by Ann Raina
“I can’t say if he’s hurt. He truly moves like it.”
Sajitar was beside her to calm down the B-horse and help her up with his free hand.
“What about you?”
“I’m okay. Hold him for a moment. I have to check.” She caressed the gelding’s neck until he lowered his head against her shoulder, puffing out air. “Good boy, you are really tough when it comes to it.” Gently, she felt along his right leg and lifted the hoof. “The monster nibbled at him, but there’s no blood. I suppose it’ll mend with the growth of the hoof.”
“Good.”
She took the reins and smiled ruefully. Her heartbeat was still racing. “Two more steps and we’d be done for.” She stood on tiptoe to kiss his bearded cheek. “Thank you.”
He swallowed and looked away. “You’re welcome.” He turned around to find a thick dark red fruit he weighed in his hand. “Watch.” He threw the fruit in the center of the open space. For a moment it lay there and Rayenne was about to say that it’s always the show effect that ruins the demonstration when the fruit was covered by a small wave in the sand. The fruit vanished and the ground smoothed out, as if caressed by a warm hand.
Rayenne shivered.
“Never trust open space in dense woods,” Sajitar said beside her. “There’s a reason why there’re no trees around.”
“And no animal to search for fodder. What kind of beast is this?”
“It doesn’t have a name. Maybe the scientist died asking for it. Call it a sand monster, if you like. It fits pretty well.” His face still showed strain. “It lures animals to its home like a spider does with its net. The sun hits the ground, and for most animals that’s a great reason to come into the open.”
“And then they get eaten alive?”
“I never asked.” He went to fetch his mount and asked Rayenne with a glance to help him up. When they both sat in the saddle again, he hit the B-horse’s flanks with his heels and urged Tessla on, back into the dark and ominous woods. “There’s much to learn, hmm?”
“No need telling me.” She shuddered again when she thought about being eaten alive, the horse first and herself second, without a chance to be saved. “And now what? Shunning the open till we reach the outskirts of the city?”
“You ask too many questions.”
“Police habit.”
“Did you want to kiss me this morning?”
Rayenne swallowed sharply. “Pardon?”
Sajitar bent backwards to avoid being pushed off the horse by a large branch that whipped over Tessla’s head. Rayenne smiled and hoped the distraction would last, but Sajitar stopped his B-horse and looked straight at her.
“Be honest. I felt your presence. There was something… I sensed you getting closer to me. Much closer, that is, than the thank-you-kiss you gave me.”
“I was about to wake you up, but that wasn’t necessary.”
He lowered his head.
“For a police woman, you lie pretty badly.”
“That’s an insinuation, Saji, one that I don’t like.”
“Take it as a compliment, then. I think you wanted to kiss me just to know that I’m okay.”
“Of course I…” She closed her mouth, realizing that the sentence would convince him even more of his assumption. Exhaling, she urged Bunty to step around the large branch and pull in behind Tessla. She wanted to be grumpy with Sajitar, but it had been her fault. Getting close to a suspect was a mistake. As it always was a mistake to become personally involved in a case.
“Say it.”
There was that look in his eyes, only a part of it amusement, that took her breath away. Her heart beat faster. Reason told her to just nod and be over with it.
“I checked if you were okay, Saji. That’s all.”
“I’m already out in the open, Ray, you just have to come.”
He turned back and left her cursing over low branches and the mischance of this journey.
* * * *
Sajitar pointed toward a small pond that had been hidden from sight until they almost stumbled into the marshlands at its rim. Tall trees with wide tree-tops cast long shadows across the quiescent surface. The sun was setting, touching the place with an exotic beauty. Much was hidden from sight and he wanted to figure out what waited for them.
