“Eat this, cabrón!” I shouted and squeezed my temples between fists as I threw searing bolts of lightning, like arrow strikes from an army of archers, against his head.
He lurched back and fell as though struck, which he was, and sprawled on the ground, his arms out-flung. If there were life left in him, I had to grab the stingler. My eyesight blurred to those warning flashes of red and a view as though through shimmering water. I reeled toward him, clutching my head. But I was moving sideways. My knees shook and wanted to give out. I willed them to carry me further.
He lifted his head. His hand closed on the stingler as he watched me approach. “I'll met you in hell,” he rasped.
“No!” I yelled and turned my back to him as he aimed. I closed my eyes and heard the snap of a hot beam. I waited for the death blow that would end my pain. When it didn't come, I opened my eyes.
The czar was on his back, unmoving. Smoke rose from his smoldering chest. I stumbled to him and kicked away the stingler. His eyes stared, unseeing.
I pressed my hands against my face and fell to my knees with a cry. The pain in my head seared like the singed flesh of electrical burns.
“Terran Julesh!” someone called from the cave entrance. “It is yo friend Briertrush.”
I squinted to try to focus. “Is that you?” I mumbled.
I watched him come out of the cave with my stingler in one floppy hand.
“Jules. Jules!” I felt Willa's hands bracing my shoulders.
But reality was my breath shuddering in my throat. I squeezed my fists against my temples.
“Daddy.”
Predatory claws prowled my brain. I wanted to smash my head against a tree. Anything to stop the searing brands behind my eyes. My stomach was nauseated from the pain. I gasped as flashes of red lightning tore paths in the ground.
“Daddy!” I felt her pull on my jacket.
“Help me, great Mind,” I whispered. “Help me to die.” Spirit! I cried softly within myself and rolled my head. I can't stand it! Let me die.
You are already dying, son of Terra.
Make it quick. Please!
Lie down.
OK. All right. I sobbed. I laid down on my stomach and moaned. It doesn't help!
“Jules,” I heard Willa say. “I'm going to the manta to call for help. Come with me, Lisa!”
Rest your head on the ground, Spirit sent. The ground will be cool on your face.
I did. It doesn't help. I can't take this! I pounded a fist on the dirt and tried to jump up. Something held me down. Are you doing that?
Yes.
There came a rumbling. The ground beneath me trembled. Through the red flashes I saw a wave burst from the mouth of the cave with a roar and overflow the river's banks.
I held my breath as silver fluid washed over me.
I did your work, Spirit. Help me.
Rest your head!
“OK!”
It will be over soon.
How soon?
Now, sleep, son of Terra. Let me heal you.
I lifted my head. I can't sleep, Spirit. I want to die. I gritted my teeth and tried to crawl away. To crawl out of this agony. Out of my body.
He held me there. It will be over soon!
Hurry!
There came a tingling that started at the back of my neck and spread through my body. It enveloped my forehead like gentle massaging fingers that doused the brands as though they'd been plunged into cold water. The claws dissolved.
Healing sleep, Spirit sent.
My muscles relaxed of their own volition. A blissful numbness settled over me. I sighed. Am I dead yet?
I felt him chuckle.
There came an image of a great amorphous being who drifted among a tapestry of wheeling galaxies that churned across the infinite.
“Great Mind,” I mumbled. The source, whose reflections were planets and life, reached out to me with arms of love. Take me. I closed my eyes and surrendered myself to sleep.
“Please, Daddy. Don't die!” Lisa's words came as through a tunnel.
I awoke with Lisa sitting on Briertrush's lap, and Willa beside him. My clothes felt dry. A slight headache lingered like a residue of that agony. I pressed my fingers carefully over my eyes and blinked up. The red flashes were gone. So was the intense feeling of nausea.
Lisa wiped tears from her eyes with the stuffed horse. “Are you OK now, Daddy?” Her voice was squeaky.
“I'm OK, baby,” I whispered. “Briertrush?” I rolled to my back and extended a hand up to him. “Help me up.”
