Priestess of the Eggstone (12 page)

Jerimon reappeared, grabbing my arm and pulling me towards the door. “You can play with your friend later,” he said as he slammed the door open on the howling wind and snow.

The cold air cleared my head most of the way. I had a buzzing in my ears from the blow. Jerimon dragged me through the snow. I could just see someone in front of him. I stumbled over white drifts and almost fell. Jerimon’s tight hold on my arm kept me on my feet.

My teeth chattered as we walked through dark, deserted streets filled with blowing ice and howling wind. We stumbled up a slippery flight of stairs and waited, shivering while the mysterious figure unlocked a door. Golden light flowed out into the night. We crossed the threshold into warmth.

“Stupid!” Jerimon rounded on me as soon as the door shut. “You could have been arrested. Only an idiot would pick a bar fight with someone like that.”

“I’m so glad you care, Jerimon,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. I tried to shake off his pinching grip.

“Let her go,” the new person said. She was the female counterpart of Jerimon. Lustrous black hair past her waist framed a face delicate in a sensuous way. She had the same thick, dark lashes framing eyes not skystone blue, but deep violet.

“I’ve wanted to smash in that pig’s face myself,” she continued, watching me as frankly as I watched her. She smiled suddenly, transforming her from merely striking to absolutely breath-catchingly beautiful. “My name’s Jasyn. Sit down and tell me what my brother’s done this time.”

Chapter Nine

I jerked my arm out of Jerimon’s hold and sat. I decided I liked his sister much better than I liked him. “Tell her all about it, Jerimon.” I couldn’t stop the bite in my voice. Most of our trouble was his fault. Jerimon had been barely civil to me since that day in the cargo bay. He was the one who had kissed me first, after I told him not to.

“How much is it going to cost me?” Jasyn set a steaming pot on the table. It smelled wonderful. She ladled the drink into cups.

Jerimon took a cup, sipping slowly. Jasyn sat, her own cup in her hands as she waited. I had the impression that she’d done it many times before. Jerimon finally cleared his throat, launching into the saga of his trouble with the Sessimoniss.

I watched Jasyn while he talked. She was tranquil, distant, but taking in every word. I wondered what kind of person hid behind her calmness. She would make a great card player. I watched, fascinated, as she stirred her cup and listened to her brother. She betrayed no hint of self-consciousness under my stare.

Jerimon grew more agitated as he talked. I sipped at the steaming drink as he mangled some facts. He finally finished.

The room was quiet except for the muffled howling of the wind. I glanced up to find Jerimon and Jasyn both watching me.

“Is he telling the truth?” Jasyn asked.

“Mostly.” He’d rearranged a few details, but had the basic problem straight. We had to find the Eggstone without attracting attention, especially from the Patrol. Grant Lowell might not be so nice if we tangled with him again.

“We need your help,” Jerimon whined, suddenly a large child in his sister’s presence. “We’ve got a ship, we could leave tonight.”

“I don’t think so.” Jasyn ran her finger around the rim of her cup. “You’d be lost before you crossed the street in that blizzard. It should let up in a day or two.”

“How is the snow going to stop us?” I asked.

“You’d get lost and freeze looking for your ship. Trust me on this,” she added at the disbelieving look Jerimon and I both gave her.

“It’s not that far,” I said.

“This storm’s been brewing for three days. We just might have been stranded in the bar if we’d waited any longer. With Luagin.” She pushed her hair over one shoulder, a shining wave of black silk. “Nevira has very strict laws against murder.”

“Well, if we can’t leave, nobody else can land.” Jerimon thumped his cup on the table.

“Just how are the Sessimoniss trailing you?” I rounded on Jerimon.

He jumped guiltily. “I don’t know. I swear I don’t, Dace.”

“Are they here? Now?” My knuckles tightened around the handle of the cup.

“I think I saw a ship, just barely in range of the scanners, before we landed that might have been them. Might, Dace. I couldn’t tell.”

“Why didn’t you say something?” I fought the urge to break his nose.

“What good would it have done? Our ship doesn’t have any weapons. It could have just been an ore freighter.”

“With your luck? I rather doubt it.”

“There isn’t anything we could have done. Besides, they can’t land in this blizzard so we should be safe.”