The image of a large Horlyn came like a rising wave to his mind. He flinched and held still, eyes shut tight, teeth clenched. The Horlyn in his vision, bathed in colors of dark red and orange, moved cautiously, silently, until a large track vehicle appeared, rumbling across the uneven terrain. Two men stood in the center cabin, holding their weapons at aiming position. The Horlyn pivoted, but Sajitar could still see the men. They pointed toward the beast and shot. Shrieking in pain and terror, the Horlyn and some other, much smaller animals fled between slim trees, leaving its cursing pursuers behind, as the vehicle couldn’t drive on.
Sajitar felt its pain as if it were his own.
“Are you all right?”
Moaning, Sajitar opened his eyes again. He hung on Tessla’s withers, hugging himself as if he were cold. His body quivered and he couldn’t speak. Rayenne’s worried face was immediately in front of him. She touched his forehead and then his cheek gently.
“What happened? You almost fell off. Did anything hit you?”
Just the memory of a Horlyn, he wanted to say, but the words didn’t leave his dry lips. He watched Ray dismount and come around his B-horse to help him down. He knew he would fall before his numb feet hit the ground. He sat hard on his butt, grimacing.
“I didn’t see any beast around. Are you hurt?”
“No.” The word came out as a harsh whisper. He had never before experienced such a vivid image. Breathless, he tried to unclasp his arms. “Water.”
Rayenne hurried to oblige. After a few sips from the waterskin Sajitar felt the numbness abate.
“Tell me what happened.”
“There’s…”
“Don’t say there’s nothing to tell. You’re whiter than Helan-Sek marble.” She caressed his face and the worry did not leave her eyes. “Please, Saji, did you see anything?”
“See?” He exhaled, still clinging to the waterskin as if it were his only connection to the real world. “If I told you, you’d put me in an asylum and not a court.”
“You suddenly cried out as if something attacked you. Then you sank on Tessla. I thought that the bullet maybe…”
“It got nothing to do with the bullet.” He closed his eyes for a moment. “The pain’s in my head, not my belly.”
“A headache of sorts?”
“I don’t know if I’m going mad on this trip. I’ve never been here for so long.”
Rayenne took a deep breath. Still her voice sounded sharp.
“Saji, we’re together on this journey, don’t forget that. If you tell me what’s happening to you, I might help.”
He looked up to her. “Take away the visions? I doubt it.”
“You get visions? Of what? Why?”
“Of beasts. Of these woods. Of men fighting.” He shook his head and regretted the movement. The pain was an axe trying to hack a way out of his skull. “I don’t understand anything of it or why these images haunt me. Get me my flagon, please.”
She stood to fetch it for him. “Does it have to do with being in these woods? I mean, do you only have these images when you travel here?”
“Yes. That’s why I’ve never stayed for months or longer. I don’t want to become a part of these woods. Not in any way.”
Rayenne opened the flagon. “And now these visions are back. And there’s no way to…avoid them?”
Sajitar smiled wearily and drank. “Thanks. Do you think I’d keep them if I knew how to avoid them?”
“Right.” She bit her lower lip. “I got a headache of sorts the same moment you almost fell. Does that mean that it’ll get worse for me, too?”
“No.” He swallowed and tried for a smile. “It’s just a side effect. I am the one getting the full doses,
if you want to put it like that.”
“And I?”
“You might have nightmares or a headache or sudden fright.” He wet his lips and wiggled his brow. “With me at your side… You’ll be okay.”
“Do you think you can ride on?”
He took another swig of the sweet wine that went smoothly down to his belly. He felt better already. When he looked around, he decided to stay on the ground.
“No. We pitch camp here for tonight.” He let her help him up, but when he stood he suddenly doubled over. “Oh, god, that’s the pain in the side I missed for so long.”
“The bullet’s moving around.” Rayenne cursed under her breath. “Come, let me help you lie down. I’ll pitch our tent.”
“We…we need to hunt. There’s not much left of our supplies.” He grimaced as he curled on the ground. “The lake’s perfect for…”
“Fish?” she prompted.
“There’s a fishing-tackle in my saddlebag. Try and…” He moaned, closing his eyes. “Let me rest for a while.”
