Tagan's Child (21 page)

I tried to act
like every other traveller who had not nearly been strangled to
death and we managed to leave without raising any suspicions. Ahran
hailed a hover cab and we glided off into the night. I laid my head
back on the seat and tried to avoid replaying the events of the
last hour in my mind.

Ahran sat
quietly brooding next to me. I couldn’t think of anything to say
that would make the situation any better so I opted to say
nothing.

I looked out of
the window. There were a couple of other cars on the road and like
ours they glided silently along. It was kind of eerie. The
buildings were no more than four stories high, modern looking and
largely made of glass. The streets were clean and well lit and
there were lots of trees. A great deal of thought had obviously
gone into the planning of the beautifully planted seated areas
which helped to minimise the overall impact of the buildings. I now
understood what Ahran meant when he said that living in a Ramian
city was no hardship. Even though it was urban, it was leafy and
there was a sense of space.

Eventually we
pulled up outside a nondescript building down a side street. It
looked like a small shop. The windows had frosted glass and a light
glowed from inside. Ahran touched his fingertips to a pad in front
of us and the door glided open. He helped me out of the car and I
eyed the shop front. It was the only building in the street with
its lights on. “Is this the doctor’s?” I asked.

“Yes.” He spoke
into the intercom at the door. Within a matter of seconds the door
opened and a young woman greeted us who, despite the late hour,
looked alert and efficient in her fitted white uniform.

We stepped
inside and it smelt of hospitals. The nurse motioned for us to take
a seat on one of the two, white leather sofas and left through a
door in the wall opposite. The only other piece of furniture in the
room was a clear Perspex coffee table with a large bowl of exotic
looking fruit sitting on top, the splash of colour it provided was
in stark contrast to the plain white walls and furniture.

I sat there
feeling like a naughty child. “I’m sorry,” I said feebly.

Ahran arched an
eyebrow at me.

What did that
mean?

Before I could
ask him the nurse reappeared. She spoke in Ramian and we followed
her into one of the inner rooms where the doctor was waiting for
us. He was an older looking man with silvery grey hair.

Ahran said a
few words and the doctor nodded. The nurse lowered the couch into
its horizontal position and I lay down so the doctor could examine
my head. He shone a torch into my eyes and cast his eye over the
wound. He indicated for me to open my mouth and he took something
off the stainless steel tray the nurse was holding. He spoke and
Ahran translated. “He’s giving you something to help with the
pain.”

The doctor laid
a small square of rice paper on my tongue. To my amazement, the
pain in my head, neck, back and pelvis dissolved away in a matter
of seconds.

“Wow! That’s
some pain killer,” I said.

“It should last
for twenty four hours,” Ahran explained.

The nurse
placed a pair of over-sized goggles over my eyes and I closed them
waiting for the prick of the needle that would administer the local
anaesthetic but all I felt was a tingling sensation where the wound
was.

The doctor
spoke.

“You can sit up
now,” Ahran said, relaying the doctor’s instructions.

I sat up
feeling a hundred times better than when I had come in. The nurse
removed the glasses and handed me a mirror. I looked at the
doctor’s work. The wound had been cleaned and there was a fine pink
scar where the cut had been, I could hardly believe that it had
healed already.

“Good God! It’s
almost gone, what did he do?” I said as I gingerly touched the
small welt and examined it more closely in the mirror.

“He treated it
with a laser and has applied some anti-scarring gel. You should
hardly notice it in a couple of days’ time.”

“That’s
amazing,” I marvelled as I looked at it from different angles.

I smiled at the
doctor and thanked him. He smiled and nodded.

As we left the
place that performed tiny miracles, in spite of my ordeal and the
lateness of the hour, I felt surprisingly alert and buoyant. How
was it possible that I felt even better than before I’d been
attacked?

“How are you
feeling?” Ahran asked.

“Remarkably
well actually.”

“That will be
the drugs the doctor gave you.”

“What was it?
Cocaine?”

Ahran laughed.
“Not cocaine. The painkiller the doctor gave you would have
contained a mood enhancer, the idea is that if you feel emotionally
strong you will heal quicker.”

I nodded
slowly. Clever.