“Until the storm ends. Maybe. And that’s a big maybe, Jerimon.” I shifted in my chair to face Jasyn. “Will you help us? You can see how incompetent your brother is.”

Jerimon sputtered.

She dropped her gaze, veiling her lavender eyes behind thick lashes. “He’s very competent at getting into trouble. I have to admit I miss space. This does sound intriguing.”

“It’s dangerous, Jasyn,” Jerimon argued.

I turned on him. “It was your idea to get her help. Now you’re trying to convince her not to?”

“Normal for him, Dace.” Jasyn rested one elegant finger on her cup. “I don’t suppose you are paying anything for this?”

I shrugged. “Does that mean you’ll help?”

“Jasyn, you can’t get mixed up in this.”

“You asked me, Jerimon. I’m a bit tired of bars anyway. Where are we headed?”

Jerimon made a few strangled attempts to talk before slumping in defeat. “Herifon,” he said, running his hands through his hair. “There’s a man by the name of Buzzer who deals in weird things.”

And stolen things, I added to myself as I wondered just how Jerimon, who quoted law at me, would know how to contact such a person. How much of his speeches on the ship had been posturing?

Jasyn studied us both in turn. “We’ve got a few days. Is your ship ready to go?”

“Plenty of food and fuel. We can go as soon as you say the weather will let us.” I didn’t understand how mere snow could stop us, but Jasyn knew this planet and I didn’t. I’d trust her until she gave me a reason not to.

“I’ve got a spare bed in the back room, you can have that. Jerimon can have the couch.”

I squirmed in embarrassment. I hadn’t planned on staying here long. Everything was still on the ship.

Jasyn seemed to read my mind. She smiled. “Jerimon has some spare clothes he left here last time and I’ve got some things that you can borrow.”

“You’re serious about us not making it to the ship, aren’t you?”

“Very.”

Jerimon shoved his chair away from the table. “I’ll go set things up. I know where they are, unless you’ve moved them.”

“Still in the same places.” Jasyn watched her brother leave the small kitchen. “It’s going to get crowded in here.”

“It’s four times the size of the cabin on the ship. Just this room.” I stirred the cooling liquid in my mug.

“You’re not kidding, are you?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

“How long have you been on this ship with my brother?”

I counted back. “Less than three weeks,” I answered, a bit surprised. It felt much longer.

“How many times did he try to kiss you?”

My face flushed.

Jasyn laughed. “It’s his standard way of dealing with any woman under the age of sixty. You didn’t let him, did you? Must have been quite the blow to his ego. He’s not used to women rejecting him.”

“He’s very attractive, I’ll admit that.” Jasyn was very easy to talk to, like the sister I used to imagine I had. “But after the mess he got us in, I was too mad to notice. It wasn’t exactly good timing on his part.”

“His timing has never been very good.” She stood from the table, banging pots and pans on the stove as she cooked. The smell of unfamiliar spices filled the air.

“Are you sure you want to just drop everything and help us?” I asked after a moment.

Jasyn paused, spoon poised over a pot. “There’s nothing here I’ll miss much. I’ve got a friend who woud love to move in. I’ll call her in the morning. I’ve missed traveling.”

“Do you mind me asking why you’re here, working in a bar? Jerimon said you were a certified navigator. There’s enough demand you shouldn’t have had a hard time finding a job.”

“That wasn’t the problem. It was finding a captain who didn’t think the job involved his bunk. I finally got tired of it. Lily didn’t expect me to flirt with the customers, so I hired on at her bar. There were still the occasional hassles, like Luagin.” She stirred the pot. “What about you? Somehow I don’t picture you as one of Belliff’s button pushers. They have an office downtown. All of their pilots seem cut from the same sheet of plascrete.”

“I was desperate and talked them into hiring me. They needed someone naïve to front their smuggling operations. We turned in the evidence as soon as we realized what they were doing. Belliff won’t be around much longer.”

“So you really do work for the Patrol like Jerimon hinted.”

“No, I don’t work for them and never will. I want to own my own ship. I’m registered with the Independent Traders Guild, at least I was. I had my own trading ship not long ago.”

“What happened?”

“I hired an idiot crew who blew it up for me. Working for Belliff was a way to eventually buy my own ship again, at least it was supposed to be. It wasn’t supposed to involve smuggling and eight foot lizards.”

“Are you looking for a partner?”

