The Saga Begins [Nuworld 1] (19 page)

Tara narrowed in on Darius’ signal. He was south of town and from what she could tell, twenty or so others were with him. She scanned for local roads and was pleased to find a current map. She took off at top speed.

Who would have led Darius to believe he should go south? This was now the question at hand.

Tara considered the matter. The Sea People approached from the northwest, which made sense since their home was to the west. Darius would be protected from any attacks if he was in the southern region, but Gothman would not. Who would want to place Gothman in such a predicament?

Within a quarter mile of the signal, Tara slowed to a stop and scanned for Gothman communication. It wasn’t hard for her landlink to pick up their simplex form of transmitting, although static crackled on her multiplex system. Her equipment wasn’t accustomed to such antiquated forms of communication. She tapped into the Gothman conversation and clicked on her speakers, which she usually kept off. The audio was poor but leaning forward she heard conversation through the small, attached speakers on either side of her landlink.

“He’ll be within sight in a few minutes. Be ready now.”

“Have you had any further communication?”

“I have. They’re coming across Runners.”

“Is that a problem?”

“It’s a passing clan, it shouldn’t be.”

Tara eased her bike forward into the forest and slowed to a stop. There, up in the tree, a Gothman was lodged between two branches talking on a walkntalk. Tara killed the motor and sat silently, waiting to see what would be there within a few minutes.

She heard voices and saw movement through the trees ahead.

So did the Gothman in the tree. He pulled a gun from his jacket and aimed at the group approaching.

Tara watched the Gothman focus on his target, and realized with horror who the man planned to kill. One of the voices was Darius’. He barked orders, and the booming sound of his voice sent a tightness through her insides. Tara slid off her bike without a sound, moved to the tree, hoisted herself up and pulled the man to the ground. Before he could yell out, she shot him in the back. Grabbing the walkntalk she crept behind some nearby bushes and hunted for the dead man’s companion.

“What is that smell, my lord?”

Tara froze, with the walkntalk held out in front of her and watched as Darius approached with a group of his men.

“I smell it too. I daresay it smells like something’s burned,” another guard answered.

Darius passed by without seeing her. “That it does.” Darius stopped within feet of her.

She focused on the back of his boots from her hiding place in the bushes.

“It smells like flesh burning.”

“Should we search the area, my lord?”

The group of men stopped with Darius, and the sound of their boots shuffling over the undergrowth showed Tara they weren’t concerned about concealing their whereabouts.

Could she communicate with him on this thing? She didn’t know how to switch channels or to make sure a channel was private. Before she could act, however, the box crackled and a voice came through the walkntalk. Tara knew if the guards hadn’t been so noisy, they would have heard the walkntalk she held.

“Why didn’t you get him?” a voice said. “Mikel will be furious.”

Tara frowned. Mikel was Darius’ brother.

There was movement in a tree farther in the woods. She ran forward, and someone jumped from the tree and shot at her.

“Who is firing?” one of Darius’ men yelled.

“Over there!” Darius barked the command. “I see movement.”

“You’re a Runner,” hissed the man who had tried to gun her down. He aimed his gun directly at her chest.

“And you’re a dead man,” Tara whispered through clenched teeth. The whistling sound of the weapon pierced the air, and the man fell to the ground.

It was the guard who had tried to attack her. Now, why didn’t that surprise her?

“It’s that smell again.” Lord Darius and his men were soon surrounding the dead man’s body. They coughed and covered their mouths with gloved hands as they stared at the man who had been sliced wide open by the laser.

“What was Judo doing back here?” one of Lord Darius’ soldiers asked, as he stared at the charred body.

Tara watched Darius as he studied the dead man. She guessed he’d never seen a man killed by a laser before. Yet his expression remained blank. If his emotions were that much in check, then he was a better warrior than she. Her emotions swarmed around her, making it hard to concentrate. Darius needed protection. Gothman could be attacked in the near future. And for some reason, it appeared Darius had an internal problem.

“I thought he was down with the other troops, my lord,” a guard standing next to Darius said. “Maybe he was trying to get word to us about who ever shot at him.”

“We’ve been all across this land, and there’s no indication that any Sea People have been here. If he wanted to tell me something, I’d think he could’ve talked through the walkntalk. It’s right here.” Lord Darius squatted to take the walkntalk off the dead man and then studied the laser wound on the side of his body. He searched the foliage and was silent for a moment.

Tara knew he realized a Gothman gun couldn’t have killed in that fashion. She pushed the button on the walkntalk in her hand. “I need to talk to you alone,” she whispered into the little box. She took a chance contacting him in that manner, but it made sense that the walkntalk by the corpse and the one she’d taken from the other dead man would be on the same channel. After all, it appeared as if these two, now dead men, had been collaborating on a scheme with Mikel.

* * * * *

Lord Darius quickly looked around him. His men hadn’t heard Tara’s transmission. Where was she?

An intense desire to wrap his fingers around her Runner neck overwhelmed his thoughts momentarily. Tara was risking her life out here, and not knowing where she was at this precise moment brought his blood to a boil. His scowl slowly changed to a small smile as he realized he was going to enjoy the challenge of taming his Runner claim.

“Let’s head back to camp.” He stood and kept a wary eye on his surroundings. “Something’s not right here. I want to confirm that the Sea People are south of Gothman, I do. Grab Judo and haul him back.”

He stood in the forest watching and listening as his men slowly dragged the body toward the bikes. Tara was somewhere in the woods. He didn’t like the fact that she was here, but he couldn’t do anything about it.

