Quest For Earth (33 page)

He grunted in acquiescence and strode off to do her bidding.

Three hours later the little girl opened her eyes and smiled. Sherise lifted her out of the medie tube into the waiting arms of a Freeber woman who carried her carefully away. Sherise sighed and kneaded the muscles in her lower back.

‘Well?' asked Maaka. He had been leaning against the wall near the hatchway for some time, waiting for the prognosis.

‘She will heal.'

He hissed out a breath through his clenched teeth and straightened. ‘Now, we will talk.' He stalked over, grabbed her hand and led her from the shuttle.

Outside, he allowed her to slip from his grasp and she walked through the cavern and out onto the plateau beyond. A breeze sighed a sad song around the hilltop, as if mourning the passing of so many lives. Leaves rustled in the stand of trees below.

Sherise stopped near the edge so she could look out over the plains that stretched to the horizon. The sun had passed its midpoint in the sky and Sherise could feel the burn of its rays on her face.

Maaka caught her arm and spun her round to face him.

She wrenched out of his grasp and stood staring at him. They were within arms' reach of each other and yet she felt an entire galaxy lay between them.

‘Tell me what you know about these weapons.' Maaka looked down the length of his noble nose at her, nostrils flared, his head flung back.

‘You cannot think I would allow the distribution of our weapons to your enemies? To anyone! When I have told you over and over, we will not be drawn into this planet's politics.'

‘'Tis clear your status is high amongst your people. You talk of ‘allowing', as if you alone hold the power to decide such matters. Do you still attempt to blur my mind with your evasions?'

‘Can't you read my mind?'

‘I can sense your emotions but can only communicate telepathically when you are not too far away from me. Well?' He spoke impatiently.

What could it matter now? She said in a dull tone, ‘My brother holds the seat of power in the Darkos system. Now that the war is at an end, our people are once more the Guardians of the Seven Galaxies.'

‘And your status?'

‘Lady, but in truth it means little. The
Quinnie
is in the command of Dyrke, who must adhere to the advice of Lord Barid, who represents our ruling council. We remain bound to our laws and the terms of our mission.' She did not mention that only when the direst of circumstances threatened the
Quinnie
, did her word override the Commander's—like when she had given the order to jettison the starboard compartment bay. She wiped her sweaty palms down her tunic.

Maaka swung around and took several long strides before turning back to face her. Distrust bounced off him so intense she felt the shock waves like a round-house punch to the stomach.

Was it deliberate? Did he seek to distance himself from her both physically and emotionally? Well, she for one wanted no connection with him if he could believe she was capable of such subterfuge. Let him stand there. Even better, she would leave him; alone.

The bones along Sherise's spine stiffened until they felt like a barrier of blast-proof metal rods. She stalked back to the cavern.

‘Wait,' he said.

She continued her march for a few paces then whirled to face him; whatever he intended to say had better include an apology. His footsteps made a soft padding noise as he strode across the sand-covered rock.

Maaka halted and folded his arms. ‘This discussion is not over.'

‘Interrogation would be the better word.' She flicked her braid over her shoulder, while her heart clenched with wary hope.

‘Can you not see what has occurred here? These people are not fighters. Never before did the Half-dead attack this settlement. Their preferred method of attack is to wage war on open fields, or ambush small, unprotected groups. Nay, someone has helped them,' growled Maaka. His teeth flashed white, a stark contrast to the darkness boiling within him.

A tic pulsed in the base of his corded throat and drew her eyes. She licked her lips and wrenched her gaze aside to pretend she found the view fascinating. She bit out, ‘It was not the Darkons.'

Maaka's hands glided over her shoulders and curled around her neck. He cupped her chin, pressed his thumbs into her cheeks and forced her to meet his icy stare. She flinched as his words hurtled at her like boiling roid stones. ‘How can you be so certain? Your Commander, you say, does not answer to you. The Relic switches allegiance far too quickly for trust. I have shown you the evidence.'

‘It was not us.'

‘Then who?' he ground out.

‘How many did you find? Can you bring them to me?'

