“That is wise, but I would not harm a female, Band or no,” Bracus said.
His face sobered. “There are some Band whom garner corruption. It is rare but it does happen.” His gaze traveled to Anna and she looked back, bewildered.
Clara felt there was some critical thing they did not understand and would soon find out. She hoped it was a surprise of glad tidings. She could very much use such.
Bracus put his fist over his heart and said, “I am Bracus, Captain of the Band of Ohio.”
She echoed his movement with one of her own. “It is very good to know you, Bracus.”
“And I, you.”
Her attention turned to Clara as she approached. Clara stood her ground. Rowenna's gaze traveled from the top of her head to her feet which were buried in the sand. The sea grasses whistled as the group stood quietly.
Her eyes went to Matthew's. “Is this your mate?”
Clara shook her head, a strange tingle taking residence in her chest as she drew near. It felt like a faint chime. She was reminded of the great steam-powered clocks of the sphere and what they sounded like at a great distance.
Matthew drew her in tighter and Clara almost smiled. He was protective in an obsessive way. She had never known such concern for her welfare. If it had not been such a complication she would have reveled in it.
“He behaves such. Very much,” she said.
“She is not yet mated,” Bracus said from behind her and Maddoc looked at him curiously.
Rowenna did not turn. “I see.” She looked at Clara's throat. “Why do your throat slits meld with your skin?”
Clara's hand touched her throat and found it bare of the gills which had laid there moments before.
Maddoc's brows shot down over his eyes. It was then that Clara gave her full attention to him. He looked as she did, down to the ivory skin and deeply bronzed hair, his eyes the color of the sea that were steps from her feet.
“She is some kind of half-breed,” Maddoc said with a derisive tone.
“Hush, do not speak thus of your sister,” Rowenna said and all eyes turned to Maddoc. His face turning slightly pink at the attention, his expression sullen.
Clara did smile then, he had more success in fighting the blush that she had never beaten.
Her brother looked down at her with something like disgust and she was instantly sad. She could not help what she was.
Matthew growled low in his throat. “Apologize boy, or we will teach you respect. She is a Queen of her people,” his hands balling into fists.
But it was Evelyn that strode up to him and slapped his haughty face. The sound competed with the roar of the surf. Clara gasped and put her hand over her mouth. Evelyn could barely reach his face. She stepped back and put her hands on her hips. Her drying hair lay as dark gold to her waist.
“You insult our Queen! You know her naught. From what great well of knowledge do you ken?” she asked reasonably. As if she had not just slapped a male that stood six foot three and two hundred thirty pounds, a full foot taller than she.
A male that had the imprint of a palm on his pale skin.
Rowenna laughed, a deep throaty thing that startled everyone around her.
“Perfect!” she clapped her hands. “This tiny female,” and she looked at all the males' faces, “is brave beyond measure. I did not need to discipline my son when she does such an exquisite job.”
Evelyn blushed fiercely at the backward compliment but stood her ground.
Maddoc looked at her, their gazes locking then that gaze shifted to Clara. She was shocked anew at the uncanny resemblance to herself. “Your friend has made me see reason. I apologize for my choice of words.”
“I accept. As it were. I have no other family. I am glad of you. Even if I am not pure.”
Matthew squeezed her arm in reassurance and she fought not to lean into him gratefully. Mindful of Bracus' gaze on her face.
Rowenna swiveled her head toward Clara. “What say you? Raymond is no more?”
Clara shook her head, fighting the rush of sadness that always came upon the mention of Father.
She looked at Matthew. “Let me embrace my family.”
He looked down at her, his heart in his gaze. She closed her eyes against the emotion she saw there, she could not bear it.
“I will be near you.”
She nodded and turned away from him.
She walked to Maddoc and he looked down at her neutrally. She reached out to touch his face, expecting rejection but he smiled brilliantly when her flesh touched his. And he captured her hand. “You are kin, I can feel you,” he said in wonder.
Clara knew exactly what he meant, the chiming a precious bell peal in her heart. He reached down and lifted her off the ground in a great hug, his face at her neck, where she could feel the soft crush of his gills against her.
“Sister, please forgive me,” he whispered against her ear.
“Worry not. There is nothing to forgive,” she replied.
He put her down and looked at her. “You look so much like us, yet, you are such a tiny thing. Mother,” his gaze swept to Rowenna and it occurred to Clara that she had utterly forgotten her presence. “Look upon her.”
Clara thought better of her that she had let them connect first.
Rowenna came to stand beside Maddoc and she looked at the pair. Rowenna, who had looked so tall, looked petite next to her son. “Yes, she is of mixed blood. But for the height and the disappearing throat slits, she could be from our Band.”
“Do you feel it?” she asked Clara suddenly.
“What?” Clara asked.
“Does the sea not sing to you? Does it not call your blood?”
Clara nodded. She had felt the call, the bell.
“I thought that was between us. Because we are family?”
“It is the sea. But it is also us. We are of the sea, it mingles within the very marrow of our bones.” She splayed her fingers, webbed lightly at their intersects and put them between her breasts. “Do you feel it here, as a bell which rings.”
