All For One [Nuworld 3] (7 page)

“What is a falling?” she asked.

His eyes seemed to probe her steadily—she felt the pulling sensation again as if he

were trying to bring her closer to him with his eyes.

“Um, how do I describe it? A falling is when the leaves fall off the trees. We count

our age by how many times this has happened since we’ve been born. The leaves grow,

are beautiful, change colors and then die and fall off. It’s very reliable and we plan our

lives around it.”

“I understand. We call them winters. There are twelve cycles in every winter. We

base that on the moon and the seasons on Nuworld. We find them to be very consistent

as well.” Tara had a lifetime of adjusting to cultures doing things differently.

“So, now we know that we both have calendars.” Darius sounded bored and Tara

shot him a glance. Instead of looking at her however, he glanced at Geeves, who sat

close by. Geeves leaned forward and whispered several words to Darius. The Lord

nodded and then turned his attention back to Sorg. “Do you have standard armies?

What is your means of trade? How many are your people? These are questions I would

have answered.”

Sorg raised an eyebrow to the authoritative tone. One glance in his direction and at

the incredibly large Gothman warriors that stood like statues at the entrance of the tent

seemed to convince him answering the questions would be in his best interest. A

friendly smile didn’t reach his eyes while he explained more about the Tree People.

“The Barringswood tribe has over eight hundred people that live under its

protection. There are ten other acknowledged tribes and each one swears its own

allegiance. We are not enemies with any of them and, in fact, our trade and currency

flow easily among all the tribes. We don’t have soldiers standing for battle for we are in

a peaceful time.” He smiled knowingly at Darius. “We are capable of defending

ourselves, however, if the need were to arise. Our land is fertile with plenty of trees to

feed all of us. Our trees provide all we need to live and protect us from the elements.

Trade among the tribes is usually protection for service. I don’t know your people well

enough yet to know if we have grounds to discuss trade.”

There were more questions from Darius, and Sorg asked a few questions of his

own. Tara noticed Darius answered the questions vaguely. Although he remained

polite, Tara knew her claim had reservations of his own about this new race. After

almost an hour of polite information exchange Darius cleared his throat, stood, and

reached his hand down to Tara. She always felt infuriated when he treated her as the

submissive female. She knew nothing angered Darius more than challenging this

treatment in front of strangers. His eyes twinkled as she glared at him but she accepted

his hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

Sorg also stood, as did Jolee and Geeves.

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“Will we be able to meet with you again before we end our visit in your land?”

Sorg, of the Barringswood tribe, looked from Darius to Tara.

“How long do you wish to stay?” Tara turned her attention from Darius to Sorg.

Darius still held her hand and she felt it tighten when Sorg once again seemed to pull at

her with his eyes. Was he actually jealous of this tall, thin man? Sorg was certainly no

threat to Darius in any way. The three guards Sorg had in the tent couldn’t stop one of

the Gothman guards. They all looked very humble with dark brown hair and mousy

brown eyes.

She took in the appearance of the three guards at that moment. They had a darker

complexion than Sorg did. Their eyes moved from hers as she looked at each one of

them. Their clothes were drab colors unlike Sorg’s clothes. Each of them wore brown

pants with plain black pullover shirts. They were armed, she noticed, long black guns

hung from each of their belts.

“We would like to visit your cities if we may be permitted.” Sorg glanced quickly

from Tara to Darius and seemed somehow to be aware of the uneasiness he’d stirred in

Darius. He turned his attention to Tara.

“You may continue to camp here for the time being.” Darius spoke in a calm but

authoritative tone. “Use our land to your advantage. There is ample wildlife on the

plateau that serves up well to feed a small group such as yours. We will contact you in

the next day or so.”

With that, he guided Tara through the opening in the tent and toward their gliders.

Sorg and his guards stood outside the tent and watched as the Gothman and Runner

party departed. Tara didn’t look back but she knew they were watched as they flew

slowly away in their ceremonial procession.

Formalities such as these seemed pretentious to her and she scowled at their slow

pace, anxious to return home and discuss the meeting they’d had with the Tree People.

She turned to stare at Darius through her clear dome. He rode several feet away from

her to her side, staring straight ahead and showing absolutely no emotion. Nor would

he look at her. She suspected he could tell she stared at him but obviously he wouldn’t

open the floor for discussion until they were in their conference room.

Something caught her eye as she stared at Darius. A speck behind his head—

something moving quickly off in the distance. She refocused her gaze to stare out onto

the open plateau at the same time one of the guards spoke into their comms.