‘No need. I have them here,' said Kondo.

Startled, Sherise turned around to find the Relic warlord carrying a furlon blaster and two plitza guns. He held them out and Sherise took the blaster from him and tilted it toward the light from the burning torch.

‘I have examined them, Sherise. They are Darkon and Elite designs.' Kondo turned to Maaka. ‘My men and I have found evidence of uron charges and plitza gun shells. The damage to the roof of the cavern has been caused by an explosive of some kind. I cannot tell you any more except that the Freebers were lucky the Half-dead are not accurate shots and have no training with these weapons.'

‘I believe you are correct, Kondo. But …' She squinted at the markings running along the underside of the blaster, ‘… this one appears to be an earlier model than those we have on the
Quinnie
.'

Her grip tightened and she raised her head to stare at the two men. ‘I was right in my suspicions. Someone else from our world also landed on this planet. I must contact Commander Dyrke immediately.'

Maaka narrowed his eyes. ‘You said your people will not aid in another planet's war.'

‘Yes.' Sherise dragged in a sharp breath. ‘There can be only one possible explanation. Whoever is aiding your enemy is not a Darkon.'

Chapter 22

‘No!' Sherise flung the fur from her body, staggered a few paces and retched onto the rock floor. She forced the memory from her mind. A chill that had nought to do with her surrounds stiffened her joints and made her feel as heavy as an asteroid. Torchlight wavered, making shadows play like the ghosts of small children over the cave walls as Maaka crossed to her side.

Warm hands lifted her hair away from her face, bunched it into a tail, rubbed the back of her neck until she finished. He scooped her into his arms and carried her back to their bed. He wrapped a soft pelt over her shaking body then left her alone for a few minutes. She gripped the fur and hugged it close, terrified to shut her eyes and relive her nightmares.

Maaka returned to her side with a damp cloth. As if he tendered a wounded child, he murmured soothing noises and wiped the sweat and tears from her face.

‘Drink this, it will relieve your throat.' He proffered a wooden bowl. ‘I have added honey and peppermint to the tea.'

Her teeth clattered against the bowl as she sipped the concoction. Gradually, the furious pounding of her heart steadied and the trembling assailing her limbs eased. She handed the empty vessel to Maaka who tossed it aside. It landed with a muffled crackle of straw.

‘You cried out in your sleep,' he said slowly, as if he picked his words with care. He brushed a tendril of hair from her eyes and ran his fingers down the side of her face.

‘A bad dream,' she mumbled and averted her head. She wished he would stop being so attentive to her needs. It made her think he cared for her when all she could hear was the cold contempt in his voice when he'd believed she had aided his enemy.

‘Or a memory?'

When she looked at him, he raised his shoulders in a small shrug.

‘I recognise the symptoms.'

His words caused a warmth to bloom over her cool body. So she was not alone with her nightmares, but would he turn from her in disgust if she confessed to the part she had played in the other prisoners' executions? He had already shown how quick he was to judge where she was concerned. And he had yet to apologise.
Not that I have decided whether I should forgive him.

‘Why don't you lie down, hmmm?' He rubbed her arms. ‘You are cold and I long to have you beside me. I do not like this distance that lies between us.'

‘How could I allow you to touch me when you accuse me of being involved in this disaster?'

‘I was angry. And grief for the Freebers' suffering clouded my logic,' Maaka admitted. He tugged her down onto the furs and pulled her close, locking her in place with an arm around her waist and sliding one leg over hers.

‘That is not an apology.'

‘You are right and I do apologise. I should have trusted you more.'

Sherise remained silent, mulling over his words.

‘Someone supplied those weapons,' Maaka added.

‘Yes, but it was neither Darkon nor Relic. This has been established.'

‘I accept your findings. Do you forgive me?'

‘I will think about it.'

He chuckled and nuzzled her hair. ‘Tell me what torments you, Sherise.'

Bile rose again, she swallowed and forced it down. Perhaps it would do her good to speak of what she had hidden for so long.

