‘And look at us!’ a small thought voice joined the conversation. ‘We live on the planet now!’
“Where else would you live?” Zeller asked as she turned around to face the two fuzzy white Rabbits, their big ears facing her.
‘We lived on the ship, of course. That’s where we were born, but the humans brought us here where there is infinite space and endless fields of vegetables and weeds and grasses,’ Patrice said happily.
“The ship? You lived on the ocean?” Zeller didn’t understand.
‘In space!’ Delavigne added in his dainty Rabbit voice. Zeller continued to look confused.
“The brightest star to the left of the moon. It’s not a star at all. It’s a spaceship. We went there to save a group of ancients on one of the other planets in our solar system.”
“Your lips move and I hear the words, but they don’t mean anything to me,” Zeller said slowly in a soft voice. “There’s a ship in the sky where the Rabbits were born…”
‘Us, too,’ Gray Strider interrupted.
“Where the Rabbits and the Wolfoids were born,” Zeller corrected herself. “And you’ve gone there. Into the sky. To save ancients who were also somewhere else in the sky.”
“Yeah. That’s about right,” Braden replied. “We’ve gone there twice, actually, but that’s beside the point. Neither trip was pleasant, for reference, but we couldn’t be happier that we met the Rabbits and the Wolfoids, although both of them wanted to kill us when they first saw us.”
‘We most assuredly did not!’ Patrice said indignantly.
‘What was with all the bees, then?’ Micah asked over the mindlink.
‘Maybe a little,’ Patrice conceded.
Zeller started to laugh and couldn’t stop. They watched as she looked from face to face. When she finally stopped, gasping for breath, she held up a hand. She’d heard enough.
“I’m honored to be with such a pack of lunatics. You win. Old Tech. Pure-heart. Use it for good and no one beats you to a pulp.”
“Perfect,” Micah chuckled.
Ahead, Devaney’s Barren waited for them. Braden thought of it as the Great Desert. Great it was, made smaller by the discovery of the ancient oases. Kept small by the speed of the Aurochs and the direct route the neural implants allowed. Braden was amazed at how he was able to cross the Great Desert in the first place. The Old Tech reduced the risk to a point where they would be hardly inconvenienced, let alone under threat of imminent death.
The Wagon Exploded
The caravan camped at the northern edge of the plains. The Great Desert lay just ahead. This would be the last fresh water until they reached the oasis. They loaded up everything they had. Two casks from Trent that still smelled of fish and a great number of flasks. Braden expected that as darkness fell, they’d move out and reach Oasis 01 by sunrise. What had been two to three turns with Max and Pack would be a single night with the speed of the Aurochs.
Micah and Zeller practiced sparring. Zeller had no interest in using the bow, so they provided a sword for her. Micah didn’t know why Holly had added an extra sword to their gear, but it seemed he was prescient. She wondered how he knew, so she asked.
She opened her neural implant while the two women, covered in sweat, drank from their flasks. ‘Holly, how did you know we needed an extra sword?’
‘I didn’t, Master President. I estimated that you would not be using your blasters and just in case, I wanted both you and Braden to be armed better than any potential opponents you might have to face.’
‘And that’s it?’ she kept after him.
‘Yes, Master President, that is it. I see you are making good progress. You’ll be leaving tonight?’ Holly asked.
‘A little before sunset, so when darkness falls, we’ll just be entering the heat of the desert. We hope to make the first oasis by sunrise.’
‘I calculate that you will make it, but you cannot take any detours or stop for any length of time. You will need to maintain consistent progress to reach your objective within the desired timeframe.’
‘We understand, Holly. Arnie and Brandt have taken it as a personal challenge and they refuse to lose. When we stop next, it will be at Oasis 01.’ Micah minimized her window and refocused her eyes.
“Holly said the extra sword was for you, Braden,” Micah said skeptically. Braden tapped the hilt of his shortsword. He didn’t use one of the longer swords.