“I’ll take care of you,” she said and quickly avoided his astonished glance.
* * * *
Birds flew up on the other shore, whistling their family tune while they gained height. She shaded her eyes to watch their flight, smiling while she thought of better times. Sitting at the pond, the fishing-tackle in the water, she felt the good memories come back to her, memories long before she had left her family home to become a police officer.
Her father had taken the family on long trips through bush land and swamps, teaching his kids everything they needed to know to survive. Rayenne had learned how to fix a fishing rod, create a hook if none was handy and light a fire by using fire-stones or any other material that would create a spark. Her mother had taken care of their camp, always busy, and always cheerful. Rayenne could not remember a day when her mother had been grumpy or angry with one of her kids. Looking back, Rayenne cherished her childhood as one stream of happy events. Maybe that was why she had refused to become a part of the famous Whiteclaw Corporation. Choosing a career in the police had sounded more demanding and more promising than staying amid a group of cheerful and successful partners who shared everything and knew everything about each other. Her father had objected sharply and started a long ramble about family honor and obligations. To him, leaving the family had been an act of betrayal. Her mother, listening to the conversation, had simply added that there was no way to become unhappy if the way had been chosen for the right cause. With these simple words she had effectively ended the rambling and Rayenne had left the family home with her parents’ blessing.
She knew, though, that every misfortune so far had been studied, analyzed and interpreted with the background of how much better her life had been if she had chosen to stay with her family.
What will they say about my latest misfortune?
The rod moved and Rayenne quickly gripped it tight, waiting for a few seconds until the fish had hooked itself and would not come loose again. Carefully she pulled the rod to her and examined her catch. The fish wouldn’t feed a family, but it would fill two empty stomachs.
Smiling, she brought it to their camp, close to one of the largest trees she had seen so far. If settlers had ever ventured this far, they would have decided to carve a hut just out of the trunk. Two rooms, kitchen and storeroom would have easily fit. She wondered for how many centuries this giant had grown and what he would tell if he could.
“Look what I got.”
Sajitar lifted his head and slowly, carefully, sat up. He looked better than two hours earlier. The wine mixed with painkillers from her pouch had done the trick.
“What did you catch?”
“This.” She held up the fish. “And don’t tell me that’s the only sort that can’t be eaten.”
He wiggled his brows, amused.
“And what if? Will you then ask me for help? And maybe not only with catching a fish?”
“I might, so…” She stopped, open-mouthed, not knowing what to say or how to react to the unspoken words hanging between them. Suddenly, the air seemed even thicker than before.
Sajitar held her stare.
She licked her lips. “Guess, if you don’t object, I’ll cook it.” She stood and went away, but her moves seemed hampered by a string that tried to keep her at Sajitar’s side. She squatted to cut the fish to fit in the heater and knew Sajitar watched her.
Never start a relationship with a crook.
She busied herself while the inner dialogue went on.
If he is one. What do I know? I doubted the captain’s judgment in the first place.
He ran. He hid in a village. That’s no behavior for an innocent man.
And if he was just trying to stay alive? He said the killers tried to find him. Who can blame him for saving his life?
Rayenne closed the pot to start the cooking process. There was nothing else to do, no vegetables to wash and prepare, no bread to cut and share. She rummaged through the saddlebags just to appear busy.
When she finally turned, Sajitar had sunk back on the sleeping bag and closed his eyes.
* * * *
The long sleep helped Sajitar’s health far more than he had anticipated. Breathing deeply, he realized the pain was gone.
He looked up and found the night sky above him full of stars. They blinked and sparkled like storm-shaken lights he had seen at the spaceport a long time ago. Even one of the planet’s moons had a cameo before hastening across the sky, leaving a faint red line.
