Keeping his injured foot off the ground, Krijero levered himself up with Dani’s help. As she supported the heavy man’s effort to limp to the stand of trees, she remembered calling him a moose.
Moose, hell. This guy weighs a ton.
She could only feel sorry for him as every step he took on the injured leg made his face scrunch in pain. He made no complaints, however, and they finally gained the edge of the woods. A few more steps and they entered beneath the cover of the trees. Raindrops fell lazily down, rather than pelting them.
Dani helped him sit down, his back using a large trunk for support. “Let’s pull your boot off and see what the damage is,” she suggested.
“All right.”
She ended up doing most of the tugging while Krijero did all of the groaning from pain. Dani tried to be careful, but it was impossible to take the knee high boot off without hurting the damaged limb. She peered at the Imdiko’s ankle.
“It’s swelling up like a balloon. No way you should be walking on this. I wish we had something to wrap it.”
“Use this.” Krijero tugged at one of his long sleeves, and it separated from his formsuit with a purring sound.
Dani wound the black stretchy fabric tightly around his foot and ankle, tying it off at the end. “I hate to do this to you, but we should get your boot back on.”
“I’ll do it in a little while,” he gasped. “It hurts too much right now.”
“What else can I do?” Dani’s first aid expertise was at its end. She was at a loss as to how to make him more comfortable. And how would the rest of the clan ever find them? Fear stabbed her heart.
Krijero’s next statement drew panic even closer. “You’ll have to go on ahead to that rock formation. Get to Gelan and Wynhod.”
She stared at him. “I can’t leave you here for the Tragooms to find. They’ll kill you!”
Dani grabbed his boot and crouched by his injured leg. She would get it back on him, find some straight, sturdy branches to use as splints, tie them on with his other sleeve. She jabbered, “You can lean on me and we’ll both go. We’ll take it slow and you’ll rest when you need to.”
Krijero leaned forward, pulling the boot from her rain-pruned hands. “It will be faster for you to get the others, sweetness. I’ll follow as I’m able.”
She fought the tremble of her lower lip. Dani couldn’t leave him. “But Tragooms— ”
He stroked her cheek, managing an encouraging smile despite his obvious pain. “You can’t fight those monsters and I’d never forgive myself if you were hurt because of me. Trust me Dani, like I am trusting you right now.”
He trusts me? Well, he had no choice about that, not with his ankle turning into a fat tube of sausage. Even through the sudden swell of tears, Dani could see it wouldn’t hold him up, not even with her as a crutch.
She wiped rain and tears away. “Okay. It sucks, but okay.” She gave him a kiss, her lips cold against his warm ones. He started then returned the kiss, wrapping his arms around her for a moment.
He gave her his handheld, which displayed her route. “Keep northwest until you find that rock plain,” he reminded.
“I will. Be safe, Krijero. I—” she broke off, startled at what she’d almost said.
“You be careful too, little Dani.” His purple eyes held her for an instant. Then he prodded her to her feet. “Go as fast as you can.”
It took herculean effort to leave him there, alone and helpless. Dani felt something inside slowly ripping with every backwards step she took from him, as if she was physically joined heart to heart with the Imdiko. The pain was wrenching.
“Turn around and go,” Krijero coaxed her. “You have to hurry. Run, Dani.”
She nodded, but it was another half dozen steps before she was able to turn her back on Krijero. Then her feet took off, and she raced away, choking down tears.
Please God, if you’re really there, please let him be okay.
* * * *
Dani’s legs burned as the ground rose steadily upward, taking her out of the marshland. The trees began to be sparse again, and she finally saw the rock formations, drifting into view like mirages, far ahead of her. The tallest one, where she would hopefully find Gelan and Wynhod, shimmered behind the gauzy veil of rain.
She paused to catch her breath. The flat, rocky plain wasn’t far now, and the vegetation was already petering out. Rain rat-a-tat-tatted on the firmer ground. The distance to the protuberances of rock was impossible to gauge. Besides bits of brush dotting here and there, she could see nothing else on the puddle-strewn landscape to reference between her and the strange jutting formations. They might be half an hour’s walk or five hours. She hoped for the shorter. Krijero was back there, defenseless.