“You never know with Holly what the real truth is until later. He doesn’t lie, but he doesn’t give you the full truth, either.” Braden explained to Zeller. “Although I will readily admit that he has our best interest at heart, whatever his heart looks like, that is.”
“I look forward to meeting this Holly someday.”
“You will. You’ll get a taste when we reach the first oasis. They make these things called ‘brownies’ that could possibly be the best single food on Vii, right after sweetened, smoked pork, of course…” Braden drifted off as he thought of his favorite food.
“Men.” Micah shook her head.
The companions ate lunch in the shade of a struggling tree. The grasses were brown and inedible, according to Arnie and Brandt. There was nothing to hunt. The humans double-checked the provisions and then tried to sleep. It was already hot and still a little humid. Braden encouraged Arnie and Brandt to sleep well and then drink well. They’d be doing all the work come nightfall.
Aadi was anxious. It would be the first time he’d returned to his home in three cycles after living in the Great Desert for two hundred. He was looking forward to telling the other Tortoids about his adventures. He hoped that one or two might want to tag along.
Braden picked up on Aadi’s anxiety and wanted him to talk about the meeting of the Tortoise Consortium. “How long do you think the meeting will last, A-Dog?”
‘Master Human! You and your names. Remember the times I ran from danger? It’ll take that long,’ Aadi chuckled over the mindlink. The image of Aadi looking like he was standing still as laser beams passed by popped into Braden’s mind. When Aadi tried to swim quickly, he always stretched out his neck as if he were trying to pull his shell and the rest of him. It never worked. The battle was usually over by the time the Tortoid managed to swim a single stride.
“Well now, Master Aadi… I know, don’t call you Master, but if you are going to meet the Tortoise Consortium, you need to resume your place as the First Master.” Aadi conceded the point. “So it will take as long as it takes, you’re saying. Do we leave you behind, then?” Braden asked, suddenly concerned. He enjoyed having the Tortoid with them. He preferred to bounce ideas off Aadi as he handled them the most adeptly. Aadi was a master strategist and negotiator.
Without him, they would be less effective. He refined his assessment. They would simply be less without the aged Tortoid.
No, Braden thought, we’ll wait. The children are in good hands in Trent and would be for as long as we’re gone.
Sleep was hard to come by and before they knew it, it was time to go. Arnie was harnessed to the Old Tech wagon while Brandt was set to pull Zeller’s mostly empty wagon. There was no need to load Brandt down since the other wagon pulled the same whether it was fully loaded or not, thanks to the Old Tech machinery cleverly hidden within the wheel hubs.
Brandt headed out first to set the pace. He walked, then trotted and was soon running, not as fast as he could go, but the pace was brisk. Arnie kept up easily as he felt like he was running free.
Last time across, Braden had traveled slowly under a full moon. This time, the waxing moon only showed half its light. The horses were more careful in picking out their paths. Brandt wasn’t afraid and plowed ahead with reckless abandon, staying true to the track that only Braden and Micah could see owing to their neural implants.
The front right wagon wheel caught first, wedging into a pair of half buried boulders. It stopped instantly, twisted, and shattered as Brandt’s momentum continued to pull the cart forward. The broken axle wedged into the ground and
the cart became an immovable anchor. The harness was made with the Amazonian rope, so it didn’t give. The weakest point became the cart itself. It exploded in a shower of splintering wood as Brandt pulled it apart before he could stop. In his efforts to stop, he trapped a hoof in more rocks of the dry river bed. His knee twisted viciously as his body carried him past the trapped leg.
Braden was launched high into the air, slamming into Brandt’s back before bouncing off and falling to the ground. The sand was soft, but he hit heavily.
Brandt went down, his long keening cry cutting into the relative cool of the desert night. Arnie swerved wide of the other wagon and stopped beside Brandt, snorting and puffing in fear.
Braden pulled himself forward with his hands as he struggled to reach Brandt. The King stopped howling and tried to stand. Braden got to him when he finally lurched upright.
‘I’m sorry, Braden. I must be getting old or something because my leg really hurts.’
