Jake watched as Cal’as took a step back as he withdrew his handgun. He’d attached a small IR illuminator to its underside. He activated it, oriented the gun to the sky, and made small circles with his wrist.
“It’s a light that only our friends on the boat can see,” he explained, trying to get ahead of what he knew was coming.
“Your Jema friends?”
“Yep.” He nodded. “They have a piece of equipment that allows them to see this special light.”
“I see nothing.”
“That’s kind of the point.”
Jake took a knee in the coarse sand, keeping the gun up and going in circles. Cal’as sat down a few feet away, content to look up at the sky in the hopes of spotting the light.
“Your father said you had a promising future in the Hatwa host. What did that mean?”
Cal’as looked at him for a moment and then gave his head a slight shake. “Only that I am young for a bastelta. I was chosen but a few months ago. The Hatwa host has not been called upon for three seasons. Soon, we will march.”
“Called upon by the Kaerin?”
“Yes.”
“To go fight a war of their choosing? Against another clan that is as enslaved as you are?”
Cal’as snorted in derision. “Is it better to fight a war that you would choose for us? One that would see us destroyed by every other host the Kaerin could gather? Ask your imaginary Jema what happened when they chose that path.”
“I know their story well, and I’ve never met one who doesn’t think it was the right path, no matter the cost.”
“Were you a warrior on your world?” Cal’as asked. “You sound like some of the old men we have in our host. Those who have already fought their battles and lost their stomach for glory.”
Jake thought back to the final battle along the Mississippi River and could remember Audy’s words, describing some of the younger hotheads in the Strema host.
“As opposed to young men who have never stood in the blood spray of battle?”
Cal’as had the good sense not to pose as a veteran; he’d already admitted that he hadn’t yet fought for the Kaerin. “You are a warrior, then?”
“I am,” Jake admitted. “Though we call ourselves soldiers.”
“Yet you sound as if you do not enjoy battle? It is what a warrior does; it is who he is.”
“You’re right about that,” Jake answered. “It would be a lie for me to say I don’t enjoy it. To be honest, I’m not sure I like that part of me. If I had a choice, it’s something I would put behind me. Some fights, though, are worth having . . . worth finishing.”
“You have a choice.” Cal’as’ voice rose an octave. “Leave us be. Why bring your fight with the Kaerin to us?”
Jake regarded the young man, trying to put himself in Hatwa shoes. He was more convinced than ever that Cal’as had no intention of helping them, regardless of how his father might feel about it. The kid was wrapped up in hero worship for the Kaerin. Probably had been from birth. They might be able to change that; they might not.
“If your people aren’t willing to fight to be free, I won’t break a sweat leaving you all to your fate. Trust me on that. But the Kaerin started a fight with us, one they aren’t going to quit. Like I said, some fights are worth finishing.”
Cal’as snorted in answer.
“Besides, I hate bullies. These Kaerin dipshits need to be stopped.”
“What is a bully?”
The sound of Lupe splashing through the water stopped whatever he was about to say, which was probably for the best.
“Well?” he asked as soon as Lupe became visible.
“I reached them; they aren’t too far down the coast.” Lupe took a knee, catching his breath.
“And Audy?”
“He didn’t sound too happy.” Lupe was shaking his head.
“That it?”
“He said something about how some dogs aren’t worth the food they eat . . . never heard that one before. You?”
“Shit.”
“He meant you, didn’t he?”
Jake offered a smile. “Oh, yeah.” He was almost pleased that all of his English lessons with Audy had born fruit. Still, this was Audy’s show. He knew the drill; if he had to swallow his pride and stand there as Audy yelled at him, he’d do it.
They waited for another half hour before they all heard a gurgling rumble from out on the water. Cal’as came to his feet and peered out into the darkness, wondering at the strange sound. His companions stirred themselves but did not seem concerned.
“Relax. Those are our friends.” The outlander named Jakas, who smelled of shit, stood and began raking the invisible light in and out from the beach.
