Farenough: Strangers Book 2

by Melissa McCann

  Farenough

  MELISSA MCCANN

  Copyright © 2012 Melissa McCann

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 978-1-938586-23-1

  DEDICATION

  Constant reader

  Watching the bookshelves

  Keeping my feet to the fire

  CONTENTS

  DEDICATION

  CONTENTS

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  Chuck, my longsuffering editor, who somehow managed to retain his last nut

  CHAPTER ONE

  Tora was bored. Baldwin was not giving out patrol assignments. She sat in his house with Mr. Ventnor and the other lieutenants crowded onto stools.

  Baldwin said, "You all know by now that Tora met with Mr. Solante last night." He frowned at Mr. Ventnor because Mr. Ventnor had told the other lieutenants. "It was out of character for him, more so because he let her go without a fight, and he doesn't do that unless he has a reason. I want to know what that reason is. Does anyone have any ideas?"

  People shrugged or looked at their neighbors, but no one made suggestions.

  Mr. Ventnor scraped dirt out of his thumbnail and said, "Where's Cerise when you need her?"

  A few people laughed ruefully. Cerise had always told Baldwin what she thought, but she was a bad lieutenant and nobody wanted to be soldiers for her.

  Baldwin ignored the remark. "Watch his people. Note anything unusual: higher concentrations of his police, uniforms in places where they haven't been before. Ms. Stamos, you and Lize work the market today. Take one of the junior teams and show them the ropes."

  Tora's attention sharpened. He was giving assignments. He often sent Tora with Mr. Ventnor and Mika. They worked well together, and sometimes they went with the newer recruits, training them to work like soldiers.

  "Tarl, take your people and tour the waterfront. Keep an eye out for anything that might be projectile weapons unloading. I don't want to get caught bare-footed if Solante increases his armaments.

  "Ms. Bettuanne, the perimeter of the district—I know that's Solante's territory, but let the procreationists see us there. Maybe some of them are more sympathetic than they seem. Stay out of trouble."

  Last, he told Mr. Ventnor to lead a patrol through the northeast quarter, which was mostly human houses and shelters.

  Tora rose behind Mr. Ventnor.

  Baldwin said, "Not you, Tora."

  She stopped. Mr. Ventnor said, "Never mind, Colonel. I have it in hand."

  Baldwin waited until Mr. Ventnor and the other lieutenants had gone. He took the squat, metal pot from its stand where a candle kept it hot and poured brown brew into two heavy clay cups. He started to offer one of the cups to Tora and stopped. "You don't like sablebark do you?" He set the cup back on his little table. "Can I get you something else?"

  Tora was not interesting in drinking. She was interested in going on patrol.

  Baldwin told her to sit down. He sat across from her at the table. "Tora, have you seen or spoken to Cerise since the other day?"

  "No." Tora had not seen the Cerise at all. She preferred it that way.

  Baldwin frowned to himself. "That's fine, Tora. If you see her again, let me know." He cleared his throat and shifted his seat. "It was late last night. I was worried, and I had to get you home before the sneakdillies got too thick. There was more I needed to learn from you about Solante."

  Tora did not want to sit and talk. "Mr. Ventnor was there."

  "Yes. I spoke to Mr. Ventnor early this morning, but I really wanted to get your impressions."

  He stared past her right elbow into the middle of the room. He had the thinking-of-other-things look that humans sometimes wore, and there was a hint of something in the way he sat that made her think of the Solante enemy. "I spent the night trying to figure out what Solante wanted with you. Did he ask you anything about our strength, our weapons, who our allies are, what we're planning?"

  "No. He wants to be command for me."

  Baldwin rubbed his beard. "He can't consider you to be that great a tactical advantage. He's sending me a message, but I'm not getting it."

  Humans thought everything was about them. Tora slapped her hand on the tabletop to make him notice her.

  Baldwin stared at her, and this time, he seemed to see her.

  Tora said, "He wants to know how strong you are."

  Baldwin said, "He asked you that?"

