Lovers in the Woods (34 page)

“They heard me. Felt…what I felt.”

“He is delirious,” Ranien muttered under his
breath and Rayenne just shook her head, too stressed to bother with
words.

They hurried to the exit. A frightened
guard ran past them, never sparing as much as a glance at them. He
slung his gun across his shoulder, his steps getting faster when he
saw light through the open door. The door fell back, but would not
close, awkward in its frame.

Ranien and Rayenne carried the limping
Sajitar toward the garden. Though it was morning by now, the
shadows made it look like late afternoon. Rayenne frowned and
looked up. Her breath caught in her lungs and her heart skipped a
beat.

A flock of the largest Horlyns she had
ever seen surrounded Sananda’s territory, poking the shield with
their front legs, hammering their heads against the invisible
barrier to get through. Bathed in sunlight, their bodies shone in
different shades of purple, blinding the eye. Their legs were black
and thick as trunks. Anyone who got a glimpse turned tail and ran,
screaming, forgetting about defense or how beautiful these aliens
were. They were shocked to the bone and fled in mindless
fear.

So far the construction hindered the
Horlyns from roaming the area. One, then two of them pressed hard
enough to shake the invisible wall and cause the rumbling of an
earthquake, but the largest part of the flock was still trying to
figure out how to get in. All of them hammered at the shield with
all their weight, tweeting furiously. Rayenne wanted to cover her
ears. The noise was deafening and the air compressed due to the
alien attack.

“
They don’t know about the exits!” Rayenne
shouted over the clamor. She wanted to stay and watch, fascinated
by the plain show of brute force, but she feared Sananda would
search for her precious former lover. “Run, Ranien, run! Show us
the way!”

“They’ll smash us if we get between their
legs!”

“No.” Sajitar put his head back and closed
his eyes while his legs moved on. “Listen, damn it,” he
murmured.

Rayenne looked for a sign that the Horlyns
understood, but they acted in frenzy, hammering, poking, and
ramming against the invisible fence. Their numbers were swelling.
They formed a wall, two rows thick, forcing forward whatever the
hindrances. Wherever they hammered, the roofs beneath shook with
the impact.

“Is there a way to cut off energy for the
shield?” Rayenne cried over the ruckus.

“Only from the inside! Down in the main
wing!”

Rayenne freed herself from Sajitar.

“I’ll go and find it. You stay with
Saji!”

“No way!” Ranien helped Sajitar to a group of
purple bushes that were thick enough to shield his body from
splinters and other objects. “Wait here! I’ll help your lady.”

“
It’s too risky,” Sajitar replied, but
Rayenne had already turned and Ranien followed her back to the
palace. Guards and servants, some in clothes, some not, fled the
building, terrified. Some fell on the ground while some ran around
like ants missing a scent to lead them. The guards fired at the
Horlyns without understanding that if the Horlyns could not get in,
bullets would not get out. Somewhere the missiles ricocheted back
down, hitting innocent girls who ran screaming for
cover.

Rayenne expected to see Sananda on the way
in, but she only collided with servants and other workers streaming
out of the building. The terror on their faces was always the
same—a glimpse at the attackers was enough to make them scream and
fear for their lives.

Ranien manhandled a guard who blocked the
way. Out of the corner of her eyes Rayenne saw the guard grunt and
fall, and the weapon suddenly appeared in Ranien’s hands. She had
no time to marvel at his abilities, but pushed on, evading escapees
and reaching for the door to press through. Dust was thick in the
air. Again, the ground shook, forcing her to regain her
balance.

“Which way?” she shouted over the clamor.

“Right!” Ranien elbowed his way through the
people and overtook Rayenne at the next crossroad. A quick second
of orientation later, he was running flat to the center of the
building to ram the butt of the gun against the thick wood. The
door flung open and he was inside. “You know if we cut the energy,
the Horlyns will trample the buildings flat like pancakes!”

“They’ll break the shield sooner or later.
Maybe—”

A club hit her shoulder and she cried
out.

“You bitch!” Sananda screamed at top of her
lungs. “You miserable, lying bitch!”

