The Saga Begins [Nuworld 1] (43 page)

The side of the man’s face exploded. The sound of him falling to the ground echoed through the surrounding trees. Then, all was silent.

Tara turned quickly, arms outstretched, aiming the Neurian gun and her laser at anybody fool enough to step closer. Seven dead bodies lay on the ground around her. The smell of blood and gunpowder from the Neurian gun drifted as the breeze increased. She did not feel the coldness of it. Breathing hard, her body tensed. She listened to the silence and glanced quickly in all directions.

There were more. She could hear the occasional leaf crumple, the small twig snap. Gowsky walked slowly out from behind a nearby tree. His hands were outstretched, his movements slow and deliberate. She aimed one of the guns at him.

“Do all Runners fight like you?” He raised his hands higher, letting her know he was not armed.

“If they’re good, they do.” Tara raised the gun and aimed it at his face.

“We definitely have a problem on our hands.” He smiled at her. “Do you shoot in cold blood?”

Gowsky must have believed she wouldn’t shoot him, since he appeared before her with outstretched arms. But she knew he didn’t trust her when four Neurians appeared from behind the trees. They aimed their guns at her.

Chapter Eighteen

“I only shoot in cold blood if it’s appropriate.” Tara let the guns fall to the ground. The breeze whipped through the trees. This time, her sweat-soaked body felt the chill.

Gowsky noticed the seductiveness of her body through the clinging thin materials of her clothes. Tara had many sides to her personality, he noted. Those who didn’t know her well would think she was simply a happy mama of two small children, looking for a new life. He’d seen what he wanted to see, however. She was the most incredible warrior he’d ever known. Briefly, Gowsky wondered why Kuro hadn’t given him better warning of her unbelievable fighting skills.

Tara watched the four men closely, at the same time aware that Gowsky was summing up her abilities. Had he set her up simply to see what she could do? Her instinct told her this was probably the case. The man had sent seven of his warriors on a suicide mission to test her. For her part, Tara had no problem showing the Neurians her skills, or letting them know she would fight for her freedom. Now, she was curious what Gowsky planned to do with this knowledge.

Movement beyond the surrounding group of trees caught her attention. Automatically, she turned her head and looked through the trees. Something moved again. It was the old woman from the desert! She stood partially visible behind one of the farthest trees, returning Tara’s stare. She gave the old woman her full attention.

Gowsky noticed Tara’s attention was focused elsewhere so he followed her gaze. Concentrate as he might, he saw nothing, yet she was alerted by something. He stared harder. Still nothing. What was she doing?

Tara narrowed her eyes and scrutinized the old woman, who had finally stepped out from behind the tree and had begun walking toward her. Tara reasoned that the old woman had either been on this side of the force field or the shield had no effect on her.

To check her own wits, Tara shifted focus to the others. The four Neurians still held their weapons on her, and Gowsky was staring at her. None gave any indication they noticed the old woman approaching. Tara looked down at the ground and then slowly lifted her eyes in the direction of the old woman once again.

She walked into the open, allowing herself to be seen by the small group. Yet they didn’t appear to notice her.

Were they testing her again? Tara tried to give no indication that she noticed the old woman approaching. The woman stopped next to Tara. She looked up and met Tara’s eyes. It was the same woman she’d seen in the desert.

“Why are you here?” The old woman looked up at Tara. Her deeply creased dark brown face appeared healthy.

Tara didn’t respond. Instead, she looked at Gowsky, who was giving her an odd look.

The old woman continued. “You have a lot of work to do. Tonight, you need to go home.” She turned and walked back through the trees.

Tara glanced quickly at the old woman and then at the four men, still aiming their guns at her, before focusing on Gowsky.

“Take her inside,” Gowsky instructed the four armed men.

Tara was escorted past the damaged shed to the house. For the first time, she noticed that her
prison
had been a shed with one wall attached to a large barn. She wondered what was kept in the barn, since she had never heard or smelled animals.

Her thoughts returned to the appearance of the old woman. Who was she? Tara remembered Fleeders’ explanation about guardians roaming in the desert, but this woman had been flesh and blood, not the hallucination from some folk tale.

Gowsky led Tara inside his home, dismissing the guards before they entered. She found herself surrounded by warmth for the first time in days. As she entered a large room, Gowsky didn’t seem to mind her self-guided tour, so she studied the room’s contents.

Tara glanced behind her at Gowsky, who stood just inside the door pushing buttons on a wall-mounted pad.
Probably setting a security system.
Tara wished she had her landlink with her; she could then determine if force fields surrounded the house.

The room in which Tara stood was long and narrow. She noted a closed door at the other end of the room and a hallway to her left, which was shrouded in darkness. She guessed she stood in the living room, possibly used for conferences, judging by the number of chairs and sofas scattered about. The floors were carpeted, and the walls made of clay.

The door opened, and a woman appeared. She stared at Tara but made no move to enter the living area.

“You can show our guest to her room, Saysil,” Gowsky said.

Tara focused on the woman as she passed through the room, heading for the dark hallway. Tara guessed she should follow and did so.

“These clothes should fit you.” The woman, who was about the same age as Tara, opened the door at the end of the hallway and entered a room. Tara followed her, noticing Saysil had backed to the doorway as she pointed to clothes draped over a chair. She never took her eyes off Tara.

Tara was amused by the girl’s fear. “Boo!” she said suddenly, and the girl jumped and ran from the room. Tara could hear her fumbling with the doorknob on the other side, desperately trying to lock it as quickly as she could. Tara laughed out loud and casually pulled the damp dress from her body.

She felt much more comfortable in the dark khaki pants and wool sweater she’d been given to wear. The small room where she’d changed had a large bureau and a small bed. She guessed it was a spare bedroom.