  Humans could be very dense. "Not ask me." She did not know how to explain what the Solante had tried to do, not the making bonds but the fighting underneath. She thought of something Baldwin would understand. "More credit."

  "More what?"

  Tora huffed impatiently. “He thinks I stay with you because you are stronger than him. Now you have credit.” Credit was a weapon. He had to use it.

  He leaned toward her and looked into her eyes, which she didn’t like except when Maycee did it sometimes. “Why did you stay?” He laid his hand on her knee. She saw the way he looked at her, and it was like Solante looking at her.

  Tora stood up. She did not want to talk to him anymore. Perhaps she did not want to talk to him ever. She was very angry. She left the shelter.

  Baldwin said, "Tora, stop."

  She stopped.

  "I want you to patrol the east quarter with me today."

  Tora was a clone. She obeyed command. But Solante and now Baldwin looked at her and spoke to her as though they had bonds with her that were not the bonds of a lieutenant to Command or even a soldier to his lieutenant. She did not want the kind of bonds with them that they were trying to take from her. She thought she might fight Baldwin if he tried to make those bonds with her. She even thought she might kill him or the Solante if they continued to try that.

  She walked out of Baldwin's shelter and went home.

  Maycee and Liam were surprised to see her. Maycee quickly adjusted her clothing and sat up on the top of the table where she and Liam had been sprawled. "Tora, honey, what are you doing back so early?"

  Tora sat down hard beside Maycee.

  Maycee put the backs of her fingers on Tora's cheek. "You're so flushed. And you're shaking. Are you sick?"

  Liam looked hard at Tora. He said, "Not sick. Angry."

  Maycee tried to look into Tora's face. Tora turned away.

  "What are you angry about, Tora? Did something happen this morning?"

  Tora beat her fists on her knees. "I do understand. I told him. He thinks I don't know."

  "Slow down, Tora, and tell me who thinks you don't understand."

  Tora snorted.

  Liam said, "Baldwin."

  Maycee raised her eyebrows. "You had a fight with Baldwin? Should I call Annia to put the pieces back together?"

  "Word fight," Tora said with disdain. The Maycee human was playing fun with her. Tora did not feel like listening to human jokes.

  "That's a relief," Maycee said. "What did he do?"

  "He didn't assign patrol for me. He asked me questions. He didn't listen. I told him what the enemy wants. He thin
ks everything is about him. He wants bonds with me, wants to court me."

  Maycee made a sympathetic sound. "Poor Baldwin."

  Tora didn't like Maycee to be sorry for Baldwin. "I will not have bonds with him."

  "Of course not."

  Tora snorted. "If he doesn't listen to me, he makes mistakes. He doesn't listen because he wants to make bonds."

  "What does Mr. Ventnor think about that?"

  Tora didn't want Maycee to change the subject. Maycee patted Tora's shoulder, not the way Baldwin did, as though he thought she could not understand, but the same way she sometimes patted Cho'en or Liam to say that she understood them. "I'll talk to Annia tonight, and maybe we can help you straighten things out with Baldwin."

  Tora wanted to make it right herself, but maybe Annia and Maycee could make Baldwin listen to her. They had better words for talking to humans. She nodded.

  Maycee said, "What are you going to do for the rest of the day?"

  Liam's pupils dilated, and he jumped to his feet. "Practice fight?"

  Maycee chuckled. "Good idea. You can entertain Lee today. He's been nagging me about enemies and being sick all morning until I'm ready to scream."

  Tora spent the morning showing the Liam clone what she had learned about fighting without killing humans. Liam was soft and weak from spending every day guarding Maycee. That was bad. He did not have anyone to practice fighting with. Tora should fix that; he was still her soldier. Maybe Mr. Ventnor was a strong enough fighter to practice with Liam. It would make Mr. Ventnor stronger, too. That would be a good thing.

  It felt good to be with Liam. She missed having soldiers around her. Human soldiers were not the same. Maycee came to the gap in the fence sometimes, looking anxious, and said that she couldn't help it; they sounded like they were killing each other.