What was she up to? He thought about all the stories he’d heard about Runners over the winters. They were rumored to be better soldiers than Gothman. While he questioned that, there was no doubt Tara’s body was tuned into a well-oiled machine. He knew that first-hand…the toned thighs she wrapped around him with the strength of someone twice her size…the way she hung onto him… He shook his head. What was he doing? Now was not the time to get lost in the remembered pleasures of her body.

Closing his eyes, Darius listened. Concentrate, man, he told himself.
Don’t let a Runner outperform your skills.
He squinted to see better and looked in the direction where he thought he’d just heard something. There! Through the bushes! Something in black. He moved through the trees quickly and silently.

He had her in sight as she reached her bike and straddled it. He approached her from behind, wrapping his arms around her with blinding speed and cupping his hand over her mouth.

Instantly, her body lurched backward off the bike. She shoved herself into her aggressor. Her body had more pack to it than he might have guessed. She pulled her legs up and slammed her heels into his knees. He felt excruciating pain, but determination prevailed.

He decided she must know it was him and was trying to convince him she could fight. She twisted her body and thrashed against his. He tightened the arm around her chest until he was afraid he would smash her rib cage if she didn’t succumb.

Darius was impressed by her fight and struggled to keep his balance. He tightened his grip on her just slightly until she was gasping for breath. She stopped thrashing her legs. “What are you doing here?” he whispered into her ear.

* * * * *

Tara struggled to turn far enough within the constraining arms to verify that it was indeed Darius holding her. She relaxed as he slowly removed his hand from her mouth and slid it sensuously around her neck.

“You’ve been fed wrong information,” she whispered. “Hopefully, your spies are dead. I don’t detect any other Gothman in the area other than those behind us and about twenty or so down the hill.” She stopped and gasped for breath.

“What are you talking about?” He turned her around quickly and gripped her arms.

“The Sea People are north and northwest of Gothman. They’re heavily armed and coming in tanks. You need to move your troops quickly.” She paused for a moment, confirming they were alone by listening to the sounds around them. She pulled her shirt down, straightening it. “I do believe Mikel fed you false information to get you out here and kill you.”

A look Tara couldn’t identify crossed Lord Darius’ face. “I didn’t know he was warrior enough to try such a stunt.”

“I heard your men talking on their walkntalk.” She paused, trying to read his reaction to what she was telling him. “There’ll be a thousand Runners meeting you at the northern border in about two days. Your defense needs to be strong to hold the Sea People off until then.” Tara attached her landlink and began punching keys. She searched for a moment, then smiled. “Patha’s on line. He’s verified reinforcement.”

“Patha of the Blood Circle Clan?” He frowned. “How do you know Patha?”

“He’s my papa.”

“I see.”

Tara realized that his lack of reaction meant he already knew about her heritage. That or he didn’t trust her answers.

He murmured, “My papa knew him.”

“So I’ve heard.”

“I will confirm your information.” He started to walk away and then turned to look at her. “I’d hate to think of what might have happened if you hadn’t interfered.”

“I’m not interfering.”

Darius saw her smile through her headscarf.

“What are you going to do about Mikel?”

“He’ll be taken care of.” His voice was quiet, and his gray eyes melted her insides as he looked down at her. He tried to kiss her, but she pulled her bike to the side and started it.

She rolled the bike forward, its engine almost too quiet to hear. “I’ve made my decision. I’ll let your claim stand.” She didn’t wait for a response, but accelerated and left him standing there.

Arriving back at the house, she set up camp in her bedroom. She propped the landlink on the desk and opened the balcony doors so she could better hear any arrivals. Confirming she was still on line, she then searched for Runners in the area.

“This is Tara, of the Blood Circle Clan,” she typed, after detecting one of the clan leaders on line.

“Greetings. This is Jaree, wife to the leader of the Red Star Clan.”

Before long, she was deep in conversation explaining to Jaree what to expect when her clan arrived at the north Gothman border.

“The Red Star Clan is loyal to Patha and the Blood Circle Clan.” Jaree’s typed message appeared on Tara’s screen. “You can count on our help if you need us.”

Tara worked into the night, briefing clan after clan that had either heard from Patha or from another clan leader. She joined a transmission with several other clan leaders, including Patha who was on his landlink at Reena’s house, and argued the pros and cons of a Runner and Gothman union.

“I see you claim two titles now,” Patha typed a side message to Tara, while both of them continued to discuss political issues in a group transmission. “You are not only my heir, but now you claim the title of claim to the Lord of Gothman?”

“I need to show that I am dedicated to helping Gothman.” Tara felt her fingers cramp as she hurried to express her point to Patha, while continuing to comment in the group transmission. “This is the first any Runner has heard of our teaming with Gothman. Sharing news of my claim will help strengthen the alliance.”

As the evening wore on, news traveled of the union between the Runners and the Gothman.

“Is it true?” One of her friends sent a transmission that popped up on her screen. “How have you become the claim to the Lord of Gothman?”

The questions from Tara’s clan members were justified. She typed and typed until her fingers ached and her eyes could no longer focus on the screen. But Tara knew the Runners needed reassurance that Gothman, who had always been their enemy, would now be an ally.

Tara fell asleep before Darius returned that night and woke up with the cool morning breeze coming through the open balcony doors. She was starving and the walkntalk beeped next to her. Getting up quickly, Tara experienced a wave of nausea. She suddenly realized that Reena could be right; she was showing all the signs of pregnancy.

“Tara?” It was Hilda’s voice. Then, the older woman’s voice became muffled as if she was speaking to someone in the room with her. “It’s Tara. She’s there, she is.”

Reena’s voice came through in the background. “Are you okay?”

“Yes. I’m fine. What time is it?”