So what? Why are you so worried about a man who doesn’t care about you?
The thought froze her. Out loud she said, “That’s not true. He likes me. He thinks he might fall in love with me.”
So he says. Maybe he just wants your cooperation. It wouldn’t be the first time someone told you what you wanted to hear to get you to do what they want.
Dani wanted to argue with the voice of experience. But she couldn’t. What it said was all too true.
I know the route from here. I could run ahead, take their ship and be free. Gelan and Wynhod will probably find Krijero in time to save him from the Tragooms. They’re excellent survivors, much better at it than I am.
“More rash impulses, Dani?” she asked herself. Anger at having such a selfish notion bubbled within her, challenging the fear that she was no more to the Kalquorians than a piece of property to be used and discarded. “They cared for me when I was sick. They’ve done their damnedest to keep me safe from the Tragooms rather than leaving me behind and saving their own hides.”
But do they really care? Do you really matter to them? The thought was an insidious whisper, refusing to be silenced.
She thought about Krijero, injured and vulnerable. Trust me Dani, like I’m trusting you right now, he’d said.
Her chin lifted. “It’s not important if I matter to them. They matter to me. I’m not leaving them to rot on this stupid moon. That’s all I have to say on the subject, so shut the hell up!”
For a wonder, that part of her mind did.
Dani set her sights on the tallest formation and started running again, forcing her burning legs to hurry, hurry.
Chapter 16
Red streaks from the setting sun clawed vicious tears in the sky. The bloody light turned the rocky plain and its stark formations to rust. The clouds were slowly dissipating, sending down halfhearted spats of rain. The deafening torrent of before had become a tired patter on the plain, as if the sky had worn itself out.
Gelan and Wynhod paced around the tallest spire of rock in the forest of the strange formations. They’d been here for hours, but there was still no sign of Krijero and Dani.
Wynhod’s mood was a pendulum, swinging from worried to angry every few seconds. As he passed Gelan he muttered, “I hope she didn’t give Krijero any trouble. She must have. They should have been here long before now.”
Gelan blew out a breath. It relieved none of his tension. “Our only option besides waiting and hoping is to retrace our steps and probably run into the full Tragoom party.”
Neither choice made him a happy man. At least searching would allow them to do something. He was no more suited to inaction than his Nobek.
Wynhod’s disposition arced in the other direction, and he stopped pacing for a moment. “Maybe our ploy didn’t work. Maybe the Tragooms followed them instead. We should try to find them.”
Gelan itched to do just that. But night was coming on, and while Kalquorian eyes saw well in the dark, it would still be difficult to pick up the Imdiko and Earther’s trail. And if they found the full party of Tragooms instead of their clanmates, he and Wynhod would be killed.
Death didn’t bother him so much as leaving Krijero and Dani unprotected. But they were that way already, wherever they
were.
Wynhod went completely still as Gelan struggled to make a decision. “Wait. Someone’s out there.”
Gelan peered in the direction Wynhod faced, his eyes, ears and nose searching the dimming plain. A tiny, far-off figure moved slowly. The jerk of its limbs showed it worked with great effort to cross the rock-strewn landscape. A breeze carried the scent of things decomposing in the distant marsh, of Wynhod’s spicy aroma, and the salt-tinged musk he’d grown familiar with in a very short time.
“Dani,” he breathed and took off racing towards her, Wynhod hard on his heels.
He tried not to think too hard about why she would be alone, why Krijero was nowhere to be seen. Dread knotted the pit of his stomach however. As he neared the bedraggled Earther, her stumbling efforts to run betraying her exhausted desperation, he knew something bad had happened. She clutched Krijero’s handheld and was pushing herself beyond her limits to reach them, to find help for the Imdiko.
Wynhod put on a burst of speed, reaching her seconds ahead of Gelan. “Where is Krijero?”
Dani halted and folded over, bent double as she gasped for air. “Fell. Hurt his leg. Can’t walk.” She burst into tears. “Hurry so Tragooms don’t find him.”