He grasped my wrist and pulled me to a sitting position. I took Lisa into my arms and leaned my cheek on her head. “It's OK, Baby.” I looked around. “Where's – ?” The czar was gone. “Is he dead?” I asked Briertrush.
He nodded.
“Then where's his…”
He glanced at Lisa. “Ta czar sleeps inside his manta in thre hole.”
“Oh. Then he's really gone,” I said, more to myself, and looked at Willa.
She nodded.
“Briertrush.” I patted his knee. “You saved us all.”
He smiled that broad pumpkin smile. “Thre way yo save my people an' brought all home ta thre mountain.”
“I guess so.” I drew Lisa closer and kissed her head. “Willa. This is Briertrush.”
“Briertrush,” she said, and smiled at him. “Can I give you a kiss?”
His broad lower lip quivered. “Like Lisha do, all slobbery?”
Willa laughed and gave him a light kiss on his hoary cheek. “Thank you.” She sat next to me and I draped an arm around her shoulders and kissed her cheek. “C'mere, Briertrush.” I waved a hand at him.
He shook his head. “Terrans salivate strange.”
I chuckled. “Celebrate. Help me up, old friend?”
He lifted me to my feet and I brushed myself off. Where do you want these crystals, Spirit?
Return them to the earth where they will nourish life.
I picked up two sacks of crystals. Damn. They weighed. I went to the crack and threw them in. “You wanted the crystals,” I whispered, “you've got them, cabrón.”
Briertrush followed me with the other sacks held easily in his broad arms and dumped them into the crack.
“Lisa” I called, “let's see if you can close this hole. OK, baby?”
“I'm too tired, Daddy.” She lifted her arms to Willa and Willa picked her up.
“Lisha! Yo do thris thring for yo friend Briertrush?”
“Oh, all right.” She rubbed her eyes and pouted as she stared at the crack.
We all remained silent.
I think she was enjoying her moment of fame. “It's easy,” she said.
“Hang on,” I told the others quietly. “Get down.”
We got to our knees.
Lisa stared at the crack. I felt her power stir within my mind. The earth rumbled and shifted beneath us. Willa threw me a shocked look. I put up a hand. “Don't talk,” I whispered.
The crack shifted like a reverse earthquake. The two sides rumbled and grated together. Only a ragged line of raw earth within the sun-silvered field of native grass showed where it had been. In time, the grass, nature's forgiveness, would fill it in.
“Thanks, Lisa.” I tousled her blonde curls. Spirit? Did you send Briertrush to us?
I told you I would do what I could to help.
Yes, so you did. I chuckled. I was feeling stronger as the last vestiges of the nightmare dissipated.
“This location is our secret,” I told Willa.
She shook her head. “I tried to contact the medical center for an ambulance for you, but I think the link was broken.”
“Not broken,” I said. Spirit wants this location to be a secret. If word gets out, he might still decide that we Terrans aren't worth the trouble and – “
“My lips are as sealed as a lake in winter…Julesh.”
“Very funny, Willish.” I kissed the tip of her nose.
Lisa lay curled, asleep on t
he grass, worn out from the events of this harrowing day, and maybe from closing the hole.
“Go now I back ta my people.” Briertrush touched his neck, then my cheek. This time I didn't move away from the sticky healing fluid. I touched my dry neck, smiled, and touched his cheek. “Go with Great Mind, my good friend.”
His hairless brows furrowed. “Na ready I ta die.”
“It's a Terran expression, Brier. It means 'stay well'.”
“Well? Water. Well, OK good.” He shook his head. “Say grubye ta sleepshead Lisha fo me.”
“I will.”
“Nice ta mat yo,” he told Willa and extended two long fingers.
“What? Oh.” She shook them. “Nice to have met you too, Briertrush.”
He nodded, turned, and trotted back to the cave.
Willa watched him go. “You know, either you should learn Kubraen, or teach him Interstel.”
I draped an arm around her shoulders and smiled. “It wouldn't be nearly as much fun.”
