Spurn (4 page)

“I
’ll come for you. Don’t mistake me, Abigail. And I’m going to be ... annoyed ... when I get over there.” For some reason, the depth of his tone sent a thrill of excitement through me.

W
hat was he so worried about? I was just going to have a little peek. What’s the worst that could happen?

Damn it,
I had to stop saying that.

I threw
a look over my shoulder; it was pure challenge. Yeah, I did feel pretty safe in my barred cell. Lucy had sat down at this point, pulling Samuel with her.

“This is great. Wish I had some popcorn
, though.” Her hands were clasped in front of her, face alight with delight as if she’d just settled in to watch her favorite movie. “Ten bucks on Abby.”

I grinned, none of the First Worlders would have a clue what ‘ten bucks’
was. They didn’t use money; their world ran on a much more efficient barter-for-skills system.

A
nother burst of noise from outside drew my attention again. It sounded like there were a lot of Spurns arguing out there. I couldn’t quite make out the words, especially with all the lisping. I still had a grip of the slats, so I slowly pulled myself up. Swearing echoed around the room behind me. Ignoring the noise, I enjoyed the familiar burn in my muscles. I was going crazy locked in this little cell, so even a small physical release was welcome.

Once my
eye level was above the ridge I could see a large group gathered. There were many Spurns with the same blue hair we’d already seen, but for the first time there were also Spurns with green, yellow and gray hair. They stood around a crouched girl.

M
y observations were cut off as strong hands gripped me around the waist. I was almost yanked off the bars, but at the last second managed to catch hold again.

“I swear to the
Walker gods, Red, you’re going to be the death of me.”

At
the sound of his voice, I let go in shock and Brace and I tumbled down.

Using his nicely muscled chest, I dug my elbow in as
hard as I could to push myself up to stand. He groaned and I looked toward his old cell. There were large holes in both doors. Brace-size holes. I turned my eyes toward the angry towering-over-me man.

“How
... what did you do?” I stuttered out.

He shrugged, but his expression
was burning – I felt like prey, and I wanted to run, fast.

“You know I can manipulate energy, and my power levels are no different here.”

“What. The. Crap.” Lucy, showing no fear, punched him in his thigh, which was the easiest place for her to reach. “Are you telling me that you could have gotten us out of here straight away?”

She pulled her
fist back to hit him again, but Samuel gathered her up in his arms before she could.

I laughed. “Violent little thing
, isn’t she?”

Truth be told, both of us had a slight tendency to hit first, ask questions later,
courtesy of the world we grew up in. Brace’s expression lifted from burning anger to mild irritation. I might have even seen a small flicker of amusement as he held his hands up in surrender.

“Yes, I could have broken through these little wooden slats. But I figured Red was hoping for a more diplomatic solution, considering we need to stay here until we find this half-Walker.”

“You’re lucky you’re hot, Brace, because I’m not finding much else to like about you right now,” Lucy said, continuing to shoot dirty looks at him, but she was at least no longer trying to dodge around Samuel to punch him again.

“Let’
s leave now, before we are recaptured, and see if we can find someone to talk to about our situation.” Lucas had moved to stand in the center of the room.

With an exasperated snort
, I elbowed Brace as I pushed past him.

Lucas
smiled when I reached his side. “Probably better to keep that little temper under control when we step out of here.”

I ignored him
by walking past without a second glance. Screw saving Brace. Those Walker gods better save me from impossible, arrogant know-it-all men. I was just about at the barred door to the exterior when Brace strode past me – someone had his speedy pants on. Stepping to the front, his boot smashed into the heavy wooden door. It flew off the frame to land outside on the sand.

Show-off.

“He gets to smash things, but when I do it I have a bad temper,” I muttered as I followed him out.

The weak sunlight was back, but I knew from our few days here it was soon to be replaced by four-strong moons. Their
moonlight was blue tinged and as bright as daylight back home.

We didn’t make it more than ten steps before
Spurns came running from all directions. We were surrounded within a few moments.

“Do not move or
I will be forced to end you without a trial,” a tall blue-haired man lisped in a low tone.