  Cho'en came home early in the afternoon, and Tora swam in the lake with Cho'en and Liam. Liam swam very well. Tora did not. She clung to Cho'en's tail to keep her head out of the water. After she had dried off, she sat on the dock and thought.

  Baldwin thought Solante would want to know how many soldiers Baldwin had and where they were and what Baldwin planned to do. If Tora wanted to know those things, she would ask Liam. He would go to where the enemy soldiers were and look at them. Then he would tell Tora what she wanted to know.

  Solante had not tried to find out those things from Tora, and he did not have Liam, so who would he ask?

  Late in the afternoon, Tora put on her grey uniform and went to the gate of the campsite.

  Maycee was cooking. She looked up. "Going out, Tora?"

  "Out," Tora said.

  "Will you be back for dinner?"

  Tora thought. "No."

  "Stay out of trouble," Maycee said.

  "Yes." Tora closed the gate behind her. She knew where Mr. Ventnor lived. He had a shack near the waterfront. She went along the boardwalk past the piers and warehouses. She ignored Mr. Solante's soldiers, and they ignored her. She saw people she knew—Baldwin's soldiers. They nodded to her or called out to her. She waved her hand to them like a human.

  Mr. Ventnor's shack was small, but sturdy and well-made. He had a fence around his lot, and a catpil on the roof. Tora knocked on the door.

  Mr. Ventnor said, "Who's there?"

  "Tora."

  "Colonel? Wait a moment."

  Tora heard splashing and a long silence. Then Mr. Ventnor opened the door. His hair was wet. He was wiping his face on a towel with one hand and closing the tab of his breeches with the other. He was not wearing a shirt. His hair was black on light brown skin. "Come in, Colonel."

  Tora stepped inside. Mr. Ventnor's back was muscled and scarred. He dropped the towel beside a metal basin on the table and ran his fingers through his hair to comb it the way Maycee sometimes did Liam's for him. He pulled on a ruffled shirt. "Sit down, Colonel. Social call?"

  Tora did not know what he meant. She did not want to sit down. It was hard to talk sitting down. Easier when she was on patrol and part of her thoughts were occupied watching for enemies, keeping humans out of danger. She scowled.

  Mr. Ventnor finished fastening his shirt and rubbed his fingers through his hair again. He looked uncomfortable. "Something wrong, Ms. Miraz?"

  Tora said, "You will walk with me?"

  He stared at her for a moment. Then he shrugged. "Your word, Colonel." He put his belt around his waist. "Wherever you say."

  They walked down the waterfront and along the boardwalk. Mr. Ventnor said, "Heard you had a tiff with Baldwin this morning."

  "Yes."

  "Anything that can't be patched up?"

  Tora snorted.

  Mr. Ventnor nodded. "Figured as much. Got tired of his acting like the wrong end of a brownbully, did you?"

  Tora had eaten brownbully meat once when it was Mr. Hollin's turn to cook. She did not know which end was the wrong one. "He won't listen to me."

  "What does he need to know?"

  Tora explained her conclusions about the Solante enemy's actions.

  Mr. Ventnor listened until she finished. Then he leaned against the railing by the water and faced Tora with slitted eyes. "You think that's the way Solante sees it, too? He's human, you know. Maybe he doesn't think the way you do."

  Tora shook her head. "I fought with him."

  Mr. Ventnor looked over his shoulder at the lake. "You could be right. I thought our Mr. Solante had romantic motives, but I can see him thinking that way."

  "Baldwin wants to know why the Solante enemy didn't ask questions."

  Mr. Ventnor nodded. "It's a good point. If he isn't asking, he must be getting what he needs somewhere else."

  Tora said, "Where is the Cerise human?"

  He raised his eyebrows. "It's not beyond her to do it. I haven't seen her since her accident, but I know who would know."

  Tora knew also. "Jeffer Pente." Tora understood more now about human relationships. Jeffer Pente had made bonds with Cerise. He would know where she was.