He frowned and his mind remarked that there was no chance of seeing stars from the campsite. He tried to sit up and when he looked down his chest was bare. He felt no cold, not even a chill of wind. He touched his warm skin at the side, irritated. There was no bullet wound, not even a spot of pink tissue. He swallowed and looked around, his heart beating faster now. Rayenne turned her head in his direction, her smile an invitation to so much more than talk. She was cleaning up the cups and bowls they had used for dinner and stowed them in the saddlebags.
“Did you have visions again?” Rayenne asked, moving closer to hand him a full waterskin.
“No,” he heard himself answer through a haze, “they come and go, but I remember them.”
“All of them?”
He drank and nodded solemnly. He felt lightheaded. “All of them.”
Rayenne looked at him quizzically and when he didn’t continue, asked,
“Do all people get these visions if they come into the woods?”
“I don’t know. Some do. Some get crazy and there are more than a few who didn’t return home. Haven’t you heard the reports about farmers babbling nonsense after they spent some days here?” He watched her shiver and only that moment he became aware of her missing jacket. The tight shirt left nothing to imagination. His throat tightened when she added a teasing glance as if telling him to go on. “I don’t think it’ll hit me that hard,” he stuttered. “So don’t worry. I’ve been around here for some time and still have my wits.”
“I’m sure you do.” She smiled sweetly before she sat down next to him, knees drawn up to her breasts. “Will they hit me, too?”
“The visions?” He took a deep breath, unable to take his stare from her well-formed breasts and the clear invitation of her slightly parted lips. “No. And if they do, I’m sure you can handle ‘em.”
She let out air without looking up. “If there’s an enemy I can fight, I’m not afraid. But how shall I fight visions?”
Sajitar smiled, hoping the smile was convincing. “You’ll find a way.” And when she only took a deep breath, he added, “You caught me, though I thought I’d never step into a woman’s trap.”
“Did you, hmm?”
“Yep.” He nodded once, emphasizing his earnestness. “I still can’t recall our first night in detail. Won’t you help me with that?”
Rayenne cocked her head and the smile blossomed to a laugh. “You wanted to share my bed, Sajitar. Your offer was unmistakable, more than o
nce.”
“So, I didn’t know who you were. You must have been in a pretty disguise.”
“Very pretty.” She inched closer, looking him up and down. Her gaze stopped speculatively at his waistband.
Sajitar raised his brows, breathing hard now.
“A very pretty disguise for a tough police woman. I assume you are a master in that subject.”
Rayenne’s expression turned mischievous. “Always been.”
“You outsmarted me at the bar.”
She laughed at his mock-surprised tone.
“Gimme enough booze and I’ll do it again.”
“I still want to know what amused you so much that you had that smile in the morning.”
She was close enough now that their knees touched.
“We danced.”
“I danced? I must have been more drunk than I thought.”
“We danced so close that I could touch you here—” She put her fingers to his cheek. “And here—” Her fingers trailed down his bare chest and belly. “And here, too.” She had reached his crotch, causing him to gasp. “I could’ve taken you with everything you had, and it might have become the best night of your life.”
Sajitar inched his head away from her face, trying to focus.
“Only my life?”
“I still wait.”
Sajitar opened his mouth for a witty reply, but none came. Her hand still lay comfortably where she had put it and there was no shyness in her look.
“Shouldn’t you have a rule to never mingle with a…”
A loud cracking shook him awake. Sajitar ripped his eyes open, gasping, needing a moment to focus on Rayenne, who looked at him worriedly from her place close to the heater. The scent of fish was in the air. Leathery wings flapped overhead and he watched a large black shadow disappear. His heart raced.
“Are you okay?” Rayenne asked. “It was just a breaking branch and some bird. Nothing to worry about.”
Sajitar took in the campsite and himself. He was still dressed, lying beside his saddlebags, and Ray wore her jacket buttoned up, hands put close to warm at the steaming pot. The sticks of the tent glowed in warm yellow, illuminating the night. Above them was the thick roof of the forest with no star gleaming through.
