1.5 - Destiny Unchosen (4 page)

Another high-pitched roar emanated from the forest.

“Definitely not a mile away.” Temi rested her hand on the back of the door, somewhat reassured by the solidness of the wood. There was no lock, she had found, but the latch was sturdy. The wise thing to do would be to wait inside the tree, in case that protective border the elves had mentioned wasn’t quite as protective as they thought.

A scream penetrated her tree home, and she jerked her head up. That was different from the other cries. It had sounded human. Or maybe elven. Was someone out there? Being hunted? Eleriss? What if he had come back to check on her and had run into trouble? She had been worried that Jakatra thought little of her ability to learn swordsmanship. What would he think if he found his comrade dead and horribly mauled on her doorstep? He would know she had done nothing to stop it.

Temi chewed on her lip, wishing the elves had told her more about this world, about these predators.

The scream came again. Male or female, she couldn’t tell, but it definitely sounded like a person. And that person was terrified.

Temi looked down at the glowing sword. “If you can kill monsters on Earth, I hope that means you can kill rabid wolves here.” She further hoped the wolves, or whatever was out there, would oblige by attacking in a manner that matched up with the blocks she had been taught, because she wasn’t ready for extemporizing.

Taking a deep breath, Temi unlatched the door. The lights in the meadow had turned off, and darkness smothered the forest. The cries of the predators came again, from somewhere on the other side of her meadow. Maybe it was her imagination, but those cries seemed more eager than before, closer to the kill.

Temi stalked into the meadow, clutching the sword in front of her like a shield, trying to spot movement in the undergrowth. She had no idea how to track anything in the woods, especially at night. She needed a sign to guide her.

The sign came sooner than she expected. Two hulking black figures ran out of the shadows on two legs. They were bear-sized and shaggy, with clawed digits that reminded her more of hands than paws. Animal-like snouts lifted, sniffing the air, and then the creatures charged in her direction. Their gleaming yellow eyes burned into her soul.

There was no sign of the person Temi had come out to help. The screams had stopped. Was she too late?

As the shaggy animals raced across the meadow at her, she thought of sprinting back to the tree house and slamming the door, hoping it was enough to protect her, but they were less than twenty meters away and closing the distance quickly. She couldn’t outrun them, couldn’t make it back in time. She would have to stand her ground.

She lifted the sword, bringing it back over her shoulder so she could whip it toward them, rotating her body into the attack. She had no idea if that was the right technique, but Jakatra hadn’t gotten around to attacks yet.

“Bastard,” she muttered, sinking down, feeling the support of the earth beneath her feet, readying herself to meet the assault.

Temi was a heartbeat from swinging when the two creatures split and veered in opposite directions, breaking around her like a river around a boulder. Afraid they intended to surround her, she ran forward and whirled, so she could keep both of them within sight. But they didn’t turn back toward her. They sped across the meadow and ran into the forest. She thought she caught the gleam of something tiny glowing high up on one’s back, but the trees soon hid the creatures from sight.

She turned again, remembering the distressed cry and intending to try to find the person. But a lean dark figure was walking toward her, this one far less shaggy than the animals. A hand waved, and the lights around the meadow turned on. Jakatra.

Temi glanced in the direction the animal with the glowing something-or-other had gone. Its placement reminded her of the microchips dogs received. Could that have been some kind of chip? Embedded to control the creatures?

She lowered the sword when Jakatra stopped in front of her.

“A test?” she asked.

“A test,” he agreed.

She didn’t know whether to feel annoyed or flabbergasted, or both, but she waited in silence for his assessment. Had she passed? Or had she been too slow? Had she waited too long to come outside and help that person—a person who presumably didn’t exist or who had been part of the hoax? Or maybe she should have taken the attack to the creatures, rushing and striking at them instead of waiting for them to come to her.

“It is over,” Jakatra said brusquely. He sounded more annoyed than usual. “Return to sleep.”

Temi gaped at him. Oh, sure. Like it would be so easy to go back to sleep now. And what the hell? He wasn’t even going to tell her if she had passed? Or what exactly the scenario had been designed to test?