Rayenne brought up her left arm to deflect
the second blow, turned her hand to take the club from the other
woman’s hands and was up on her feet again. Sananda’s face was a
mask of fury. All reason had fled her. The club hit ground, but she
was on Rayenne already, groping for her face.

“You’ll pay for this, police slut!”

Rayenne swung backwards, evading Sananda,
then pulling the woman by her right arm, using the velocity of her
own momentum to fling her against the door. Sananda hit her face
hard enough to stumble. Rayenne ended her misery with a knock-out
blow against her temple.

“Did you find what we need?”

Ranien lifted his arms, looking around
helplessly.

“I don’t have the slightest idea! I’m a
gardener, not a scientist!”

“Great!” Rayenne made sure Sananda would not
fall into her back when she turned before she surveyed the
display.

Outside, the hammering of the Horlyns turned
frantic like a heartbeat getting erratic. The last throng of guards
ran through the corridor, never even looking through the collapsed
door.

“Where does the energy come from?”

“She said that it flows directly from the
soil.”

“An underground source. Clever. But she has
to transport it up here somehow.” She checked around the room until
she found a bundle of cables leading to the main board. “Got a
knife?”

Ranien produced one, and Rayenne did not even
shake her head wondering how he had gotten a knife in the
fight.

“Thank you.”

“Beware that every kind of energy heals and
hurts.”

“No time for lecturing.” She took a deep
breath and cut through the cable with one hard stroke. She expected
a flow directly into her arm, but aside from a prickle and numbness
in her fingers she remained unhurt. “Did it work?”

Ranien inclined his head, brows furrowed.

“
There are fewer lights up here and—wait a
moment. The lights are out. Well, I think, you did it.”

Rayenne clambered from under the board,
handed back the knife and was about to urge Ranien to leave when
the roof caved in. She ducked instinctively.

“Out! Now!” She pushed Ranien through the
doorframe and both fell flat on the ground. Behind them, the room
was filled with thick dust and large splinters. She coughed.
“Hurry!” She helped him up and together they hastened back to one
of the exits.

Roofs collapsed around them and the angry
tweeting of the Horlyns intensified with every hard stroke. Now
that they had broken through, nothing was there to hold them at
bay. With strength that could cut trees if they wished, the Horlyns
forked through roofs and walls and destroyed whatever got in their
way. They were giants invading the territory of dwarves.

Rayenne did not look back, but kept her
eyes fixed on the door ahead, and when she pushed through Ranien
followed on her heels. Both looked at the sky. The Horlyns had
spread through the estate, inspecting the rooms from the outside,
pushing aside broken timber and searching for people still inside.
Rayenne turned right to find Sajitar standing beside the bushes,
hands on his hips, as he watched the orgy of destruction. The
female Horlyn, the surgeon, as Sajitar called her, stood beside
him, gently poking his face and chest with its antennae. The softer
sounds indicated that she wanted to know about his state of
health.

Rayenne embraced him, almost bringing him
down, too relieved for words.

“Looks like you’re glad to see me,” he
whispered in her ear and held her fast.

She nodded, close to tears.

“You’re safe, that’s all I ask for.” She
looked over her shoulder. “And your alien friend seemed to be
happy, too.”

“She got the memo in time.”

“You’re—”

“I know.” He kissed her tenderly while the
Horlyn’s inspection stretched to Rayenne, but she did not feel the
antennae on her back and head. She closed her eyes and let emotion
carry her.

“Ray!” Ranien tapped her shoulder. “Ray,
look! There’s someone shouting for you!”

“For me?” Rayenne was unwilling to let
Sajitar go, afraid some wild shooter would take aim. Amid the
breaking buildings and the free roaming Horlyns there was still a
chance that a stray bullet would get him. “Who is it?”

“I can’t say, but they’re shouting for you.
Over there!”

Rayenne turned and did not believe her
eyes. With Horlyns left and right and people fleeing the scene as
far as they could, two men limped in her direction, smiling and
waving.