We walked down
the darkened street to the main road at the end and although I no
longer needed Ahran’s support he insisted on holding my hand, in
case I felt faint, apparently. Whilst this was a banned activity in
my book, in my enhanced state of mind, I chose to go with it. He
had slowed his pace so that I didn’t have to trot to keep up.

Back at the
airport I’d had a glimpse of Ahran the soldier, cold and
implacable. He had dispatched my attacker’s body without a second
thought. But with me, he had been attentive and caring. I was
probably reading far too much into it, either that or it was
something to do with the drugs I had just been given, but it seemed
like a change had come over him. He’d gone from acting like I was
an annoyance, an irritation that he couldn’t swat away fast enough,
to someone he could tolerate, feel protective over even. My close
shave at the airport had confirmed that we were indeed being
followed by people who were out to kill us, but to my greater peril
all I wanted to do now was melt into Ahran’s side and let him
shield me from whatever threat we faced. Of course, it wasn’t
right, I was supposed to be distancing myself from him, but the
more distance I tried to create the closer I wanted to be.

We walked
towards the main street. I did my best to silence the spiteful
voice in my head reminding me that whilst Ahran had spent the last
hour being my knight in shining armour Toby remained a hostage and
no doubt scared out of his wits. It occurred to me that if Ahran
hadn’t been babysitting me he could have been closer to rescuing
Toby. I disengaged our hands but Ahran put his arm around my
shoulders and pulled me closer to him.

I looked up at
him and his expression challenged me to pull away.

“The closer you
stay to me the better; I’d rather not risk your safety again.”

“I shouldn’t
have come,” I said.

He gave me a
squeeze. “I’d be lonely if you weren’t here.” I looked up and gave
him a weak smile.

We walked in
silence for a few minutes. The air was cool and I could feel the
heat of his body next to mine. I struggled to concentrate on the
simple task of putting one foot in front of the other. “Where are
we going now?” I asked as Ahran hailed down another hover cab that
was vacantly cruising down the street.

“To a hotel to
get some sleep and then in the morning we push on.”

The cab stopped
at the curb and we climbed in. The car pulled away smoothly and we
made our way back down the street towards the nearest hotel. It
turned out to be a no frills affair with a self-service check-in
just on the edge of town.

We finally
entered our room and I eyed the large bed nervously. How on earth
was I going to get any sleep sharing a bed with him?

I groaned
inwardly.

“I’ll sleep on
the couch,” he offered, sensing my uneasiness.

“Don’t be
ridiculous, the bed is huge,” I said as brightly as I could. “Do
you mind if I use the bathroom first though?” I was desperate for a
shower.

“Go ahead,” he
said as he sat down on the bed and leant against the headboard,
stretching his long legs out in front of him. I couldn’t help but
notice the way the denim of his jeans pulled taut across his
thighs. Feeling flustered, I began to rifle through my bag and
realised that in my hurry to pack I hadn’t put any nightclothes in.
I would just have to wear knickers and a t-shirt. I grabbed my
toothbrush and heard the canned laughter that suddenly blurted from
the T.V. as I shut the bathroom door behind me.

It had been a
traumatic and exhausting day.

I turned the
water on and climbed into the shower, my thoughts turning to Toby.
Where was he? How were they treating him? It was his first night
away from home with complete strangers in a strange world and he
didn’t even have his teddy to help him sleep. My heart hung heavy
in my chest and I began to cry. I slowly washed my hair and soaped
my body as I sobbed. I stood there for a long time my tears
mingling with the running water. When they finally began to subside
I got out and wrapped myself in one of the fluffy towels from the
heated towel rail.

I cleaned my
teeth and towel dried my hair before brushing it and letting it
fall in damp waves over my shoulders. I put on a fresh t-shirt and
clean underwear and glanced at myself in the mirror. At least the
heat of the shower had brought some colour to my cheeks. I unlocked
the bathroom door and Ahran looked up as I came out.

Dammit! He was
still awake. I was hoping he might have fallen asleep.

“Are you okay?”
he asked

“Yes, I’m
fine,” I said self-consciously. I felt like sprinting to the bed
and diving under the covers but I made myself walk at a normal
pace, all the time aware of Ahran’s eyes on me.