He
was a pillar standing before the masses of four-hair-colored Spurns. A few of the five-prong trident-style weapons were pointed in our direction – they looked like big forks. I was intrigued by the strange texture of these weapons – they looked like coral – and they were brightly colored.

“There has been a mistake made here. We are n
ot thieves or criminals.” Lucas, as a future Emperor, had the best diplomacy skills. He had both of his hands held up before him. “We’re travelers from another world, simply looking for adventure and new experiences. You cannot hold us prisoner any longer. We have rights, and we demand to be released now.”

The
Spurns muttered.

“
Hair is short.”

“U
nnaturally tall.”

A nervous energy
was building amongst the smooth-skinned, shiny pink people.

“What is
this world you have journeyed from?”

It took me a moment to understand
her lisped question. Spurn speech was difficult to follow, especially if they spoke fast. The green-haired woman – well, it was more of an emerald, similar tone to my own eyes but darker – who’d spoken, was waiting impatiently.

“
First World is our home planet; it’s far from here, and is only around sixty percent water, vastly different from your own.” At Lucas’ words, another series of mutters and gasps spread through the group.

I
hadn’t realized First World had even less water than Earth. Interesting.

“That
’s why we disturbed your Sacred Isle. We cannot breathe under water,” I added as soon as there was a lull in the Spurn chatter.

The
tall blue-haired Spurn turned around. “Is any of this true?”

“Yes, Ladre sir. Our initial examination determined they have no gills. And they weren’t found with any of our wood or
cucreamer either.” Our guard stepped forward to speak.

He locked eyes with me briefly, and I smiled in appreciation.

Shifting my gaze, I examined Ladre closely, trying to find his ‘gills’. Eventually I spotted tiny slits on the side of his neck. They were subtle, almost flat and did not lift or flap as he spoke. Just for underwater breathing?

Ladre turned back
, catching my blatant examination.

“I can see that you are not Spurns.” Clear lenses flicked over
his eyes as he spoke. “But your arrival coincides at a time of great unease; we’ve had thefts off our Sacred Isle. This is why we have treated you as criminals; you were discovered here right after this event.”

No
‘innocent until proven guilty’ on Spurn; though they hadn’t just killed us, so maybe that was a little unfair. I also wondered why there was no real surprise that we just happened to saunter onto Spurn from First World. If ‘aliens’ had strolled on to Earth from another planet, I was pretty sure the leaders would have a few questions. Were we not their first ‘alien’ visitors?

“They cannot be allowed
to roam free on Spurn, doing this adventuring.” The emerald-haired woman stepped forward, her movements awkward but controlled. “They cannot traverse the waters. They are unknown, and that is dangerous. We should just kill them now and save the future trouble.”

I
was distracted by Brace, whose entire body had tensed. The muscles in his chiseled jaw started to twitch. Tick ... tick ... tick. He was not a fan of this woman. And here I was, finding her so delightful. His sooty fringe of black lashes lowered briefly as he fought for control. I placed a hand on his arm to calm him before he blew them all up or whatever he was planning. I still didn’t know exactly what his First-World powers entailed.

His eyes locked
me in, his gaze intense.

As I pulled my hand away I r
eminded myself to breathe. My distraction had at least resulted in him looking a little less murderous, but it had left me all girly and flustered as usual.

“Qui
et, Gladriel. I know you have history here but your first instinct should not be to kill.” As Ladre turned back to us, he missed the flash of hatred that shone in her cold yellow eyes.

If I was him, I’d be watching my back for sure.

I examined her more closely. What was up with her attitude? What had we ever done to her? Or was she just a bitch? I knew it happened; sometimes people are just ass-hats.

“
We can’t leave yet; the energy we used to arrive on your world is currently unavailable to us,” I said, not without a little annoyance. “So instead of killing us, maybe you can just house us for a short time. You know, as a second option.”

“I will take responsibility for them while they are here
. Until they leave, they will be by my side.” An emerald-haired male appeared from the middle of the group.

Gladriel
spun around. Her pink features flattened into irritated lines. “Raror, what are you doing?” she hissed at him.

“They
just said they cannot leave, and you say they cannot be allowed to roam on their own, so logic dictates that they will need an escort while they are here.” He stepped closer, his hair flowing behind him.