“Yes,” Clara said breathlessly.
Maddoc nodded and they smiled at each other.
She was home. She tried to catch Maddoc's eyes but they were on Evelyn and Clara wondered out loud, “How many years are you, Brother?”
His gaze swung back to her. “I am ten years and almost seven,” he said proudly.
Good Guardian! He was a monster and not yet seventeen.
He saw her expression and said, “What say you, Sister?
“You are...” Clara lacked the words.
But Evelyn interrupted with, “I am certain that he is quite done growing.” And she crossed her arms.
Clara tried to cover her expression and appear neutral but it was difficult as the rest of the group were grinning. Rowenna especially.
Maddoc was not. “I am as I should be for my age. I will be as the others when I reach my full maturation.”
“If you say it is so,” Evelyn said, managing to sound like she was quite knowledgeable on the subject.
“It would seem that there is one female that does not think that you are the perfection of the sea,” Rowenna said.
Maddoc gave her a withering look. He gave Clara's shoulder a squeeze as a temporary goodbye and she winced. He looked at her for a heartbeat in question then stalked off to his mount.
Rowenna looked after him then turned to the group with a smile. “Come, let us celebrate with a feast. We have much to discuss,” she said, looking at Clara significantly.
She had five Band with her and they made introductions and helped the small group break down camp.
Clara saw Bracus heatedly debating something with Rowenna and Clara came upon them and they grew silent.
“What say you?” Clara said in her plain-spoken manner.
Bracus glowered and Rowenna smiled as if nothing was amiss. Clara knew trouble when she stumbled upon it.
“Your captain was outlining your quest and made mention of your court
ship with himself and Matthew.”
“That is true. We have an alliance of one year now,” Clara said, looking from one to the other.
Rowenna sighed. “We will have discussions after the evening meal. Come,” she said, holding out her arm. Clara walked to her and looped her arm through Rowenna's.
They walked away together and Clara looked at Bracus over her shoulder.
Thunder darkened his face.
CHAPTER 16
Clara was overwhelmed. The Clan of Cape Cod was large, much larger than the Ohio Clan. She looked about her, positioned at her mother's right hand, which had an ironic surrealism. She watched her brother as the small amount of young females flocked around him. He was quite handsome to look upon. He had not forgotten that she sat across from him and she often caught his gaze lingering on her. He was as curious as she. The two a mirror of each other, save for size.
A sudden thought occurred to Clara and she waited for a break in the conversation Rowenna was having with another of the Band.
“Rowenna,” Clara began and she turned her head to Clara and she was struck by her beauty. She could understand why Father had been with her. She was fully engaged in life, vital. Every fiber of her being was present in the moment.
“You will call me Mother one day, yes?”
Clara blushed. “Yes, one day.”
“Very well,” she smiled.
“I see that you have more females than the Ohio Clan.” Clara said, noticing the females as bees to honey, her brother the sweetness that called to them.
Her expression grew serious. “Captain Bracus and I have compared numbers and ours are slightly higher.” She held up a finger. “But they dwindle.” She shrugged. “It is as the Travelers predicted. However, now that you are here, all will be well.”
Clara was silent, the steady thud of her heartbeat in her chest the only thing she felt. “Why is that?” The mention of the Travelers made her uneasy. They were not the Guardians that she knew.
“You have come, as they predicted you would, to mate and repopulate this great land.”
Clara opened her mouth then closed it again. Her eyes sought Matthew's and Bracus', their expressions dark. What was this nonsense? But Clara had been raised a political animal and kept her expression cool. It would not do to behave ignorantly.
“I do not understand. I discovered just one year past that Queen Ada was not by natural mother. I have since discovered that I am clan...”
Rowenna shook her head, the golden hair sliding over her bare shoulders. “Savage Clara. You are Band.”
Clara nodded her head at the clarification. She had the thought the word was derogatory. Mayhap not?
“It was I that decided, because of a clue left in glass, that mayhap I had kin which lay at the feet of the eastern sea. My father, King Raymond, spoke of Cape Cod and his great-great grand-sire and their visits to this place. It seemed most logical that my answers would be here,” Clara finished, using her palm to sweep the sea that pounded in the background.
Rowenna looked at Clara thoughtfully for a time and she waited. “How long has it been since your father...?”
“It was six years, one month past,” Clara replied.
Rowenna nodded her head. “Let us discuss the Travelers.”
Clara nodded. She wished to know more but first she told Rowenna what she knew from the fragment.
Rowenna gazed at her. “They speak true. It is a vile group, that.”
There were murmurings of agreement around the table and she held up her hand to quiet them.
“Did they hurt you, Daughter?”
Clara shook her head and Rowenna scowled a question at her. “They are not known for softness with females.”
Clara nodded. “ 'Tis true. They had a most terrible scheme planned for my sphere. But before it could be implemented they wished to...” Clara could not speak of it.
Rowenna looked at her sympathetically. “Did your Band dispatch them.”
“No,” Matthew broke in sharply and Rowenna raised a brow at him.“I saw that they were upon Clara and acted quickly. When I saw her throat slits appear my blade faltered and the vermin underneath it escaped finality.”
