaw and decided she’d pay for this little adventure. His patience sat at zero.

  * * * *

  Almon, the lying, cheating, arrogant rock-head was still better than Stihl. At least, he’d never played with her feelings. She’d trusted Stihl. Thought he’d care. Then he’d deceived her. Men, she couldn’t trust them.

  The rain mingled with the tears on her cheeks. The alba-ox followed her lead, trudging along through the mud. The wind whipped her hair around her head. The cold, dark, depressing night chilled her bones and matched the stone where her heart once lay.

  With his secrets uncovered, images of Stihl sped through her mind. His smile, once warm and kind, now revealed itself as false. His concern staged. His desire forced. Could he explain his true reason for wanting her as his mate?

  “You are a beautiful intelligent woman,” his voice echoed in her mind. A picture of them outside the theatre appeared in her head.

  “Right, like I can believe that now,” she muttered.

  The warmth of his arms and his gentle kindness convinced her of his sincerity. Yet, he’d lied.

  She dropped her chin to her chest. Was her destiny to be alone? Why couldn’t someone love her for herself? Or were her mining skills the only thing men found appealing? Her father turned his back on her too by selling their company. Why, because it was unprofitable or something else?

  Didn’t she deserve a say in what happened? Didn’t her thoughts on the subject matter?

  Almon, who she hated, recognized the way men used her. He’d joined them by conniving against her to steal everything she held dear from her control. She slammed her palm on the saddle horn. She should’ve followed up on the core samples. The mine held another profitable mineral. She just knew it.

  Also, the data he’d gained from the company should make it illegal for him to buy the mine. But again, men, the elders of the country perceived it as good business.

  Did Stihl’s father know about the deal? Did he want his son to fail?

  Thunder crashed.

  She raised her head and squared her shoulders. It didn’t matter. She’d find a way to block the sale. And if her father sold the company, she’d find a new job.

  Cold rain dripped onto her face.

  Without Stihl to stand in her way, her career would be her life. She’d live alone, and any man who required her expertise would pay a heavy price for the service. She wouldn’t miss Stihl, wouldn’t even think about him. He’d had his chance, and he’d blown it.

  The alba-ox jerked beneath her, rushing his steps in the soup at his feet. She gripped the reins tighter.

  His cruel joke, with her the punch line, backfired. He couldn’t use her or take advantage of her any longer. She knew the score.

  She glanced around. The path in front of her faded into a soggy mess. How far had she traveled? The ox she’d trusted to know the way appeared to be wandering through the woods aimlessly.

  Time showed two ziton passed.

  It suddenly occurred to her she was lost. She yanked her mount to a stop.

  A perfect end to a lousy day.

  * * * *

  Angry and tired, Stihl followed the tracks he found in the mud. He wasted over a ziton by searching in the wrong place. He’d expected her to head for Central City, so he’d followed the rocky main trail, but he found no tracks.

  Furious with her, he’d blocked out the messages his mind sent him. After reaching the pebbly soil of the canyon incline, he decided he’d traveled the wrong path. Backtracking, he picked up her alba-oxen’s sizable footprints. The rain, slowing to a weeping drizzle, hampered his progress. But the wet ground made it easier for him to find the markings. Judging by the small amount of water in each hole, he was close.

  The dark clouds limited his vision. Objects around him appeared large and more menacing. A boulder to his left cast a forbidding mask over the rough terrain. A flicker, a subtle shift of a shadow in the distance alerted him to an object moving up ahead.

  “Now, I have her,” he grumbled.

  The path she’d taken led her farther into the wooded high plains and away from Central City. In their current spot, they’d make it faster to his mountain home than back to camp. With the jet, they’d arrive in less than a ziton, even if the rain didn’t
stop.

  A tingle of awareness brushed over the hairs on the back of his neck. His ears tuned into a low roar. A unique scent rode on the wind, dark, musty, and infused with earthy minerals. All his senses stood on alert. A threat stalked his step. Fear forced him into action. A quick glance over his shoulder, and his mind froze.

  Taller than any building he’d ever seen, a wall of water raced toward him. The whisper of a massacre grew into a yowl. The fury warned any creature that stood in its path. The sound, amplified by his fear, wailed through his head. His gaze darted, left, right, searching for safety.

  No escape. No way out.

  Death clawed at his heals. A gray cauldron bubbled with debris and trash, and the tall wall demolished everything in its path.

  An instant to decide.

  He altered his course of action and sped for a grove of web-trees on the horizon.

  “Run, Marohka.” His scream echoed through the night. “Run.”

  * * * *

  Sudden emotions flooded through her mind. She released the reins of the alba-ox and gripped her head. Fear consumed her. Goose bumps rose on her skin. A deafening roar sounded in her ears. She struggled to breathe. Danger lurked nearby.

  She turned her head and glanced over her shoulder to see the beast chasing her. Nothing lay behind her. Only fog dimmed the space, the same gray soup, she’d been dealing with for the last two zitons.

  Her heart raced. An unexplained anxiety clamored through her chest. She fought to control her panic. Eyes swollen, she blinked to clear her sight. The alba-ox beneath her threw back its head and moved into a trot.

  Images flashed through her head, playing on the befuddled mist in her mind.

  A man . . .

  On a jet . . .

  Racing across the landscape . . .

  A churning dark cloud behind him . . .

  A rain storm?

  The horror in Stilh’s gaze lanced through her and hit her heart with a deadly blow. It stopped for an iton before she focused all of her attention onto the scene in her head. Some unknown force chased him.

  An invisible arch connected them. His terror caught her in its grip. Thick fingers squeezed her heart with fear. Her breath grew labored, following the rise and fall of his chest. Her skin grew slick, sticky with his panicky sweat. She shared the hysteria racing through every nerve in his body. Her hands trembled.