Ignoring
the drama, I continued to observe closely. All of the Spurns had long hair, at minimum to mid-back, but those who spoke out and carried an aura of being in charge had hair that reached to their knees. There were four distinct hair colors, but no variances within their tone. And all of the four hair colors were exactly the same shade, none lighter or darker, none with streaks or fading.
Did they age?
I could see some discrepancies in their appearance, but there were definitely no very young or old present.

It was like watching an intensely three
-dimensional movie. I had so many unanswered questions, but clearly flicking to the end wasn’t an option. And, although it had taken awhile, I found it less challenging now to understand the lisping way they spoke. Well, I’d at least stopped wanting to say ‘Huh?’ after every second word.

Gladriel
appeared frozen, her eyes mere slits across her face. Her features remained stone-like as she turned around to speak again.

“
My son has decided that the Earon clan will house these other-worlders.” She spat the words at us. “This is about Talina,” she muttered.

I
f I hadn’t had Walker hearing, I’d probably have missed it.

Who was this ‘Talina’?

My heart started to race as a woman stepped up to Raror and smiled.

Could it actually be that easy?

She was
different from the average Spurn, taller than most – though still shorter than me. She had striking features. Her smooth skin was creamy rather than pink like the rest of the Spurns. Her face was round rather than elongated, and she had long lustrous emerald hair with flecks of black. Unlike the others, she had brown eyes in a sea of yellow, and eyelashes and brows, whereas the others had none.

Lucy
caught my eye, her head starting a continuous nod in the unusual woman’s direction – in case I’d missed it the first five times she’d done it.

I laughed silently; subtle just isn’t in Lucy repertoire. And
, if I wasn’t mistaken, we might just be staring at my half-Walker.

When
most of the arguing had subsided, they led us out of the clearing and toward the beach. During our time I’d noticed a few new Spurn characteristics. They were very cliquey, mainly staying in their hair-color group. My half-Walker was the only exception, sometimes crossing paths with Ladre, the blue-haired leader who’d first confronted us. Was something going on there? They certainly exchanged lots of quick flicking glances, but there was definitely no touching.

As we
arrived at some small lowset buildings, most of the inhabitants dived under the eaves. I wondered why until a face full of salt water assaulted me. Judging by the misty spray pouring from all sides of the structure and the relief on their faces, they needed to stay wet.

Whilst I
enjoyed my observations, documenting as much information as I could, most of my attention was focused on Talina. I was afraid to lose sight of her. I probably didn’t have to worry, though. In between glancing at Ladre, she would often catch my eye, as if she was keeping tabs on me too.

Everyone turned as
Ladre moved onto the first step of the building.

He
cleared his throat, and all noise ceased. “We are still going in to have a council meeting. We must discuss other options now for the destruction and theft off the Sacred Isle, if it’s not connected to these foreigners.”

P
ink faces shone with respect as they faced him.

With one last smile at his people
, he turned and stepped inside.

Gladriel climbed onto the top step.
“Raror, you must stay and mind your ... new friends. Do not let them wander; they are not welcome on this isle.” With a toss of her head that made her emerald hair shimmer, she entered the building.

S
mall groups broke away from their clans to follow them into the structure. And just like that we were no longer prisoners or suspects, which was suspiciously trusting of them.

“Well
, she’s a pleasant piece of work, isn’t she?” Lucy’s eyes crinkled in annoyance as she glared after Gladriel.

“Yes, I am very
sorry; my mother is not the most even-tempered Spurn. She doesn’t like strangers, and unfortunately many of the collective reflect her attitude.”

We spun around to face the half-Walker.
Talina had wasted no time approaching us, stopping a few feet away on the sand. Her voice was soft and gentle, without the lisp.

“
So what are you really doing on Spurn?” she continued, her question more prying than her soft manner of speaking indicated.

“Well
, there’s a high possibility that we’re actually looking for you,” I replied. I was on a deadline, no time to pretend otherwise. “We need to tell you about your father and explain a rather crazy situation.”

Her
eyes widened. I could tell my words had shocked her. But I had her interest and complete attention. And also Raror’s, who was at her side in an instant. 