She took a deep breath. She spoke of the war which had started as minor clashes between her people and the Relics over their enforced takeovers of planets. How it had escalated with the involvement of the Elite Forces into many cycles of confrontation until it involved all systems within the Seven Galaxies. Her voice cracked when she told of the unleashing of the virus on the Darkons and how the women and children died.

‘I was fifteen cycles old when this happened. Our Council ordered the outfitting of several long-distance space voyagers. Crewed by older warriors and filled to capacity with Darkon women and children, we left our planet hoping that we would be spared the drawn out deaths that had taken so many of us. But, somehow, our enemies knew of our plans. The Elites engaged us in battle, our weaponry was limited so we had little to defend ourselves. In the confusion, our fleet scattered and we became separated. The ship I was on was boarded. All who survived were taken prisoner.'

‘Aah, now we come to the planet you call Gazood.'

She snuggled into the shelter provided by his body and ran her fingers over the short spiky hairs covering his arm.

‘What happened, Sherise?'

Her voice little more than a murmur, she said, ‘Gazood was a terrible place. Not only did it have fierce storms but it was a breeding ground for draptiles: carnivorous, armoured creatures that drip acid. The only food we had was whatever we could forage from the land and occasional drops from the Elite guards. It was a miracle of Cercis any of us survived. Cycles passed and others were imprisoned on the planet by the Elites, more Darkons and then women from a planet called Earth. This is where I met Bree.' She pushed at the hair that had fallen across her face.

‘We were insurance you see. The Elite leader believed that, should the war turn against him, he could use us either as bait to trap our warriors or to force a surrender. Sometimes, I had the impression that he wanted us to suffer and relished the knowledge that everyone believed we were dead. Some of us fell ill to sickness from the lack of fresh food and clean water, others from the draptiles. But we had a healer amongst us. Her name was Rachel, another Earth woman, and without her expertise many more would have died. She taught me so much and became a good friend.'

She heaved in a deep breath past a chest so constricted her bones ached. ‘There was a little girl. One of my kind. She was only nine cycles and had spent eight of them in that terrible place. She was dying and Rachel could do no more for her. I knew if I could access a medie tube she could be saved. So I approached the Captain of the guards that lived in the space station orbiting the planet and offered an exchange. My maiden flesh for medicine.'

Maaka's body stiffened, turning as hard as rock.

This is it. This is where he will spurn me.

But she had said too much to stop now.

‘I was unable to give him satisfaction so he beat me. When he finished, he dumped me back on Gazood, with no medie tube, no medicine, nothing to show for my efforts. And Talia died.'

Maaka fumbled with the furs until he had wiggled his hands inside and caught her by the shoulders. About to shove her away?

‘Wait, there is more.' Her words came faster now, spewing from her mouth like poison from a thista thorn. ‘On the setting of the next sun, three shuttles touched down. We were ordered to present ourselves and, at threat of laser point, we were shuffled into ragged lines. The Captain strutted up and down until he made his selection. He did not dare terminate any Darkons; we were too valuable as prisoners. But the women from Earth he considered expendable. In all, ten were dragged away, forced to stand before a rock outcrop, then executed. I will never forget the looks on their faces, nor their last frantic messages.'

‘This explains your determination to return your passengers to their families.'

‘Yes. Until the time we were liberated from Gazood the Elite guards fed their blood lust. We had nowhere to hide. All we could do was wait and wonder who would be next to die. I will never forget the day he chose Rachel. She died in my arms and I vowed if I ever escaped I would find her son. I knew from the way the Elite Captain would stand and look at Bree that one day it would be her turn.' She raised her head from his chest and met Maaka's gaze. ‘All those women died because of me. He wanted to make me pay because I'd shown up his own inadequacy as a man.'

‘Nay!' A fierce light blazed in his eyes as he shouted the denial. His hands squeezed her flesh then gave her a slight shake. ‘You did not hold the weapon, or thrust a blade through their hearts, or give the order. This sin lies on another's soul and it will be he who will face eternal punishment.' Maaka cupped her face, his thumbs wiping tears from her cheeks. ‘Do not cry so, it pains me greatly to see you in such distress.'