Wynhod took only a moment to tell Gelan, “You take her. I’ll go for Krijero.” Then he was gone, backtracking Dani’s trail as Gelan caught her up in his arms.
She sobbed, shaking all over from emotion and fatigue. It was hard to understand her speech for all the crying, but as Gelan carried her back to the tallest rock formation, he managed to decipher most of it.
“I came as fast as I could, but it took so long. What if Wynhod is too late? What if they got Krijero?”
Gelan kissed her forehead, his worry for his Imdiko offset a little by his pride in Dani’s efforts. “It won’t be for your lack of trying. Thank you, Dani, for coming so quickly. You may have saved his life.”
She wept more, her poor body limp in his arms but for the tremors. He didn’t fault her for her plunge into weakness. Naked and alone, she’d battled the lingering effects from her recent illness to find them, to save Krijero. The bottoms of her bare feet mixed mud with blood from cuts and scrapes, showing the rigors of her journey.
Gelan realized something else. Dani hadn’t tried to run away, even knowing through Krijero’s handheld where their ship was hidden. That meant she cared, at least for the Imdiko. Hope flared strong in his chest, along with a greater emotion. He hugged her closer. When her face tilted up to look into his, he kissed her with feeling.
“I’ll start a fire and then we’ll get you cleaned off and fed. Don’t cry, my little love. You did very well.”
She managed a ghost of a smile at his heartfelt praise. “I did? You really think I did?”
The childlike plea for approval moved him. He answered her with another kiss. The way her body seemed to melt against his as she responded sent a surge of emotions through him: protectiveness, reverence, and a desire to be the man she turned to for everything.
Call it what it is, Dramok. Don’t be a coward.
Fine. This self-absorbed, impulsive, childish creature had caught him as surely as he’d captured a number of criminals in his police work. As crazy as she drove him, he’d seen the giving, sweet nature that lay beneath the protective barriers she’d erected after a lifetime of betrayal. He loved her.
It was scary feeling this way for Dani. It probably meant a lot of pain in the future. But even given the trouble she had brought and the trouble she would no doubt continue to bring, he couldn’t deny how right she felt in his arms and in his heart.
* * * *
Night fell like a bat’s wing over the rock plain, shutting out Dani’s sight beyond the circle of fire Gelan had built. The wood was wet from the rain, and there was plenty of smoke, but Dani didn’t mind. Fire and shelter in any form was a boon as far as she was concerned.
She’d been thrilled when Gelan had brought her into the shelter. In the first hours of waiting for her and Krijero’s arrival, he and Wynhod had made a lean-to much like the A-frame Krijero had constructed the night before. The biggest difference was that one side of the shelter was the rock formation. A thick webbing of branches and leaves leaned against the protuberance, and they’d put a mat of more leaves on the ground around the fire. It was a cozy shelter, and Dani fought off sleep despite her aching exhaustion. She wanted to know Krijero was okay.
Gelan stood just outside the shelter, looking out into the inky blackness. Dani knew his eyes saw better than hers after dark, but she couldn’t imagine his gaze piercing the pitch well of LXS-42’s night. There were stars in the sky, but they were unimportant sparkles, a scattering of glitter in thick velvet. They offered no light to see by.
Animal sounds were not so prevalent on this barren land, and silence spun out as heavy as the night. Dani knew Gelan listened for his clanmates, but the oppression of unmitigated quiet wore on her nerves. Desperate for the companionable rumble of the Dramok’s voice, she said, “It is so nice to finally be dry. Any sign of them yet?”
He seemed not to be irritated by her distraction. “Not yet. I hope — hold on, I see movement. It’s them. Stay here, Dani.”
The big man vanished into the night, as if oblivion had swallowed him. Dani pouted simply to pretend to herself she wasn’t afraid in her sudden unwanted solitude. “Oh gee, Gelan, and here I was about to step out to see if I could get my nails done. Big goofball.”