“Ta
lli, there is no need for you to speak about this. I promised you I would look after them until they could leave. Let’s not stir anything up.” He had to look up to meet her eyes.

I
t was hard to distinguish expressions on his hairless features, but I guessed he was pleading with her.

She laid
one of her pale hands on his arm, her fingers lacking the obvious membranes that I could see between each of Raror’s digits.

“
Raror, I have suffered my entire life for weaknesses that are not my fault. If it wasn’t for your protection, I have no doubt my half-status on Spurn would have resulted in my death.”

I
doubted that. Walkers were hard to kill. But, who knew? Judging by what I’d seen of Gladriel, she was a woman who would definitely eat her young.

Talina must have noticed my exp
ression. “On Spurn, it is survival to the extremes. My mother
would
have been the one to kill me if it wasn’t for the strength of Raror.”

She
had just taken a reasonably accurate guess at my thoughts ... unless.

“Can you read my mind?”

I had to constantly remind myself that people on worlds other than Earth had this ability. Josian had worked with me to develop a strong shield of protection, but maybe they could circumvent that here.

She shook her head, the breeze lifting the flowing
emerald locks. Her hair was amazing; it almost appeared to be moving with a life of its own.

“I have not attempted
to. That would be unforgivably rude. If you are worried, do not be afraid. Whenever I have brushed your mind, I have felt a strong barrier. In fact, all of you appear to be well protected.”

I glanced at Lucy
. She remained a puzzle. No one had figured out why her thoughts were safe. Being from Earth, and without active energy, she should have no shields.

Talina continued to stand before us
in a meek and timid manner, as if she expected us to start yelling at her. I hated to see anyone so downtrodden; it was as if she’d been kicked every day. Shifting my heavy mass of salt-ridden curls, I tried to think of something to say that might make her feel better. I remembered her words to Raror earlier.

“
You know, Talina, I think the rest of Spurn has it the wrong way around.”

She frowned, t
he confusion evident on her face.

“You aren
’t the one with weaknesses; it’s them. They just haven’t realized it yet.”

“What exactly does that mean?”
a blue-hair who had been lingering nearby lisped at us.

“Well,” I drawled
in annoyance, fixing the interrupter with my famous glare. “Where should I begin? From my very short observation, all of you seem to linger under these ocean-mist things, and yet I see that Talina remains here and is looking remarkably dry.”

I
shrugged, letting them deduce the rest. Talina smiled. I think it was the first time I’d seen any solid emotion from her.

“Yes, I can remain out
of the water indefinitely, but if the average Spurn allows their hair and body to dry out they could die,” she said, sounding far too innocent, as if she would just give an honest answer to anything we asked.

Judging by the
angry glares, the other Spurns did not look happy to have that particular vulnerability exposed to us.

“Bang!” I
said loudly. “Number one way you’re weaker. And number two, Talina’s sturdier on land.”

From the way she moved, s
he was obviously more co-ordinated than they were.

She nodded
. “It’s strange. This is the first time I have ever stepped foot onto solid land and, whereas I fall behind in the ocean, here I’m comfortable and, well, not a freak.”

I found it amusing that on this planet
her similarities to First Worlders was a disability. We must have looked like true aliens to the other Spurns.

“And how does any of this help the half on a world that is predominantly water?” The freaky lenses flicked over
his yellow eyes as he spoke.

Their attitude was really
starting to annoy me, especially the way he referred to her as ‘the half’ as if she didn’t even warrant a name.

“Well
, fish-boy, have you ever considered that she won’t always live on this world?” Lucy, who’d been standing close by, challenged him.

“We are not fish
, you other-worlder imbecile.”

Lucy tossed her
blond curls. “I disagree: you have gills, flippers and are slimy. Sounds like fish to me.”

He shifted forward, to do what I have no idea, but he stumbled before he reached Lucy, sprawling at her feet.
Lucy let a brief grin cross her lips, before turning her head in a disdainful manner. His friend dragged him up quickly, and they left without incident, moving to the other side of the building. Our men, who had tensed for a moment, relaxed again beside us.

A
nother smile graced Talina’s impassive features. “Thank you,” she said, “but you will find yourself in many challenges if you continue to defend me.”