Chapter Fifteen
Jules was lying asleep in my bed. Moonlight came through slits in the window shutters and striped his face. He looked so innocent and cute, but I was afraid to get into the bed beside him. After all, he was a man. I yawned and rubbed my eyes. I was sleepy too and my sofa is lumpy. I put on my flannel pajamas with the little colored horses romping around, some upside down.
Now, Willa, I thought, all you have to do is get into bed, close your eyes and go to sleep.
I crawled into the bed as quietly as I could and curled up with my back to him. I gently covered myself with some of the blanket. I don't know what felt better, the soft, warm mattress and pillow, or being so close to him. I could smell his scent. It was pleasant. I shivered from an excitement that started in my loins. I thought of my mare, Ginger. When she was in season she invited Galahad, the chestnut stallion, to mount her.
Go to sleep, Willa, and stop dreaming about what you'd rather be doing. At twenty-two years-old I was still a virgin. Most of the kids in Laurel were brought up pretty conservative. It wasn't that sex was a sin. It was more like there was a place for it, and that place was within a marriage. It made love more sacred in a way. But I didn't think that many of the single men and women in town were really still virgins. I think they just liked to say they were.
I turned halfway and ventured a glance at Jules. I wanted to touch his smooth cheek. To kiss his parted lips. To run my hand through his mop of blonde hair. I wanted his strong arms around my body…his – Go to sleep, Willa.
He stirred and said something in his sleep. Then he threw an arm around my shoulder and snuggled closer.
Oh, God. His body against mine felt so good.
“Al,” he mumbled and sighed. His hand was draped over my breast. I lifted his wrist with a thumb and forefinger and lowered his arm to my waist.
I was drifting off into that space just before sleep where images come out of a fantasy behind our eyes and nothing really makes sense. So when he kissed my cheek I thought it was just another wishful thought.
It wasn't.
“You cut your hair, Al,” he whispered, then sat up. “Willa?”
I turned toward him and pulled the covers up around my neck. “You were dreaming, Jules.”
“Oh. Sorry.” He rubbed his eyes. “I'll sleep on the couch.”
“It's lumpy.”
“What?” He looked down at himself.
“The couch. It's lumpy.”
“Oh.” He grinned. He was so cute when he grinned.
“I've slept on worse.”
“You can sleep here. It's a lot more comfortable.” I couldn't read his expression in the striped darkness.
“You sure?”
“Sure. I'm sure.” My heart did strange thumping things against my chest.
He laid back down with a sigh. “I should check on Lisa.”
“I just did. She's sleeping. She's curled up with the stuffed horse I made for her. Now she calls it Ginger.”
“The horse she's been riding?” He got up on an elbow. “I don't know how to thank you, Willa, for all you've done for Lisa.”
I could think of ways. I thought of Ginger and her invitation to the big stallion. Now, Willa, you're not a mare. “I enjoy having her at the ranch,” I told him. “You know, it gets kind of lonely around here sometimes an' I like kids.”
“Don't you have friends? You must have a boyfriend.”
“No. I mean, friends, yeah. I've got friends, but no boyfriend.”
He grinned. “How'd they let you get away?”
“I guess the right tag just never showed up.” Until now. Oh my God, he's a tel! “Do you…ah, always read everybody's thoughts all the time?”
He stared into my eyes. “That wouldn't be polite. We should probably get some sleep.” He laid back and sighed. “It'll be morning soon.”
“For some reason I'm not sleepy.”
He rolled his head to look at me. Did he consider that an invitation? This was all so new to me. I was glad for the darkness because my cheeks felt hot and I was sure they were flushed.
“You know,” he said softly, “you can release that death grip you've got on the blanket. It's not going to fly away.”
I realized I was holding the blanket tight against my chest. “Oh, yeah. It…it's just a habit.” I laughed and let it go.
“How old are you?” he asked.
“Twenty-two, going on twenty-three next month. You?”
“Twenty-six, I think. Going on ninety.”
We laughed.
'It's not the years, Willa, it's the experiences.”
“You've had a lot of them, huh?”