  Mr. Ventnor said, "Come to think of him, he hasn't been too visible lately either. You want to see him today?"

  "Yes."

  "Your word, Colonel." When they had settled on a route, they fell into an easy jog. Mr. Ventnor kept up well, though he had been patrolling all day. Tora knew he would be tired. She could have brought Lize or Dess and Mr. Bracxs, but Tora preferred Mr. Ventnor. Except for Liam, he was the best soldier she had, and Maycee needed Liam to guard her. They crossed the market and entered the west quarter, and Mr. Ventnor was hardly out of breath.

  Finding Jeffer Pente's lot took time. Mr. Ventnor stopped people on the street and asked them if they knew Mr. Pente and where he was. They found a neighbor who could point to his house. Jeffer lived in a silvery-sided emergency shelter, but he had added a roof and corner posts to resist wind. There was only one door.

  Mr. Ventnor eased off to the left in case Jeffer was behind his shelter or coming down the street.

  Tora went to the door and clapped her hands outside.

  She heard movement inside and cast a glance at Mr. Ventnor.

  He closed in on the shelter, swung toward the rear.

  Tora clapped again. "Mr. Pente, I want to ask questions."

  She could hear him just inside the door.

  The door flapped open in her face. Jeffer bolted through it and threw himself to Tora's right. Tora shot out her hand, clapped it down on Jeffer Pente's shoulder and squeezed until he yelped. She made him kneel on the ground.

  Mr. Ventnor came around the shelter and went inside. He came back out. "There's no one else here and no way out but the door. You going to let him up before he loses feeling in that arm, Colonel?"

  Tora relaxed her grip on the nerve bundle in Jeffer's shoulder, and Mr. Ventnor helped him stand.

  Jeffer glowered at Tora. "I haven't done anything," he said bitterly.

  Mr. Ventnor said, "Easy there, Mr. Pente. The Colonel just wants to ask you some questions."

  Mr. Ventnor helped Jeffer Pente insi
de the tent and told him to sit on the sleeping bench. He and Tora stood between Jeffer and the door. It was a single-occupant shelter, much smaller than the one Tora lived in with Liam and Annia. They stood shoulder to shoulder, too close for fighting.

  Mr. Ventnor said, "You've got him, Colonel. Ask your questions."

  Tora said, "Where is Cerise?"

  Jeffer said, "She's dropped out of the militia. Baldwin hasn't got any business asking where she is."

  Tora sniffed. "I am asking. Where is Cerise?"

  "I told you."

  Mr. Ventnor said, "We're not running errands for Baldwin. We just want to know where Cerise has been."

  Jeffer's eyes were shadowed and miserable. "Why would I tell you?"

  Mr. Ventnor cocked his head. "Been sleeping all right, Mr. Pente? Nothing keeping you awake nights?"

  Tora did not know why Mr. Ventnor asked those questions, but he knew word fighting better than Tora.

  Mr. Ventnor looked around. "Not much room for company in here, and Cerise shared quarters with Paouli and Ms. Chrisholm didn't she? But they haven't seen her lately either, so I wonder where she's been sleeping."

  Jeffer Pente's handsome face twisted. "She isn't sleeping with him, if that's what you mean."

  Mr. Ventnor raised his brows. "Who isn't she sleeping with?"

  Tora cocked her head at Jeffer. She saw bonds the way Liam saw numbers and shapes. It was like knowing enemies from humans—more complicated, but she had been learning about human bonds lately. Jeffer had been in Cerise's command. Now he was not. He was not in Baldwin's command. He was alone, but the Cerise would not be alone. She wanted to have bonds with someone who was strong. Someone like Baldwin. Tora said, "The Solante."

  CHAPTER TWO

  Mr. Ventnor said, "Is that it? She's gone from Baldwin's bed to Solante's."

  Jeffer said, "The well she did. There's nothing between them."

  But Tora saw. His bond with Cerise was broken. "Solante is Command for her now."

  Jeffer said, "If you'd left her alone, it would have been all right.”