“How can you be certain?” he asked. The Kaerin boats that burned the fire stone and went against the wind made a strange sound as well, or so he’d been told. He had not yet had the opportunity to ride on one, but it would happen soon. The Hatwa host would board the Kaerin ships and travel to war, and he would be a leader among that host. Or would have been. These outlanders had thrown much of that into doubt.
Cal’as was convinced he could learn enough of these strangers and the returned Jema to pay for his father’s forgiveness for whatever he had done with this Hijala group. Between his debt to his father and the obedience he owed the Kaerin, this seemed to be his only path.
“Because you fuzz-nuts don’t have Evinrude outboards.” The reply held too many words he didn’t recognize. One thing was clear; Jakas did not like him, or his questions. The man seemed more like a Kaerin in his arrogance than any other man he’d ever met. Stranger still, the man claimed to serve a Jema.
“What is a—”
“Just stop!” Jakas shouted at him. “Just watch and learn, all right?”
He was a bastelta of the Hatwa, and this stranger took orders from a disgraced Jema. Who was he to speak to him this way?
The shorter of the two, Lew’pay, stood between them and shook his head at him. The tall warrior was challenging him, and he was a bastelta! The shorter man took him by the elbow and shook his head. “Easy there, amigo. You wouldn’t have a chance.”
He had no idea what “amigo” meant, but he didn’t like the way the man assumed he was not a worthy challenge. He was about to issue that challenge when the small box in the man’s other hand spoke in some strange tongue. He assumed it was the same language Lew’pay and Jakas spoke at times with each other.
Lew’pay replied into the box.
“That is your long-talk machine?”
Lew’pay regarded him for a moment and then nodded. “Yeah, it’s not a very good one. But it works.”
He was forgotten for a moment as Lew’pay said something to Jakas, who nodded and moved closer to the water’s edge, continuing to wave his strange weapon with the even stranger invisible light attached to it.
“That man has no right to speak to me in such a way.”
Lew’pay shook his head and then laughed at him. “That man could kill you before you knew you were in a fight. Trust me on this.”
“Take away his magical weapon; then we would see.”
Lew’pay smiled at him. “You know what? When we get where we’re going, you should challenge him.”
“I may do so,” he said, before remembering his father’s admonition to learn all he could from these strangers. “This is accepted among your people?”
“Oh, yeah.” Lew’pay nodded. “Besides, we could use some entertainment.”
The small inflatable appeared five minutes later with just Audy and Hyrika aboard, paddling to the shore. Jake continued waving the IR light until he was certain they could see the gap in the shore rocks for themselves. He pulled on the short rope that Audy threw him and waited as they stepped out into the shallow surf before he pulled the boat ashore.
Hyrika flashed him a rare smile as she walked past, towards Lupe and their hostage.
Audy stopped in front of him and just stared at him after noting the presence of
Cal’as standing fifteen feet away.
“Have you ever had a commander that you did listen to?”
“Look, I don’t think I deserve a medal or anything, but we learned a lot. Some of it’s important.”
“Such as?”
“I’ll fill you in later, but it’s good news. Right now, I need you to give me a good yell, chew me out. I’ll take it like a good boy; I promise.”
Audy did that strange Spock-looking thing with his eyebrow. “What is wrong with you?”
“Just trust me, Audy,” he said. “Our new friend needs to see the Jema in—”
He was flying back before Audy’s punch to his face registered. He landed on his ass in the sand, biting down on the Bullock family aggression response that was never far from his surface.
“In charge,” he said after spitting out some blood from a split lip.
Audy, whose back was to the others, smiled down at him. “I confess, I’m liking your plan more and more.”
“No need to be an asshole about it. Help me up.”
Audy pulled him to his feet. “Not that you didn’t deserve it, but why did I strike you?”
“Do you know what ‘chew out’ means?”
“I called an audible,” Audy deadpanned.
“OK, I suppose I deserved that.”