Absentmindedly, she noted it wasn’t as nice as the room she’d been given in Gothman. The clay-plastered walls had no pictures hanging on them, and only one thin blanket spread over the bed—certainly not enough cover for this time of winter.

Left to her own devices, Tara decided to explore the room’s contents. She found a pouch-like bag with straps that she tied around her stomach and hid under her sweater. She also discovered long underwear in the bureau and quickly pulled off the khaki pants to put them on before donning the pants again. She realized it would be wise to dress warmly should she decide to implement the old lady’s idea and head home that night. Even though she had no idea how this plan was to be executed, she decided she would prepare for the occasion. It would only get colder the farther north she headed.

The sole window in the room looked out over the backyard. A large pane of glass was enclosed in a wooden frame that slid up and down on ropes. It easily unlocked, and she slid it up. The screen on the other side of the window would pop out easily, she determined after studying the manner in which it attached to the window frame.

She looked out the window at the side yard. Not too far away was a large barn. She could see the barn door flapping in the breeze and wondered if anyone was inside. Four guards had accompanied them to the house, but she didn’t see any of them at the moment. She couldn’t see the shed that had been her prison, but knew it was on the other side.

Carefully, she removed the screen and held on to it until the bottom touched the yard, then she let go and it landed silently on the ground. Gowsky obviously didn’t use his house to hold prisoners. She wondered again if he had activated a security system when they first entered the house, and decided there was only one way to find out! For the second time that day, Tara planned her escape. She slid out the window, landing easily onto the ground.

She walked several feet away from the house and froze. At the corner of the building, Gowsky stood talking to another man! She hadn’t noticed them from the window, since they wouldn’t have been visible where they stood. The other man faced her way, but Gowsky had his back to her. If she made a move to the barn, she would be noticed.

The man talking to Gowsky pointed a finger in her direction, and Gowsky turned.

Tara saw him throw up his hands as if exasperated and quickly steer the man in the other direction. That’s when Tara realized the other man was Fleeders!

Fleeders looked hard at her, saying something to Gowsky.

Tara seized the opportunity and bolted toward the barn. She heard Gowsky yell her name. He was running after her.

Tara got to the barn in plenty of time to shut the door and lower the wooden lock. She moved away from the door as Gowsky lunged against it.

“Open the door, Tara.”

Tara ignored him and moved farther from the door, looking around her. Pieces of farming equipment, a tractor and seeder surrounded her. Irrigation supplies lined the wall. She saw several horse stalls and started examining each in turn. They appeared empty. She passed a pitchfork and picked it up as she continued investigating the stalls.

“Tara!” Gowsky yelled loudly this time, his frustration with his unwilling captive apparent.

“Where are all your animals?” Tara decided to feed his anger.

“Dead. Now open the door!”

“Dead? That’s odd. How’d they die?”

“All the animals died, Tara.” It was Fleeders’ voice.

Tara reached the fourth and last stall. “Perfect.”

She stared at her motorcycle parked in the space. It was covered with dust and straw. She brushed off the seat as she pulled it out. Her elation fell as she realized the landlink was missing from the dash. What else had they done to it? Would it run? Not far without fresh gas and oil.

Several gunshots came from the door, and Tara heard instructions shouted from the other side. “Aim at the lock.”

A final shot broke the metal piece holding the wooden lock, and it slid across the hard dirt floor. Tara turned and watched the door swing open.

“Where do you expect to go on that?” Gowsky stood at the door, focusing on Tara who’d mounted the bike. “The force field surrounds the yard.”

Tara smiled. She pushed the necessary buttons, and the bike started easily. “I guess I will have to have faith in your Crator.”

She couldn’t possibly realize how hard her words hit home with Gowsky. He looked at her with complete bafflement. He snapped his head to look at Fleeders, then turned back to Tara. “You don’t believe in Crator.”

“Well, it seems your Crator believes in me.” Tara raced her engine, allowing the gas to flow through it.

“You have no right to speak about Crator. You know nothing about Him,” Gowsky sneered. “And I doubt very much Crator would have anything to do with a Runner.”

“If you say so.” Tara shrugged indifferently. Her expression didn’t change as she looked up and saw that he pointed his gun at her. “You know I saw her again today, don’t you, Gowsky?”
Get him good and angry. He won’t think as clearly.

“You saw her?” Gowsky slowly moved closer, maintaining his aim on her right shoulder.

“I saw an old woman.” Tara had no doubts that Gowsky would shoot her. But if he got just a bit closer, she’d disarm him. “She told me to go home.”

“How convenient,” Gowsky sneered.

Tara lunged the bike forward with no warning. Straight at Gowsky. He jumped to the side and pulled the trigger. Tara reached out and smacked Gowsky’s wrist, causing the gun to shoot into the rafters. A blizzard of hay descended on them.

Tara maintained her grip as Gowsky yanked back.

Her hand moved with him as he yanked, offering no resistance.

He was prepared for her to pull back, assuming she’d try to take the gun from him. He used too much force to pull back the gun and lost his balance. Which is exactly what she hoped for.

As he hesitated, trying to regain balance, she stripped the gun from him, pulled the handlebar of her bike hard in the other direction and sped out of the barn.

Perfect! I’m properly clothed, armed, and I have my bike.
This had worked better than she’d anticipated. She knew her skills exceeded those of the Neurians, but the accomplishments she’d just achieved almost appeared to be handed to her. But, how could that be?

Gowsky was right, she knew nothing about Crator. She’d never been asked to have faith in something she knew nothing about or had never met. She’d had faith in other Runners before, during battle. She knew they would do their part and if she did her part, they would be victorious. She’d had faith in Patha all her life. He provided for her and taught her everything he could. That was what she knew, and that was the faith she would use now.