“Wait,” she blurted when he turned away.

Jakatra didn’t say a word, but he faced her again.

“What was I supposed to do? Did I pass?” She hated that she sounded like a school kid, asking if she had done well enough to go out to recess, but after being jerked out of her bed in the middle of the night and terrified half to death, didn’t she have a right to know?

A long moment passed as Jakatra stared at her. Just when she was certain he wouldn’t answer, he said, “You passed.”

What? If she had passed, why was he so irritated?

Temi had no sooner had the thought than the answer came to her. Oh. “You didn’t want me to, did you?”

“No.”

Well. He was a bastard, but he was an honest bastard.

“You wanted the Greek guy,” Temi said, thinking of the ancient warrior who had been uncovered and revived in that cave, only to escape before the elves could talk him into helping.

“I wanted no one,” Jakatra said coolly. “
This
—” he gestured at her, or maybe the sword, “—is a pointless use of my time and talents. I care nothing for a people that are intelligent enough to realize their species has overshot the carrying capacity of their world but too selfish and lazy to do anything about it. Your entire race is going to be extinct within a century, and you’re taking the rest of the species on your planet with you. Helping you stop a few predators right now... it’s meaningless. What will it matter in the end? What Eleriss thinks this can possibly accomplish, I cannot begin to guess.”

“Hey, don’t hold back for my sake,” Temi said, stunned by his vitriol. “Say what you really feel.”

He frowned, probably not understanding the sarcasm, but had a response anyway. “That is how
most
of the galaxy feels. Do you know why you’re not welcome here? Everyone is terrified that your people will figure out a way off your rock and do it all again.” He flexed a hand toward the stars. “Eleriss and those like him are optimistic fools.”

“Then why are you taking orders from him?”

Jakatra’s eyes chilled a few degrees. “They are not orders. My family has worked with his for many generations.
Most
of them are great scholars, worthy colleagues. But Eleriss is young. Foolish.”

Temi didn’t know what to say about the insult, about
any
of his insults. Delia or Simon would have a smart response. She sighed with disappointment at herself.

“Return to your rest,” Jakatra said and started to leave once again.

“No,” Temi blurted before she could think better of it.

“What?”

“I’ve slept long enough. If you’re out here thinking up tests for me, you’ve obviously slept long enough too.” She waved the sword. His dismissal of her pissed her off; his dismissal of all of humanity pissed her off too. She wanted to show him he was wrong. The only way she could. “Let’s get back to training.”

Temi expected him to scoff and walk away. His long assessing stare made her uncomfortable, but she forced herself to meet that cool gaze.

“You promised Eleriss to work with me for a week, right? I want my entire week.”

“If that is your wish,” he said softly.

Something about his tone, or maybe the dark glint in his eyes, made her think he planned to make her regret her decision. So be it. It wouldn’t be the first thing in life she regretted.

Temi was sure there had been another time in her life when she had been this tired, but she couldn’t remember it. Though she wanted to, she couldn’t muster the strength to try another series of attacks on Jakatra. That morning, he had shown her how to use the curved blade of her sword, as well as the serrated teeth on the back side, and he had insisted she repeat the moves over and over again, as she had done with the parries. They had begun sparring then, exchanging blows like real fighters, but it was hours later now, and she could barely lift her blade to ward off his attacks. Even that was becoming harder, with her legs quivering like Jell-O.

Her stomach was growling, and she desperately needed a break, but how could she ask for one after demanding Jakatra stay up half the night training her? If he was tired, it didn’t show up in
his
moves. And
he
had no trouble mounting attacks.

After knocking her onto her ass for the five hundredth time that day, Jakatra backed away and raised a hand, his signal to stop. Maybe he had been reading her thoughts. Or maybe he could simply tell she was about to fall over. Or throw up. Or fall over while throwing up.

“You are making progress,” came a voice from the side of the meadow.

Temi was too tired to twitch in surprise. Eleriss stood there, wearing loose beiges and browns instead of the black leather jacket and dark clothing she had always seen him in.

“Get water,” Jakatra told Temi and walked toward Eleriss.