“I see. Who was this man that assaulted you?” she inquired of Clara.
“Yes, who is he? I shall break his legs and put him in yonder ocean so he may try his luck in the surf,” Maddoc said and the females fawned and crooned over him.
Evelyn huffed in the background.
Clara smiled. “Prince Frederic, my betrothed,” Clara answered.
“You were to be mated?” Rowenna asked in alarm.
“Wedded. Yes, my moth...” she paused and corrected herself, “Queen Ada insisted on the joining as it was the most advantageous plan for our spheres.”
“Whose?” Rowenna asked, eyes steady on Clara's face and she felt heat rise on hers. She was ashamed anew.
“Hers. Their sphere was a grape-bearing one. It produced much wine. She wished to wield it solely.”
Rowenna leaned back in the great chair which dwarfed her frame. Clara waited, watching the ivory damask tent that had been erected over their dining area flap in the breeze from the sea, the smell something she would never tire of. Crisp and salty. Wondrous.
“She was attached to the cups?”
Clara nodded, shame from her experiences choking her.
“That must have been most difficult. To be promised to one such as he. And this one of the Band,” she looked at Matthew, “was there to save you at a most opportune moment?”
The blush flared back to life. “He was.”
Rowenna became silent, the sound of silverware clanking and goblets sipped the only sound save the surf.
“Let me tell you of your father.”
Clara sighed with pleasure. Finally she would tell her why it was Father had mated with this woman of the sea.
All eyes were upon Rowenna and she began...
*
Rowenna arrived at the meeting place. Her heart like a caged bird in her chest.
It had always been thus. The Travelers would come. Her clan would receive instructions and they would follow those for a time. Until the next rendezvous. Rowenna had been asked for specifically. Of course, she had been meant to meet here at this preordained time when she was but five years. The Traveler who was messenger had told her parents that when she reached ten and five years she would meet at this exact spot, where the air was thin and given the instructions.
Rowenna was scared. She was told to come alone but Father had sent one Band, who hid in the forest amongst the trees. She breathed deeply and began to calm herself when she saw the air ripple but three horse lengths from where she stood. A bend appeared and two figures folded out of the ripple, as fabric being turned inside out.
They seemed in pain and one brought a small vial from his pocket and punched a sharp end into his companion and a hissing sound could be heard.
Rowenna watched as he built himself up before her, his cheeks losing their ashen color, his breathing quieting. He turned and punctured his companion in a similar fashion, his companion wincing as it pierced his flesh. When they were in command of themselves they turned to look at her.
She wished to run. These strange men did not seem as her clan, they wore odd garments that appeared constraining and strange, their hair and manner different.
She tensed for flight as the one who was taller said, “Rowenna.”
“It is I,” she replied, straightening her spine. She was afraid of no man. She was a female of the Band. She would not run like a coward.
He approached and she stayed the course, her heart slamming into her ribcage.
She could feel her Bandmate's eyes a comforting weight upon her.
“Don't be afraid, Rowenna. You knew this day would come, that you'd be important to us. Your future descendent's survival depends on your cooperation with our plan. My name's Joe.”
“Joe?” she asked. Did he mean Joseph?
“And the com
panion by your side?”
“Gary.”
What ridiculous names were these?
“Why do the pair of you travel here? I was instructed it would be one male, nary two.”
Joe looked at Gary. “I think it'll be easier if you speak with her. Remember, circa 1890.”
“What say you?” Their diction grated on Rowenna's ears as crushed glass; strange, harsh and slurred together.
Gary came forward. “I am the translator for my people. I will propose these negotiations in a way that you may understand.”
Rowenna nodded, that was much easier. Why did the other male not understand how to enunciate? No matter.
She listened.
He outlined their endeavor and it was a lead weight upon her heart.
“I will have to give up this child of my body to be raised by another woman? A sphere-dweller?”
“Is that what they call the people in the bio-spheres?” Joe asked.
Gary nodded. “That's what our Intel says. Of course, we're trying for a light footprint here Joe. As it is, we're in this mess because of how things were handled one hundred forty years ago. Now we're cleaning up our ancestors' mishandling.” He sighed, raking a hand through his hair as Rowenna stared at him in puzzlement.
“What are those strange things you say?”
“It is called slang.”
“What does this 'slang' mean?”
“It is a phrase that is not literal in its meaning, but abstract.”
“Why not speak plainly, so that all may understand?”
Gary translated, “I do not know. It is the way we have spoken for many years past.”
Joe looked at him. “This is like a History lesson.”
Gary smiled then turned to Rowenna. “You understand what it is we need from you? That your unique genetics are key to the diversity of the future?”
She nodded but restated. “You desire savage blood into perpetuity. That, I do understand. Why must I mate with a sphere-dweller? Why not with a clan that is not my own?”
Gary and Joe looked at each other and Gary said, “There has been a great disservice done to the future people. The Travelers from before made two separate peoples. They inadvertently caused an unnatural imbalance in the procreation that now must be corrected.”
The SAVAGE Series, Books 1-3: The Pearl Savage, The Savage Blood and The Savage Principle Page 40