“Dad? Rodandolin? How did you get here? Are
you all right?” She ran before knowing that her legs moved and
cried amid laughing when she embraced them. “How is this possible?
I thought you’d be left in the city.”

“Not for long.” Her father held her fast,
kissing her hair and stroking her back. He looked haggard, with
deep lines he had not had before, but his smile washed them away.
His clothes were torn and she glimpsed cuts and bruises beneath.
“They took us here and said we’d be dead if you didn’t come. But
you’re here! I can’t say how glad I am to have found you.”

“I’m happy, too,” Rodandolin said and claimed
her from her father’s arm. “Hey, little sister, found an adventure?
Something to shout about?” He held her tight against his broad
chest. “Doesn’t matter. It’s so good to have you back. There’s so
much to tell.”

“Let’s start with these young men over
there,” Ray’s father said. “Who are they?”

“
Yes, and who is the one who looks like a
Horlyn tamer? I really need a word with him about these beasts. My,
they made a show! Looks like they won’t leave one plank on the
other!”

Rayenne beamed with happiness as she took her
father and brother to introduce Sajitar and Ranien.

“
Free at last,” she said. “I’m sorry to
have disappointed you, Saji, but I had no choice. I couldn’t risk
their lives if there was a chance to save you all.”

“And you did.” Sajitar kissed her. “Only
forgiven if you keep me out of jail.”

“Promise.” She laughed. “I doubt that Sananda
is still alive. And without her, the gang will vanish.”

“Wow, that’s more than just one good story,”
Rodandolin exclaimed. “I guess I need some Kaniza to go with it.
Now, would you mind leaving this place of destruction?”

Rayenne looked up to Sajitar to find him
absorbed in some unspoken dialogue with the Horlyn that appeared to
be trying to understand the reunion scene.

“Hey, are you okay? What’s she telling
you?”

“They won’t harm the people. They’ll leave
soon. And I told them that we are grateful they showed up.”

“Yeah, we are.” Rayenne felt the stupid urge
to go and stroke the Horlyn’s antenna, but held tight to Sajitar’s
arm instead. “Shall we fetch our B-horses?”

“Oh, yes, I can’t wait to see the big
city.”

“Liar.”

Chapter
Fifteen

It
was
easier to convince the judge that the
case against Sananda Wang could be finished without Sajitar Haju
than to find a way for Ranien to meet his brother. The Horlyns had
already left the open range for the woods once more, and not even
Sajitar had been able to convince them to take Ranien
along.

“
I will travel by B-horse then,” Ranien
announced, and patted the neck of the mare he had bought the day
before. “It will take time, but, hey, I have all the time in the
world. And with your description I might even make it in less than
two moon phases.”

Rayenne linked arms with him and pulled him
away from Sajitar and her father.

“Tell me, Ranien, where did you learn to
fight?”

“I didn’t fight.”

“What would you call battling guards and
disarming them to shoot more precisely than they did?”

“I defended you.”

“Thank you. In earnest, how do you know so
much more than gardening?”

Ranien patted her hand and looked at the
B-horse that walked beside them.

“I have not always been a gardener.”

“You were…what? A shooter? A hired gun?”

He laughed.

“No, nothing like that.” He took a deep
breath, eyeing her. “You won’t let me go without an explanation,
right?”

“Right.”

“I learn by watching. I can adopt many moves
and imitate what people do. I observed the police forces in
training in Belson Park.”

“You shoot pretty damn well for someone who
just watched. Much better than Sananda’s guards.”

“
For our luck, yes.” He stared at the
ground before he asked, “Will you come with Sajitar to visit
Thannis and me?”

“Don’t ask if we want to stay in the village.
I’m not sure anymore what I want. Maybe Sajitar and I will travel
to some other worlds before we decide where to live. I haven’t
asked him yet what he wants.”

“Now that he’s free he’ll go with you
everywhere.”

“How do you know?”

“I am a man, Rayenne, I know how men think.
And by the way he looks at you, you could tell him to live on a
rural moon and he would follow.”

“I expected him to have more brain cells than
just the few to fall into the hands of a woman.”