“It’s too dark, Brandt. I can’t see anything. Micah!” Almost immediately, a small light sprang into existence, then slowly waved into a larger flame. Micah brought her makeshift torch to them, walking carefully in the soft sand. She held it to the side of the King’s injured leg as Braden leaned in for a closer look. He ran his hand up and down Bradnt’s leg, knee to hoof and up to the Aurochs’ shoulder.. “I don’t think it’s broken,” Braden finally stated.
Braden started squeezing around the knee, until Brandt coughed in pain. ‘Right there! What do you feel?’ the King asked.
“I don’t feel anything, except it’s starting to swell. I wish there was a stream of cool water you could put it in. I think it might only be sprained. Can you put any weight on it?”
‘Just a little, but it hurts a great deal.’ Brandt tested it gingerly, taking a few steps but the leg didn’t seem like it wanted to support him. He hopped forward on three legs. ‘I can continue like this. We won’t be going fast, but at least we’ll be gaining some ground. I’m afraid we won’t make it to the oasis before sunrise.’
Braden rubbed his shoulder. He’d hit a rock when landed in the sand with all the momentum of a running Aurochs. He didn’t want to mention it after feeling Brandt’s pain. His wasn’t bad and as long as he didn’t have to shoot his bow, he wouldn’t have to tell anyone.
“Let me see it,” came the stern voice from the other side of the torch.
“Really?” Braden replied. He should have known better.
“Yes, really.” Micah started pulling on his shirt, which he unbuttoned with one hand. “Would you look at that? You’re going to have a winner of a bruise.” After further poking and prodding, she declared that nothing was broken. Braden winced throughout.
The other companions had gathered around Brandt, giving him moral support. He tucked his bad leg against his chest and hopped around the best he could. G-War climbed onto his head to help guide him in the darkness. Brandt would have to set the pace until they reached Oasis 01.
Zeller appeared next to Micah, waiting patiently for the torch. When she had it, she used it to survey the remnants of her wagon. She hung her head as she realized it was a total loss.
“C’mon, Zeller,” Braden said after a few heartbeats. “Time to go. We won’t get there this night which means we need to find a place to rest. We have to set up the big tent so Arnie and Brandt have shelter, and we need to do that before the sun gets too high. Building a shelter in the daylight is difficult, to say the least.”
The Oasis
Brandt stopped emanating waves of pain shortly after they started moving again. Braden expected G-War had something to do with that.
Brandt refused to stop. He kept plodding forward, hopping on three legs like an old dog. The Wolfoids ran beside him to keep him company once the sand cooled enough for their paws.
As it turned out, Brandt ran faster on three legs than the horses moved at their best through the desert. But it wasn’t good enough to get them to the oasis by daylight.
Braden kept his neural implant active so they could follow the shortest path to the oasis. They weren’t far, but it would have taken them half the daylight to make it the rest of the way. They couldn’t travel in the sun and heat for that long.
Setting up the tent was more difficult than they thought. Holly made it sound like it would almost set itself up. Braden and Micah should have known better. At least with Zeller, the Rabbits, and the Wolfoids, they had plenty of extra hands. They started in the predawn light and finished well past sunrise. The wagon fit underneath easily as the tent was made to cover fifty water buffalo.
Brandt rolled onto his side, an unnatural position for an Aurochs, but he wanted to take all the pressure from his injured leg. Braden placed a pile of empty water saddle bags to act as a pillow for the King’s knee. It had swollen during the night and was three times its normal size. Brandt was in pain, but doing his best to hide it.
G-War helped his large friend to sleep in the ‘cat’s special way.
Braden had a difficult time sleeping as well. In the past three cycles, he’d forgotten how harsh it was traveling at night and trying to sleep in the heat of the daylight. His shoulder hurt, too. Micah could do nothing for him, so they both tossed and turned, drinking water often to try and keep themselves cool.
The Wolfoids, Rabbits, and Hawkoids suffered in the desert conditions. Feathers and fur were horrible at keeping heat out. Aadi dug himself a hole to nestle into. For those who made the desert their home, they found ways to not just survive, but to make it comfortable. Next time they spent the daylight trying to sleep, Braden vowed to dig a hole in which they could find a cooler way to sleep.