Lucy and I shrugged
. That was nothing new for us. Brace looked at Samuel and in sync both snorted with laughter. Come on. We weren’t that bad.

“Shut it
, douche-wads.” Lucy kicked sand in their direction.

Talina
shuffled backwards, as if unsure of what we were doing or afraid of our joking. I patted her arm, meaning to be reassuring, but instead I was shocked at how cool she felt to touch.

“That’s amazing,” she
said, rubbing her bicep, “you’re even warmer than me, and I’m warmer than Raror.”

Gee, fish-boy must feel like an ice cube.

“So what can you tell me about my father?” She finished her words in a rush and there was a glimmer of hope in her brown eyes. They were not the same liquid chocolate of Brace’s. They were much lighter – but still lovely.

“Let’s sit on the beach.”
I indicated the way with my hand.

This was going to be a bit of a story
, and I really wanted to move away from all the curious eyes.

She nodded. “
We have to stay close to the ocean for Raror.”

Right
, I’d forgotten all about our ‘guard’. He was standing a short way from us, but I could see the unhappiness on his face. He didn’t object when we turned to leave the main group, only pausing at a distant but unbroken thrashing sound from the tall trees to our right. No one moved or showed any sign of worry; they just faced the noise, waiting to see.

S
hould we be panicking? Was this an attack?

I couldn’t exactly take comfort in the Spurns
’ calm faces. I was pretty sure they only had two emotions: nothing and angry. Eventually, as the forest rustling grew louder, I could also make out the sound of heavy panting.

A
blue-haired Spurn stumbled into sight.

H
e was bleeding heavily from a large jagged wound on his right side. His blood, which was almost purple in color, had soaked his loin cloth.

H
e lurched in a swaying motion as he reached the group.

“Tell Ladre
...” he gasped, “tell him the creature ... it’s back ... Jonah dead.” The words were disjointed but understandable.

The
group didn’t hesitate. A few dashed into the building, and others took off in the direction from which the bleeding Spurn had come.

“You girls stay here. We
’ll see if we can assist.” Samuel leant down to give Lucy a brief kiss.

Brace locked me in his gaze
and nodded. Lucas smiled his usual charming, obnoxious grin before falling into line. With Raror leading the way, our three men left us standing there on the beach.

I looked at Lucy. “
Did they just? – seriously – did that just happen?” I knew I wasn’t making much sense, but I was annoyed.

“I’m not sure,
Abbs.” She shook her head. “But I think we were just dismissed to sit on this beach like little women and, like, knit scarves until the heroes return.”

Talina looked
at us in confusion. “They are just protecting you, right?”

I shook my
head, hands on my hips. “No way, not on our world. We girls have the right to kick butt as much as the men. We don’t sit on the side-lines for anyone. Come on, let’s go,” I said, waving my arms in a forward motion.

In my experience
, men usually got into more trouble than they prevented.

Talina
hesitated briefly, but with an almost unheard sigh she pushed her beautiful long hair over her shoulder and joined us.

We
stepped around a few female Spurns who were crouched on the ground tending to the injured male.

Before we could set of, o
ur journey was intercepted by the council streaming out of the building. Since we had no idea where to go, we simply fell in behind them, although it was frustrating keeping to the slow pace of the less co-ordinated Spurns. I breathed through my exasperation, taking my time to observe our surroundings.

Lucy must have been doing the same.
“Where are the waiters that bring you those little drinks in coconuts with umbrellas?” she asked as we jogged past gorgeous expanses of white sandy beaches. The grains twinkled enticingly in the sunlight.

I sighed, giving her a half-smile
. “Yes, why didn’t we land on one of those islands in the ‘Caribbean’ that we read about in the compound. Instead our island paradise is full of blood-thirsty fish-people who want to kill us and use our bones for their soup or something.”

“Word, Abbs.
Aunt Frannie
has a lot to answer for.”

I thought I heard a tinkling laugh from my other side, but when I turned, Talina was silent.
As a group we dashed between huge plantations of trees. They were tall, with thick trunks and a few scattered leaves up high. They reminded me of bamboo but with thicker stems.