She held back a grimace. She wanted him to order her to fall into her hammock and sleep for twenty hours, not simply to have a five-minute water break. Nonetheless, she staggered to the side of the meadow and flopped next to her water jug. She thought about heading into the tree house to find some of the semi-palatable, greenish-gray wafers she had eaten for breakfast, but she hadn’t seen Eleriss since the day before, since some call from his family had taken him away, and she wanted to know what had happened. And if it had to do with her.

“She passed your test last night?” Eleriss asked, looking at her and being polite enough to speak in English.

“Yes,” Jakatra said. He still didn’t sound happy about it, but at this point, Temi expected all of his responses to sound grumpy. If there was something in the world, this one or another one, that pleased him, she couldn’t guess what it might be.

“Excellent.” Eleriss smiled, as unfazed as always with Jakatra’s surliness. “She is clearly tired, but she appears farther along than I dared hope. On that last riposte, she almost hit you.”

Had she? Everything was a blur. Temi hardly remembered any of the individual encounters.

“She did not,” Jakatra said stiffly.

Eleriss’s smile grew wider. “I have eyes, my friend.”

“Many inches parted us. I was in no danger of being struck.” Jakatra switched to his own language then, asking a question, it sounded like, and Eleriss responded in his own tongue as well.

Temi pushed herself to her feet and did her best not to wobble as she headed to the tree to retrieve one of those wafers. They had a vegetable-like taste but had protein and fat in them, as well, she believed, since they stuck with her longer than she would have expected, especially given all the work she was doing. This world’s equivalent of an energy bar. Inside, she sank down on a cushion for a moment, wiping her sweat with a towel, and relaxing, out of sight of the elves, for a moment. The night before, she had discovered a washing device in the kitchen that reminded her of the hand showers in Europe. At least it had given her a chance to bathe, though the effects had long since worn off.

The food gave her some fresh energy, and she wandered back outside to find the elves still talking. They stopped when she approached, and Eleriss looked at her.

“Jakatra says you are progressing marvelously.”

“Somehow I doubt that was the word he used,” Temi said. “Even allowing for a very loose translation.”

“I told him your footwork is passable,” Jakatra told her. Yes, that sounded more like him. Actually, it was the biggest sign of approval she’d received from him. Maybe he felt coerced to make the statement because of Eleriss’s presence.

“You said it was
surprisingly
passable given how few hours she’s trained,” Eleriss said.

Jakatra stretched his fingers in some gesture of dismissal. Or maybe it was an announcement that he was done with the argument.

Eleriss nodded to Temi. “I thought it might be the case when I read about your sport. With the stick and the ball. Sports can be a good way to learn coordination and balance.”

Temi tried not to feel like he was talking down to her. She didn’t want to offend her only cheerleader here. “Yes, I’ve heard that.”

“It is likely that you’ll be able to continue your training for a few days more,” Eleriss said.

“Nobody’s found out I’m here yet?”

“Correct. My own long absences from the family have been questioned, but that is for me to worry about.”

“Nobody’s missed Jakatra?” Temi asked. He had been gone as long as Eleriss, and he was spending all of this time with her. What if someone came looking for
him
? And what happened if someone who wasn’t a part of this little help-the-humans program found her anyway? Jakatra’s rant from the night before made her wonder if she might be in danger of more than deportation.

“My presence is not requested at political or social gatherings.” Jakatra flicked a hand toward Eleriss. Implying his was?

“Oh? Are you grumpy around your own people too?”

Jakatra gave her a grumpy look for a response.

“Artemis, let us talk a moment.” Eleriss headed toward the trees and waved for her to follow.

Jakatra frowned but turned his back and propped his hands on his hips. For some reason, Temi hesitated, reluctant to go off and have a private conversation without him. It wasn’t as if these last twenty-four hours had caused them to form some lasting coach-student bond—that hadn’t gone well for her last coach, and she’d be loath to inflict it on anyone else, species regardless—but at the same time, she found herself reluctant to speak about him behind his back. Maybe Eleriss wouldn’t have that in mind.