They spent ten minutes on the shore, catching Audy up on everything that had happened with A’tor, the Hatwa Gemendi, the Hijala, and finally with Cal’as—the blood hostage that A’tor had offered up.
“He used those words? Blood hostage?” Audy seemed more surprised about that than the existence of the Hijala.
“He did.”
“I think this A’tor is genuine.” Audy was nodding to himself. “He would not have used those words with his son present, if he were not.”
“Maybe, but the son is less than convinced. He seems to almost worship the Kaerin.”
Audy nodded slowly in agreement. “He is a warrior. How could he not?”
“I think he needs a demonstration,” Kyle said, pointing out to the sea. “He told us there would be a Kaerin patrol ship leaving the estate before the sun comes up, sailing west before looping back by nightfall, every morning.”
“What happened to staying under this radar you are always talking about?”
“We do it right, the Kaerin lose a boat and a crew. No one will see anything. We might gain a more cooperative hostage.”
Cal’as was too stunned to know what ruled his mind at the moment; confusion or awe. The remains of the Kaerin patrol boat was a smoking patch of floating debris and broken bodies. He couldn’t believe that these strange outlanders had just sat in the water, wallowing without sail or power from the small craft’s miraculous engines, and waited for the High Blood boat to close with them.
There’d been half a dozen Kaerin in battle dress on deck as the two ships bumped hulls. The Kaerin had already been alerted by the strange-looking craft and had stood ready, rifles at hand. Jakas and the Jema who commanded this party had come to their feet and brandished strange-looking long weapons of their own. The Jema Audrin’ochal in the stern, Jakas in the bow. They’d fired those incredible weapons in short bursts, each of which blew Kaerin backwards, dead before they hit the deck and in one case blown overboard. One Kaerin had leaped down from the pilot house amidships and was bringing his long rifle around at the female Jema who piloted their boat, when Lew’pay fired once from a powerful fowling gun that had nearly folded the High Blood in half.
Both Jakas and Audrin’ochal had crossed to the Kaerin boat and moved towards each other, firing single shots into the bodies they stepped over.
A remaining High Blood stuck his head out of the pilot’s house.
“Who dares this outrage?”
“I am Audrin’ochal of the Jema.” It had been a scream of defiance, of such power that any doubts Cal’as had as to who these people were, died as quickly as the Kaerin High Bloods had.
“You would speak false to me?” the Kaerin roared back as he stepped out onto the small ring of decking surrounding the raised pilot’s house. “Who are you?” The Kaerin bastelta carried his sword in hand and a sidearm on his belt.
Audy dropped his weapon on the deck of the boat and pulled his shirt open. From where he sat in the bow, he could clearly see the Jema eagle.
“I told you who I was, Kaerin.” Audrin’ochal pulled his own sword and waved the High Blood down. “Come and feel the truth of my words.”
“Audy?!” Jakas had come around the deck and was pointing his rifle at the Kaerin.
“Do not interfere!” the Jema bellowed. “On your honor, Jake. Let this be.”
“Jake?” Not Jakas . . . Cal’as looked again. The man held off on his fire but did not look happy about it.
The remaining Kaerin moved slowly down the narrow ladder, taking in the bodies of his crew and fellow High Bloods. He spared a quick look towards them and the strange boat they sat in before facing the Jema.
“I do not know where you came from, Jema, but know this; I may die today, but you will go before me.”
The Jema grinned in response. “Talk is cheap, Kaerin.”
For all that he understood the words, they sounded strange.
The Kaerin swung his long sword with the customary skill all the High Bloods seemed to be born with. Cal’as was sure the Jema would be cut in half, but the man moved back calmly, feinting to one side, and as soon as the Kaerin’s sword’s tip swept up to block, the Jema launched himself towards the High Blood.
Cal’as lost sight of the Jema’s blade until its point erupted out the back of the Kaerin. Audrin’ochal twisted his blade and ripped it free with a scream that echoed across the water. Cal’as thought the Jema was trying to be heard in Kaerus itself. He’d just seen something he knew to be impossible, forbidden to acknowledge. A subject, a Jema no less, had just killed a High Blood. With an ease that confused him. The anger he could understand; the outcome, though? This shouldn’t be.