“I am
shattered.” I was feeling awkward and this came out slightly more
exaggerated than I had planned. My attempts at acting like I was
unaffected by our sleeping arrangements were failing dismally.

“Is the
television bothering you?”

“No, not at
all.”

He shifted over
so I had more space. Now that I was lying next to him there didn’t
seem to be nearly as much room as I had first thought.

I took a sip of
water from the bottle I’d got from the vending machine in the foyer
earlier.

“Night then,” I
said, wriggling down under the covers.

“Goodnight.”

I struggled to
get to sleep. Maybe this had something to do with lying in a
strange bed, in a strange universe. But probably it had more to do
with the fact that Ahran was lying next to me.

*****

I gradually
came to, aware that I was lying on my side, my back nestled into a
large, warm sleeping form and an arm draped heavily over my hip. My
first instinct was to move away but I allowed myself a few moments
longer, it felt so good to have skin to skin contact with someone.
I lay there and welcomed the feel of Ahran’s warm body knowing I
should move away but not quite able to do it. I froze when he moved
and pressed his thigh up against the back of mine. The contact made
my stomach clench and my drowsiness vanish. I tried to put some
distance between us but his arm wrapped around my waist holding me
in place.

“Don’t move,”
he said. “This feels good.” How long had he been awake?

“Which is
exactly why I should move,” I replied, taking hold of his wrist and
using all my willpower to lift his arm up and slide away from
him.

I sat up. He
raised himself up onto one elbow and I did my best to ignore his
spectacular shoulders and chest.

“You did that
on purpose,” I accused, and self-consciously pulled the sheets up
to my chin.

“And who can
blame me when I’ve just woken up next to a beautiful woman who is
all warm and sleepy? I challenge any man to resist,” he said with a
wicked smile. I tried to ignore the fact that he had just called me
beautiful.

“Ahran,
please,” I said in exasperation.

“Please what?”
he asked with a devilish glint in his eye.

Was it just me
trying to do the honourable thing? “Ugh!” I jumped out of bed and
headed for the bathroom, putting as much distance between us as the
room allowed. I heard him chuckle behind me and it made me angry.
He should be concentrating on finding Toby not trying to seduce me.
I felt even angrier at myself for reacting to his touch like I had.
Wasn’t it only yesterday I had met his fiancé? I washed my face and
brushed my teeth ferociously. I really was going to have to set
some boundaries because all of a sudden he didn’t seem to have
any.

I spat out the
toothpaste and examined the barely noticeable scar on my forehead.
I rubbed my hand over the dull ache in my abdomen wondering what
sort of night Toby had had. If only he knew we were on our way. I
brushed my hair and put it up into a ponytail, it was likely to be
warm outside and I wanted it up off my neck.

I came out of
the bathroom and Ahran was standing in just his close fitting
boxers with his back to me tapping something into his phone. I tore
my eyes away from his tight backside and grabbed my jeans and bra
before diving back into the bathroom. I proceeded to silently
counsel myself. Okay, I haven’t had sex in a while. He is an
extremely attractive man. Any woman would react in the same way. I
was going to have to be stronger. If Ahran tried anything like that
again I would set him straight once and for all. He had a fiancé
waiting for him back home and in case he had forgotten, he had a
job to do. Once I was dressed and my resolve had strengthened I
went back into the bedroom.

“I’m going to
have a shower,” he said turning towards me, “and then we ought to
get going. We’ll pick something up to eat on the way.”

“Okay,” I said
picking up the controller and switching on the television just so I
didn’t have to look at him still in his boxers. Whilst he was in
the bathroom I flicked through the channels. Ramian T.V. wasn’t a
lot different from television at home as far as I could see; music
channels, shopping channels, a morning chat show. Same stuff just
different planet. I quickly skipped through the news channels just
on the off chance that there was a news story about a woman found
dead in an airport cleaning cupboard. After ten minutes I felt
satisfied that no such story seemed to feature. I switched over to
a music channel and absentmindedly watched a long haired brunette
crawl seductively along a beach as I worried whether they were
feeding Toby properly. Just as two overly enthusiastic presenters
were about to sky dive off a cliff, Ahran came out dressed in black
jeans and a khaki shirt with the sleeves rolled up.