  Tied to his emotions, she felt him pulled back away from whatever escalated his fears, away from the link that joined their thoughts. A deep gully wove its way between them. She caught a flash of a bridge in the distance. She realized she’d crossed the platform a short time ago. In danger on the other side, he’d followed her. With a jerk on the reins, she turned the alba-ox around.

  The threat gaining ground, she wiggled her nose to fight off the putrid breath of the approaching beast, which hovered on the wind.

  The gloomy haze played tricks with her eyesight. Pictures of his jet speeding over the uneven surface became intermixed with the land markers. Unable to distinguish the difference between the things she viewed in her mind and what lay in her field of vision, she fought the fog and forced her alba-ox forward to find Stihl. The animal balked, and a break in the thick mist revealed a large ravine. They stood on the rim. A mental test teleported her to within a toe span from the edge. Was she willing to sacrifice everything for him?

  His voice whispered. “I can’t die. Marohka needs me.”

  Shocked by the love resonating in his soul, she stepped forward. Her heart beat like thunder, matching his. Her mind rushed to connect with his thoughts. Wild with worry, she scanned the zone around her, searching for Stihl, hungry for the sight of him. A dark murkiness sat at her feet. A huge bottomless gorge stood below. Yet, she didn’t fall.

  A sparkle of light blinked. A thin line guided her steps.

  A transparent bridge twinkled in the mist. With renewed hope, she strolled across the crystal platform.

  The sounds of the churning water rushing through the ravine plunged her back to the reality of the situation. Her skittish mount tugged on the reins. She gripped them tighter and forced the animal to walk across the bridge.

  In the distance, a giant wall of water sped across the flood plain toward Stihl on his jet. His path led him through a large grove of webbed trees about forty leg-lengths ahead.

  Outside of the danger zone, she gasped in horror. Although Stihl hurried away from the tidal wave, the hungry monster slowly gained ground and ate at his heels. The land behind him obliterated. The dark wall spit water down over him.

  With one lunge, the vicious serpent consumed him in one bite. His jet swept out from under him like a toy, and he disappeared.

  A scream rang from her soul.

  * * * *

  Blasted from his feet and kicked by a weight equal to a herd of alba-oxen, Stihl fell into a dark world. Water covered his head, suffocated him. A swift current carried him through the muck, trapped him in an eddy of foul-tasting liquid.

  His brain screamed for him to swim. His hands grasped muddy slime. His legs fish-tailed through garbage.

  Pain dotted his skin as debris pummeled his flesh.

  A quick gulp of air rushed into his lungs when he broke through the surface for an iton, A solid punch sucked him back under,

  His knees hit his head, and then he somersaulted through the mud into endless circle of torment.

  A twist, a turn, his flailing movement shot off in every direction. Which way to the surface?

  A fist crashed into his shoulder. Pain raced down his arm. Rough long tentacles of an unseen creature grabbed his arms and legs. Thick arms circled his chest. His hands slid over his captor. He wrestled with the solid feelers to free himself. After escaping one, another curved around his shoulder and waist.

  The stiff current slammed repeatedly against his body while the creature held him captive. With no foothold, his legs flapped like a flag in the wind. Out of breath, his lungs on fire, his nose coated with mud, Stihl attempted to steal a gasp of air. Putrid water rushed into his mouth, and he gagged.

  His body ached.

  No air filled his lungs.

  His energy gone.

  The sweet peace of death beckoned.

  Chapter Sixteen

  “No, Stihl, I won’t let you die,” Marohka screamed and then gulped in heavy moist air.

  Tears threatened her sight. With no sign of Stihl in the water, she kicked her feet hard against her mount’s flanks and forced the animal into a canter. Her heart raced with fear and worry. She scanned the shallow edges of the wave’s wake.

  On the horizon, a barrier of water, twenty leg-lengths in size, rushed for the edge of the cliff. She turned to the horrific sight of the aftermath of the hellish avalanche. She searched the debris-strewn land.

  A deafening roar sounded. The wall of water, like a building without supports, fell into the gully. The structure hit the bottom of the ravine, and the ground shook. Water and waste billowed up. A churning gray cloud of mist rose to the heaven.

  A stabbing pain pierced her left shoulder. An agonized idea ran through her head. She gripped the reins tighter. Stihl, stuck in the liquid mess, might be gone from her life forever. Her mind demanded she find him. He couldn’t have disappeared. She refused to believe him dead.

  Her sharp gaze darted from object to object in the middle of the mess. Small rocks and sticks bobbed in the swift current while large objects dropped and halted their progress. Scanning each piece of debris, somewhere in the tangled soup, she hoped to see a hand, a foot, a piece of clothing. Anything to tell her, Stihl was alive.

  Her eyes burned with tears. The rapid beat of her heart pounded home the need to find him quickly, but the wide expanse of water blocked her path. She kicked her mount, urging the animal to walk faster. It balked at wading through the muddy stream. With a few harder nudges, the alba-ox stepped slowly forward.

  “Stihl, where are you?”

  * * * *

  Moments before his head broke the
water’s surface, her voice sounded in his head. He wondered at its origin. Cold air hit his face. His nose caught a whiff of air. Rancid liquid bit into his taste buds. A much-needed breath expanded his lungs. He opened his eyes. Fire lit up his eyeballs. He shut them and brushed his hand across his face. Once the excess moisture was gone, he opened them again. With the pain less and his vision blurred, he blinked to see his surroundings.

  Caught in the limbs of a webbed tree, his legs dangled in the putrid water rushing beneath his feet. He’d seen pictures of devastation, but couldn’t accept the fact he sat in the middle of the mess. He shoved back his hair and tried to gasp in the incredible sight.