When the sun dipped toward the western horizon, they labored to rouse themselves enough to take down the tent. As the sun set, they knew they had to hurry. They all moved slowly, until Braden quipped that since they were in the desert, they’d adopted Tortoid speed. That raised everyone’s spirits and helped them finish the task before the darkness enveloped them.
Brandt was no better, but he shook it off, saying that he’d been injured worse before. Braden and Micah weren’t sure about that, while G-War openly scoffed at the great King’s statement. To prove a point, he set a strong pace from their camp site, hopping on three legs. It hurt the humans to watch him. G-War was crouched low on his head, pointing the way forward. Braden and Micah took turns watching their location on the window before their eyes.
Holly was concerned with the injury but not with the loss of the wagon. He considered the second one to be superfluous in any case, although he appreciated the addition of another human. He’d run simulations with the help of the survivors and determined that a human presence alone would be least alarming when making the livestock trade. Braden rolled his eyes at the extent Holly went to achieve the conclusion that the Free Trader had known from the start.
Braden was loaded down with platinum and gold in the style of the north. He’d shared his wealth with Holly, who had replicated it and vastly expanded what Braden considered to be a respectable horde. As he thought about it, everything he went south for was currently in his possession, but he was still headed north on a trade mission, on behalf of others, with no thought of personal gain. For him, he had a wagon better than any that ever existed, great creatures to pull it, incredible wealth, Old Tech, and a partner who made him more than he could have ever been by himself.
‘And Prince Axial De’atesh, of course,’ G-War added.
“Would you all stop doing that!” Braden said loud enough for everyone to hear. “And no one tell me that I think too loudly!” Micah shrugged and looked away. The Wolfoids and Rabbits took a great interest in something behind the wagon. Only Zeller jumped into the fray.
“I didn’t hear anything,” she said.
“Thank you. Finally, there’s someone who’s not in my head,” Braden said sarcastically. He reached for Micah’s hand, caressing it until she let him hold it. She looked at him sheepishly. He started to smile.
“It’s really
loud, Braden,” she finally said. He frowned instantly and then pursed his lips.
“At least can all of you make believe like you can’t hear me?” Braden asked.
“It would probably be better if you learned to reduce the volume yourself. Maybe try to think in whispers,” Micah offered. Braden was angry, not because of what she suggested, but everyone else in the mindlink easily controlled their thoughts, controlled what they projected. It seemed that only he was incapable.
“These are private thoughts!” Braden countered more loudly than he intended.
‘Well, not really, Master Human,’ Aadi whispered, hoping to not ignite Braden’s ire.
‘They are very pleasant thoughts. You think great things and small things, too,’ the soft-spoken Delavigne added. Micah nodded.
‘Remember when I learned to speak your language?’ Skirill inserted himself into the conversation. Braden tipped his chin toward the Hawkoid so he’d continue his thought. ‘Well, your gifts lie elsewhere. I will endeavor to not listen, my friend.’
“A feathered gentleman you are, Master Hawkoid!” Braden bowed to where Skirill was perched on a roof bar of the wagon. Braden looked around to see if anyone else would make the same offer, then it dawned on him. “You can’t shut out my thoughts just like I can’t keep them to myself. So it’s not just me who can’t do something. Ha!” Braden looked smug, most of which was lost in the darkness as they pressed onward.
Braden watched their location using his neural implant as they approached Oasis 01. With Brandt’s renewed vigor, much of the night remained as they rolled toward the lights, stopping at the edge of the trees marking the boundary between the wasteland of the desert and the life of the oasis.
They unhooked Arnie and left the wagon where it was. The humans lifted the Rabbits to the ground, while the others jumped or flew. As a group, they strode into Oasis 01, heading directly for the building where travelers could check in.
Free Trader Box Set - Books 4-6: Battle for the Amazon, Free the North!, Free Trader on the High Seas Page 28