“My lord,” she heard the voice speak to Darius through her comm. “A glider to the

east.” The soldier pointed. “It’s headed toward Bryton at high speed.”

Darius turned to look, and simultaneously slowed his speed. The surrounding

gliders followed suit. The approaching glider, flying across the open field as they

watched, had come a great distance in a very short time. But now, the glider also

decreased its speed and seemed to hesitate in moving closer or turning in the opposite

direction.

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Lorie O’Clare

Tara reached for her viewer and held it up to her eye. Her gasp caused Darius to

look at her, and she realized her comm was still on.

“Darius, I will meet you back at the house.” Tara’s expression showed no emotion.

Quickly Darius raised his own viewer.

“No. I will go. I’ll handle this.” He spoke with his head turned toward their

daughter, toward Ana who hovered still a fair distance across the high plateau.

He then turned to look at Tara and she saw the stone-cold anger that spread across

his face. Every muscle was constricted and his eyes burned with fury.

Suddenly, Tara feared for Ana’s safety. She didn’t want Darius left alone with their

daughter out here where there was no one to stop him from unleashing that anger on

their child.

She opened her mouth to protest and he cut her off quickly. “She wishes to be a

warrior. She’ll learn to follow orders and not take off as she pleases. Worse yet, to sneak

off. She has no landlink. She drives blindly and foolishly.”

“Darius,” Tara whispered. She wanted to remind him of their daughter’s Runner

blood. She wanted to point out that Ana would be compelled to take off and explore

more and more as the winters passed. Her behavior merited a reprimand but Darius

couldn’t break their daughter’s spirit. She wouldn’t let him do that. She wanted to

explain all that to him but his gaze upon her iced over. His ears closed themselves to

any reasoning.

“Take our party back to Bryton. Wait for me in the conference room.” His voice was

no more than a vulgar growl. “Do as you are told.”

Darius left their small party at incredible speed.

Tara numbly gestured with her hand that the procession continue to Bryton. She

cried inside for the punishment her daughter would receive at the hand of her papa.

The last either of them knew their daughter had left for Taratown without permission

or an escort. To see her now, returning from the north—the complete opposite direction

of Taratown—proved not only that she was guilty of leaving home without permission

but that she’d successfully deceived not only her parents but their security system as

well.

Tara was outraged by her daughter’s insubordinate behavior but part of her felt

pride that her daughter truly craved an adventure. Ana would be a great warrior.

* * * * *

Andru paced his large bedroom as impending doom saturated every one of his

conscious thoughts. Outside he could tell the guards were beginning to stir. They’d

heard from his papa. He was sure about that. They no longer dawdled but stood alert in

anticipation. Something wasn’t right though. He could sense it.

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“Go with your thoughts, child.”

Andru turned sharply to see the dog-woman leaning against her large wooden

staff. Her coarse white hair was braided and twisted into a bun. She wore a long loose

dress, made of animal skin that hung shapelessly against her gaunt frame. Glassy, faded

brown eyes blinked at him and she smiled gently.

“You know what you have to do, don’t you?”

“What I have to do?” Andru repeated and scowled. He’d grown accustomed to the

dog-woman interrupting his days with riddles. She made him think and then he’d be

forced to act. He’d never asked, but he assumed his mama sent the dog-woman to him.

He knew his mama had a special connection with Crator. He’d seen how she acted in

the Crator temple. He wanted that same gift. What a great leader he’d be! Better than

his papa. He knew Crator didn’t work through Darius.

“Something’s about to happen, isn’t it?” He narrowed his eyes on her face.

Her expression didn’t change. “Andru, when your senses alert you, pay attention to

them. They will tell you what to do.”

“I feel an inevitable doom. There’s no stopping it.” He searched his room for

nothing in particular. “I’m not in danger, at least not at the moment. I’m in my room

and there are plenty of guards outside. I’m in good health and could easily defend

myself.” He looked over to the dog-woman quickly. “It’s not me. It’s Ana. I’m feeling

her fears. Oh Crator, she’s in trouble.”

Andru hurried to the door, pausing long enough to squeeze the dog-woman’s arm.

“You’re good to me,” he whispered then ran from the room.

Andru sprinted to his glider and flew out of the yard while several Gothman

guards yelled after him. He ignored them, flying quickly into the air heading northeast.

He diverted quickly as he almost collided with Tara and the advisors and guards who