Claimed: The Warriors of Nur (24 page)

Atif shifted his body, a barrier between the two.  “Leo’Nya,” he faced her.  “Understand.  There are dangers here that you do not--cannot understand.  If Uriel is found beyond our dwellings with no males, she will be taken.”

“But she…I…”

“You didn’t know” he placated, “And she is, well…Uriel” It was all the explanation he could give
.

“She said something about a pool—” Like lightning, Cahil sprang away, his long legged lope taking him through the entrance before she could finish.  Atif nodded, turning to follow the younger male.

Leo gasped, her creamy brown color draining into blanched gray.  Her gaze sought that of her male. 
Her male
.  That is how she thought of him.  Her protector.  Her lover.  Her…just
hers
.  “I’m sorry.  I didn’t….I just…” she gasped, her throat clogging.  “Please believe,” she pleaded, head shaking, “I would never—”

“Shhhh…” he wrapped her, his warmth stealing the chill from her skin.  “All will be well.  Cahil will retrieve her.”

“And if she’s gone?”

“Then we will hunt.”  He stroked her from crown to waist, her head tucked securely beneath his chin.  “And if she is harmed, we will kill.”

“Oh Sweetness, I’m so sorry!” She gripped his sides, burying her head in the muscle of his chest.  “Cahil’s right, I don’t—”

His jaw tightened.  “I will deal with my brother.”

“Please don’t.  He was worried, that’s all.  I might have acted the same had it been Avi.”

“Do not excuse his behavior,
Duša
.  There is no excuse.”  He sighed, weariness evident in the sound.  “But he is young.  It is past time he was sent to the
Tobba
.  He needs tempering.”

“Those are the ‘Sex Priestesses’ right?”  The question emerged muffled from the pillow of his chest.

“They are the physical embodiment of our Goddess Mother.” He hid a grin.  No matter the situation, he felt lighter in her arms.

“Oh,” she lifted her face to pear up at him.  “Sorry.”

“It is fine,
Duša.
” Bending, he kissed her forehead.  “But yes, they will tutor Cahil in pleasure as well.”

“Is that why he acts the way he does?  Because he’s horny?”  His brow wrinkled.  “He needs sex?” she clarified.

“Cahil is near the end of his transition.  His move from puerile to a matured male.  He’s experiencing many changes, both physically and emotionally.”

“So he’s going through puberty is what you’re saying.”  She grinned at his confusion.  “The human equivalent of going from a ‘boy’ to a ‘man’”

“Yes.”  He frowned thoughtfully, “But it does not excuse his behavior.  You are as his blood now, my mate…MY
MATI
...” he reiterated at her lowered gaze.  Regardless of her acceptance, she was his, and he would have none, not even his brothers, refuse her the respect due her.  “...and he will treat you as such.”

“Just, please don’t send him away because of me.”  She sighed. “He already hates me.”

“This is not because of you.  I have been reluctant to send him.  Donagh is already at foster, and now with Neron gone…  I hoped to wait until his blood oath was fulfilled, but I see the danger in that.”

“I’m sure he won’t see it that way.”  She mumbled.

“As I said,” he lifted her chin, dipped to kiss her lips.  He stroked them, his tongue dipping out to taste.  Leo opened willingly, her tongue coming to meet his exploration.  It was crazy the way her body responded to him, opening with no conscious awareness on her part.  She melted into him, her arms circling his waist, palms open to cup the firm globes of his rear.  “…I will deal with my brother.”  He nibbled her a few seconds more before pulling away.  “But first, we find my sister.”

Uriel moaned, her head pounding in tandem with the rapid beat of her heart.  Consciousness returned to her in thin layers, the rhythmic dripping of water echoing loudly in her ears.  Slowly, she opened her eyes, the darkness around her making it difficult to focus.  She ached; the back of her legs felt as if all the skin was peeled off.  With still deliberateness, she took stock of the space around her.  Where by the Goddess Mother was she?  She shivered, the cloth of her
libsa
clinging wetly to her.  Still moving carefully, she sat up, her back pressed to the wall behind her.  Lightly she probed the swollen length of her throat, the area tender to the touch.  Memory surfaced in calm waves.  She remembered floating, the warm pool helping to carry away the forlorn disappointment.  She remembered dreading the moment when her brother would find her.  She remembered drowning, fighting, and then not being able to fight any more.  She remembered…someone, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t remember a face.  Just eyes.  She remembered dark, angry, hate-filled eyes. 