“Are you offering?” She caught me off guard. Could I trust her enough to be her partner? I barely knew her.

“Maybe, let’s take care of the lizards first.”

“And find a ship and the rest of it.” No one would loan us the money for a ship, not after this mess. If we weren’t arrested before it was over.

“You’ve got a ship,” Jasyn pointed out.

“Technically it isn’t mine. It’s Belliff’s.”

“But if you did have a ship, would you consider going into partnership with me?” She stirred her pot, her hair hiding her face.

My dream was to own my own ship, to fly wherever the stars took me, since I was old enough to understand what stars were. My own ship, my own life, going where I wanted and doing it the way I wanted. I wondered if Jasyn knew how badly I wanted it. I wondered if she knew what she offered.

“Maybe it’s too soon.” She hesitated. “It’s just the thought of traveling with someone who understands, who won’t, you know.”

“Do you have any spare blankets?” Jerimon poked his head into the kitchen.

“In the back of the closet.” She pointed. “Would you stir this while I help him?”

I nodded, crossing the shabby kitchen to the stove.

Jerimon crowded behind me, sniffing. “What is it?”

“Chicken noodle,” Jasyn answered as she handed me the spoon. She missed my grimace.

Jerimon grinned behind his sister’s back, following her into the other room.

I poked the spoon at the simmering pot. The freeze-dried chicken noodle on the ship was vile, horrid stuff not fit for human consumption. I sniffed gingerly. Her soup didn’t smell too bad. Recognizable chunks of various vegetables floated in the golden broth. Even the noodles didn’t look too soggy. I could always make myself eat it, just to keep from offending Jasyn, if necessary.

Had she been serious about being partners? I’d glimpsed hope in her eyes right before Jerimon interrupted, hope like I used to see in my own every time I looked in a mirror. I shoved the spoon through the soup. What good would it do if she were serious? How could I ever possibly get my hands on my own ship again?

They came back to the kitchen, laughing together. The resemblance was striking. Jerimon’s smile stiffened as he caught my eye. Jasyn took the spoon away and directed us in finding dishes to set the table.

Jasyn dished her chicken noodle soup. We crowded around her small table. Jerimon watched me with a malicious glint in his eye. I glared at Jerimon.

Jasyn clapped a spoon onto the table. “What now?”

“Nothing.” I picked up the spoon.

“Dace hates chicken noodle.” Jerimon smiled, watching me finger the spoon.

“How big was this ship’s cabin?” Jasyn rubbed her forehead.

“Half the size of your bedroom,” Jerimon answered, “if you include the cargo bay and the cockpit.”

“The two of you are going to have to call a truce before I’ll set foot on that ship.”

“There’s nothing to call a truce over,” I protested. “You’re acting like a spoiled brat, Jerimon.”

“Who’s the one picking fights in bars with strangers?”

“Luagin is, unfortunately, not a stranger. Strange, yes.”

Jasyn rolled her eyes.

“You should learn to keep to yourself, Dace.”

“You’re the one that got me into this mess in the first place.”

“You haven’t let me forget it for an instant.”

“I was ready to let it go until you started acting like a jerk.”

He had the audacity to look hurt. “I was the one who spent a night in jail, because of you.”

“Stop it, now!” Jasyn slammed her hand on the table. “Or I’m throwing you both out into the blizzard.” She grinned suddenly. “Or I can lock you both in the closet for the night. Together.”

Jerimon and I locked glares across the table. I was beginning to believe all men were egotistical, selfish pigs. Every one I’d ever spent time with was that way, including Tayvis, to some degree. I shoved the memories of Tayvis and Dadilan away. They were too dangerous.

“You’d better eat your soup before it gets cold,” Jerimon said. I didn’t miss the spark in his eye. I took a bite to spite him. I was totally unprepared for what I tasted. It was good, very good.

“I thought you said she didn’t like chicken noodle,” Jasyn said as they watched me eat. I dropped my spoon into the almost empty bowl. “There’s more if you want it, Dace,” Jasyn offered.

“I think I’ve had enough, thank you,” I said, stiffly polite. “That wasn’t chicken noodle,” I added to Jerimon.

“Yes, it was.”

“You are not going to start arguing again.” Jasyn waggled her finger at her brother. He visibly shrank in his chair.

“It was chicken noodle, made fresh.”