“Too many. I'd like to just settle down in some small town like Laurel.”
I turned to look at him. “What would you do here?”
“I'm an astrobiologist. There's plenty of work for me on Halcyon, but…”
I waited.
“Lisa has to go back to Earth. Her mother lives in Boulder, Colorado with Lisa's stepfather. Her grandparents too. You know where that is, maybe from World Systems in school?”
'Sure I know.” He made me feel like a kid. “She'll miss you.”
I saw tears glisten in his eyes. “I…I shouldn't have said that. It ain't none of my business.”
“It's OK.” He reached out and stroked my hair. “It's so silky.”
“I brush it a lot.” I tousled his hair. “It's so blonde.”
“I'm out in the sun a lot.”
“It's nice.”
“The sun?” He smiled and I was lost in that smile. ”You're teasing me.”
'Yeah. I'm sorry. I only tease people I like.”
“You make me feel like your kid sister.”
He shook his head. “Believe me, Willa, you're a woman now.”
“Oh? You noticed?”
He grinned. “It would be hard not to.”
I suddenly felt comfortable with this sweet man. I laughed and cuddled closer to him.
“Willa?”
“Yeah?”
“Don't do that unless you mean it.”
I drew back. Did I really have that much power as a woman? It was exciting and scary. “What…” I cleared my throat. “What if I mean it?”
“I think you're a virgin.”
“What gave me away?”
“Your innocence. I think we'd both better get some sleep now.”
Damn! Why did he have to be so honorable?
“Well…there's a first time for everything,” I said.
“Thing is, Willa, am I the right tag for the first time?”
Oh, was he ever. I ran my hand through his hair and kissed him lightly on his cheek. Then I felt giddy and scared as he turned and embraced me. The power of his body was suddenly frightening. I shivered as he rolled on top of me and lifted to his elbows. What had I started! He kissed me gently on my lips and my cheek. I felt my body relax under him. I put my arms around his back and ran them over the ripples of his muscles. I found pleasure in his stren
gth.
He pulled the blanket from between us, then chuckled.
“What's so funny?”
“Oh, all your little horses.” He unbuttoned my pajama top. “I always thought flannel was sexy.”
I lifted and he got the pajama top off me, then kissed my breast. “But this is sexier.”
“Oh, Jules.” I pushed him away.
“Don't tell me you changed your mind?”
'I'm, I'm just a little scared.”
He gently kissed my neck. “Me too. I never made love to a virgin. I didn't know there were any left.”
“Probably won't be in a little while.”
'I'd better lock the bedroom door,” he said. “Lisa – “
“I already locked it.”
“You – You're a vamp, woman.”
I shivered as he pressed me into the bed with his weight. There was a sensation in my loins that I can't describe. I never felt that way before, like I wanted him inside me. I helped him pull down my pajama bottom. The blanket slid off us and I realized he was naked. I wasn't surprised at what I saw. I'd seen Ginger and Galahad mate more than one spring season. My colt Puny was their son.
He kissed my cheek, my lips, and then my breast. I arched my back against him and moved my legs apart.
He smiled down at me. “Will you love me in the morning?”
I laughed. If he only knew! I didn't have to wait till morning to know. I felt him press his penis against me. It hurt but I stayed quiet. I figured the first time would be a little painful. How does pain and pleasure get so mixed up together?
I knew he was climaxing, but I wasn't. It must have been hard for him to hold back and not push harder into me.
When it was over we lay cuddled together. I liked this part best. I took his hand and kissed it and knew that I loved him. But I wouldn't tell him that unless he said he loved me first. My lover was like a stallion: headstrong and proud and brave and beautiful, and no woman was going to hogtie him.
* * *
It was early afternoon when I heard him in the shower.
“Daddy's taking a shower,” Lisa said and went toward the bathroom.
“Wait, Lisa! Wait until Daddy comes out.”
“But I always take a shower with Daddy. He washes my hair for me.”
“You're not just fooling now, are you?”
Halcyon Nights (Star Sojourner Book 2) Page 24