She tried to stand and realized that one leg was pinned in place.  A thin chain wrapped her upper thigh, the length circling twice before connecting to trail along the ground and disappearing between two large rocks.  The thin links cut into her as she bent forward, the flex of muscle more than the metal would allow.  Wrapping the length around her hand, she pulled.  It didn’t give; the chain pulled taut with her efforts.  Again she tried, the chain’s thin edges cutting into her hand and leg until bright red rivulets ran from both.  Having exhausted the slight energy she had, she collapsed.  She probed the darkness, her frustrated gaze bouncing from walls to ceiling in search of something that would break the links.  If she’d been allowed to carry a
sikkina
, she would have easily been able to free herself.  Unfortunately, no matter how many times she’d argued with him, Erol never agreed to her carrying such a weapon.  Goddess, how they must be searching for her.  How long had she been gone?  Had a moon covering passed?  No.  She couldn’t have been gone for more than a few hours.  The wetness of her
libsa
would attest to that.  With renewed purpose, she continued to search, her eyes adjusting until she was able to see almost as clear as day in the dull light.  Light showed through a hole set high up in the ceiling, an opening large enough to allow only a trickle of sun.  She needed something heavy, with enough weight to damage the links.  She just needed to weaken one,  to damage it enough that with some effort, she could snap it free of the others.  Whoever had brought her here would return, and she had no intention of being helpless when they did.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

Leo paced, her opportunity to leave slipping away with each pounding step.  Alone.  She was finally alone for the first time since she’d come here.  Not figuratively either.  She was literally the only one left home. 
Leave…run…now, while they’re all otherwise occupied
.  Her brain screamed, demanded that she take this opportunity.  The ache in her chest was almost intolerable.  Where her brain led, her heart was unable, or unwilling, to follow. 

Her brain--she didn’t owe Erol any loyalty.  Forget the fact that he almost died trying to protect her. If he hadn’t kidnapped her, he wouldn’t have had to protect her.  Who cared if he trusted her to stay?  It was his own fault that she needed to run while he was away, had to take any chance that was permitted.  She’d warned him, hadn’t she? 

Her heart--but he
had
almost died, had been willing to give his life to protect  and save her, and who’s to say that someone else wouldn’t have come along and tracked her from her EP?  Someone less gentle, less caring?  Would breaking his trust scar him for the rest of his life?  Would he ever be able to get over the fact that she’d left him.  He didn’t really believe that she would go, even if she
had
warned him.  He loved her. 

Civil war waged within her, both sides bringing out the big guns, her future the battle field.  She’d never get another chance…
but there’s always another chance
.  He’ll trust you more and will be willing to give you more freedom…
but what if he doesn’t?  What if this makes him even more protective
?  Was she willing to risk never seeing Avi again?

Decision made, she packed only the gear she’d brought with her, minus the water filtration system.  She stopped to fill the pockets of her
borża
with vesi and tangeli fruit before heading towards the dwelling’s opening.  The citrus taste had become addicting, and she’d miss it.  Who knew, maybe she would be able to grow a tree full when she returned to earth. Aside from the intense heat, the climatic conditions weren’t that different.  She stalled, running her hand across the smooth stone table, memories of their love making etched into the cool stone, before continuing into the corridor that would lead to the outer halls.  She hadn’t left since Erol brought her here, but freedom of exploration had provided her with the general blueprint of the structure.  It was a labyrinth, the outer corridors twisting and turning into bigger caves and smaller openings before emptying to the outside.  Palming the short tubed handle of her laser scalpel, she wished that she had something a little more substantial.  But then again, she could be stuck with absolutely nothing.  It was through the grace of God that she even had the scalpel. He’d given it back to her along with her other stuff, but she was pretty sure that Erol hadn’t known exactly what it was.

Stepping into the first of the many long halls, she waited for her eyes to adjust, the dim illumination from the
pjanti
that grew higher up giving her just enough light to make out a route through the stalactites and stalagmites that decorated the floors, and ceilings.  She picked her way cautiously, stopping every now and then to listen.  The only sound was that of the rhythmic dripping that grew the enormous structures around her.  The crystalline sculptures steadily grew in size the deeper she went, the sound of moving water coming and going with each curve or turn.  She shivered as the temperature dropped the closer she got to the entrance.  This was it.  She rounded the next corner with sad success pounding in her heart.  Just a few more steps and she’d be…

A loud pinging echoed, the sound surrounding her as it bounced from wall to wall.  She hesitated, the sound suspicious in its non-rhythmic cadence.  Leo eased forward, the sound drawing her deeper into the tunnels, away from the colder air.  She was headed in the wrong direction.  She knew she was.  Every inner voice screamed that she was losing her chance, the opportunity to escape slipping away with every step she took.  The pinging grew, no longer an echoed echo, congealing as she moved closer to the source.