She stood on her swollen feet, now clean and gently wrapped in the sleeves of Gelan’s formsuit. Those sleeves were coming in mighty handy, she thought as she limped to the shelter’s opening. At the rate they were tearing pieces off the men’s formsuits, they’d be as naked as her in a couple of days.
Dani stood just outside the shelter, listening for the returning men. Her heart skipped lightly, and she realized she was almost happy. Wynhod wouldn’t have returned without Krijero, so now they were all safe and reunited. They would soon be on board the Kalquorians’ shuttle, leaving this craphole of a moon behind, along with those stupid Tragooms.
Gelan’s voice carried through the Stygian night. “Dani, get inside and off your feet.”
“Is Krijero okay?” She squinted, as if squishing her eyelids together would afford her night vision.
“I’ll live,” came the Imdiko’s weary voice.
Despite her aching feet, Dani almost jumped for joy. Instead, she went with good sense and returned to her spot in the shelter. A moment later Gelan entered with Krijero draped in his arms. Wynhod, looking tired but at ease, followed.
The Dramok and Nobek immediately set about tending their injured clanmate, working to settle him on the ground as comfortably as possible. Dani wanted to throw her arms around the Imdiko to welcome him, but the strain on his face told her of his pain. She kept back, though it was hard.
“How was your day?” she asked with Pollyanna brightness.
Krijero laughed at her deliberate silliness. “Long, painful, and boring.”
Dani glowed in the warmth of his gaze. She blew him a kiss. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Thank you, sweetling.”
Gelan was busy unwrapping the haphazard splint of branches and vines that circled his booted foot. “Let me have a look at that leg.”
That was accomplished with a lot of pained gasps and fist clenching from Krijero. Wynhod helped Gelan get the boot off, and Dani moved close to see how bad off the ankle was.
“Good wrap,” Wynhod said as he unwound the cloth she’d put on. “You’ve had experience with field dressings?”
She shrugged, pleased she’d done well. “My first.” She followed that modest admission with a glare at Krijero. “Let’s make it my last, okay?”
His ankle still looked like it wanted to be a sausage, she thought. Gelan gently probed it, making Krijero hiss with pain. “Wiggle your toes.”
The Imdiko complied with a growl. His misery was obvious, and Dani felt sorry for him.
“No break that I ca
n find,” Gelan reported. “Though it’s hard to tell for all the swelling. Possibly a fracture, but I’m betting on a bad sprain. You’ll have to let us help you to the ship.”
“Someone else has problems,” Wynhod commented, his gaze taking in Dani’s wrapped feet. “I guess we’re lugging both of them on our backs tomorrow.”
Krijero blinked at the sight of Dani’s black-garbed feet. “What happened?”
“Nothing too bad. If there was a rock on the ground, my big feet found it.” Dani grimaced at her awkwardness.
He sighed. “I’m sorry. My clumsiness has made the situation worse on everybody.”
Gelan rewrapped his ankle. “Try not to worry about it. I wish we had a pain inhibitor to give you.”
Krijero laid back, his eyes closing heavily. “I’ll be all right. I wouldn’t mind getting some sleep though.”
Wynhod scowled at his clanmate. “He dragged himself about five miles from where Dani left him.”
She was horrified. “Krijero! You should have stayed put.”
His voice was a thick mumble. “I kept thinking about you running into Tragooms. I’ve never been so scared in my entire life.”
Gelan gave her a look she couldn’t quite read. “She ran the whole way here to get help.”
Krijero pried his eyes open for a moment to look at her. His hand crept up to touch her face. “Thank you, Dani. I knew I could trust you.”
Wynhod stared at her for a moment before turning his attention back to Krijero. “Get some sleep, if you can. I’m going to see if I can hunt up something bigger than a bug for dinner. Dani deserves a hero’s feast.”
Hero? Me?
Before Dani could properly react, the Nobek had disappeared into the night once more. Gelan continued to wrap Krijero’s ankle, his brow creased in concentration. As for the Imdiko, despite his face being pinched with pain, he closed his eyes and almost immediately began to snore lightly.
Alien Slave Page 21