The Kaerin was still alive when the Jema knelt to wipe the blood from his blade. He could not hear what the Jema said to the High Blood. When he came back to his feet, the Jema was holding the Kaerin’s long blade. He dropped his short blade onto the Kaerin’s chest, and without another word took two steps and launched himself across the gulf between the two ships.
The Jema woman driving the boat bowed to him, as did the other three Jema aboard. Cal’as glanced over at Lew’pay in the hopes he could explain what had just happened, but he was just nodding his head as if he, too, understood what had just occurred.
“Charges!” Jakas—Jake, he corrected himself, was still on the Kaerin boat and yelling at Lew’pay.
Several small packages were thrown across to the Kaerin’s ship. He watched as Jake did something to each of them before he tossed them down into the hold of the small ship. Jake ran forward and repeated the process in the bow. He came at a run and hurtled the distance into the boat. Audrin’ochal and two other Jema half caught him as the female Jema moved their craft away at a high speed.
He watched as Jake said something unheard to Audrin’ochal. He still didn’t look happy. He shook his head at the Jema’s reply as he withdrew a small device from his pocket. He wondered if this was some sort of long-talker as well, when the blast from the explosion ended all coherent thought. A few small pieces of the Kaerin patrol boat sailed overhead. Some pieces splashed down in the growing distance between the two boats.
The pilot of their craft slowed and turned them abeam to the wreckage. Nothing but pieces of smoking wood and a Kaerin uniform were visible. The water itself had an ill-smelling fog rising off its surface. He looked backwards towards Audrin’ochal, who had just looped the Kaerin’s long blade’s scabbard over his shoulder. The High Blood’s blade was nothing in the face of the weapons he had just seen these strange people use, yet somehow, its presence on the Jema’s shoulder weighed far more.
Jake collapsed into his seat as Hyrika turned the RHIB back out to sea. They’d wait to get
out of sight of land before looping back to the east and the small island that was their temporary home. Jake eyed Audy. The last thing he wanted to do was get in between Audy and whatever demon he’d just buried in the chest of the Kaerin officer. He knew it was the first Kaerin killed by a Jema since the clan had revolted, when Audy had been a child. They were Jema; shit like this would mean something. Setting his cynicism aside, even he could recognize the importance of what Audy had just done.
Audy turned to him, and saw him looking. His friend flashed him a thumbs-up.
“Do not be concerned, Jake. I am fine.”
“I know.”
The boat traveled on for almost a minute before Jake reached over and lightly punched Audy in the shoulder, to get his attention.
“Just so we’re clear, you aren’t planning to bare your breast and duel every Kaerin asshole we come up against?”
Audy shook his head, and then coughed a short laugh. “It needed to be done.” His friend added a quick smile. “Once.”
*
Chapter 18
Idaho, Earth
The Osprey had used the stolen fuel to good effect. They’d flown west from the ranch for nearly a hundred miles before turning north and crossing into the mountains of southwest Montana. Once there, Jennifer had bobbed and weaved the heavy assault craft through the canyons and between mountain passes on a northwest heading. By the time they were in Idaho airspace, they were amid the sawtooth range and well north of their destination. Both the twins had emptied their stomachs, and nearly everyone in the back of the aircraft, except Tom, damn him, looked green.
Britt knew she did as well. So far, she had managed to hold onto her lunch by sheer willpower. She knew she’d feel better once she, as Tom would have put it, “blew chunks,” but they were out of airbags, and she wasn’t about to give Tom the satisfaction.
After flying south for close to an hour, she felt the Osprey flare as it slowed.
“Anybody alive back there?” Jennifer’s voice from the cockpit, through the headset, almost sounded concerned.
New Shores: The Eden Chronicles - Book Three Page 25