Uriel lay in an exhausted slump.  Her arms screamed, the muscles locked in tight knots.  Hours, it had to have been.  She’d been pounding away at the links with no success.  Her leg no longer pained her, the nerves having gone numb ages ago, and she couldn’t even feel the blood as it flowed in warm trickles down her leg.  She felt horrible.  Every muscle ached.  Her
libsa
had dried stiff from the minerals found in the hot pools, and she itched, those same minerals having dried to cake her skin.  Tears welled, the helpless defeat that she’d tackled to the ground hours ago was rearing its head for round two.  She didn’t have the energy this time.  All the optimism in the world couldn’t stifle the undammed emotions that rolled through her.  Rage, frustration, and regret.  She wouldn’t regret her death.  In fact as the hours had passed, and no one returned, she’d resigned herself to it.  No.  She believed in the Mother Goddess.  Believed in the purposefulness of every event.  She’d go willingly to her Garden if that’s what was meant to happen.  What she would regret most was the pain she’d leave behind.  Her brothers would mourn her.  They’d rail, and weep, avenge and hunt.  They’d kill.  They’d do all the things that worthy males should do, but in the end…the pain would remain.  In silence she waited, the only interruption the rhythmic dripping that echoed the walls.  She waited, gaging footsteps as they neared.  Her captor had  returned.  It took what seemed like hours, the light steps often hesitating before continuing nearer.  What would death be like, she wondered.  Would it be swift, one moment here, the next, not?  Would it be slow, the trickle of a pool emptying until there was nothing left?  Would there be pain?  The questions chased through her head, a loop tightening until there was no distinguishing one from the other.  Her mind blanked as the footsteps neared.  Numbly she gripped the stone still resting in her palm.  It was the only weapon she had.  If death came, she would go, but she would fight it to her last breath.

Leo slid through into a large cave, the opening behind her wide enough to allow a body through, but nothing else, and that only if turned sideways.  The pinging had stopped, the dripping eerie now in the silence.  She shivered, a tingle racing up her spine.  Self-preservation must be kicking in.  Would have been nice if it had showed up five or six turns ago, before she’d decided to investigate the loud echoing ping-ping that had now vanished completely.  She paused, sweeping her gaze from one end of the enormous room to the other.  Nothing moved, the thick growing
pjanti
illuminating the monstrous formations above her.  They glowed, the light shimmering like candles in an enormous chandelier.  She focused her gaze up, head tilting back to take in the full magnificence of the sight above her.  On Earth, she’d have to go to a nature reserve to see anything remotely as beautiful as this.  The beauty of Nur was something she would miss.  She imagined it to be what Earth had once been before the wars, pollution and over population, and she lamented what had been lost to her generation and those to come.  What would it have been like to grow up in a place this beautiful? To be protected by a family who loved you above all else?  To know that you would never be alone?  Again, a wave of sorrow hit her, the deep longing for her sister surfacing to renew her faith in the decision she’d made.  She was stalling.  The one thing she’d never done was bullshit herself.  Well, at least not until now.  She didn’t want to leave.  Didn’t want to never see Erol again.  Would miss Uriel, whom she’d begun to think of as a little sister.  It wasn’t as simple as it started out.  She wanted to stay as much as she needed to go.  Besides who said that she wouldn’t be able to come back?  Nur was actively being catalogued right?  Wasn’t that the whole reason she was even in this quadrant?  And she still needed to report on the attack on her ship.  She could go home, report, regroup, and request reassignment.  She could ask to be assigned as an emissary.  She sighed. This process centered her.  She had a plan now.  She worked so much better when she had a plan.  Calmer, she turned back towards the entrance.  She’d return to her EP, wait for her sister, hope Erol didn’t find her first, and then…well, start the plan.  Her thoughts occupied, she didn’t see the form before her until she was almost upon it.  She jumped back, her eyes widening. 

Vinda advanced, her attentions focused on the female who had destroyed her world.  An insane smile crept into her eyes at the flash of fear that crossed Leo’Nya’s face.  “Finally,” she hissed, the high pitched screech echoing. 

“V!”  Leo backed slowly away, her gaze focused on the
sikkina
the other female held.  “You look…” her gaze traveled the length of her, taking in the ripped and crusted clothing, the matted, straggled hair. “  …well.”

“Leo?!”

Leo blinked, her gaze straying briefly.  “Uriel?”

“Leo!  Blessed Mother!  Is Erol with you?”

“Ummm…..yeah”  there was no way she was letting on that she was flying solo.  “He’s right behind me, he’s—”

“He’s not coming.”  Vinda laughed.  The sound low, and menacing.  “He’s out looking for you, dear one.”

Leo gasped, “How do—”  She backed further into the cave, until she stood almost centered beneath the small opening above.

“Blessed Goddess, Leo.  I’m so sorry.  I—” Uriel cried.

“Shhhh….”  Leo’s gaze found the girl chained between two large stones.  “It’s ok sweetie.”  She turned back to Vinda.  “It’s not your fault she’s a whack-job.”

“Yes, dear one, shhhh…”  Vinda continued forward.  “You were just bait.  I will release you to the Goddess quickly.”

“I don’t understand,” Uriel cried, “I—”

“Stupid female, of course you don’t understand.  No one understands.” Vinda screeched.

“So why don’t you enlighten us?”  Leo gripped the laser scalpel still in her palm.  It was small, the blade, when extended, slightly longer than her middle finger.  She would have to be extremely close to do any damage at all, but right now, it was the only weapon she had.  “I mean, you can’t still be pissed that I didn’t want to mate your son.  I mean Rasipni is—”

“Rasipni,” she spat the name, “ I don’t claim his weakness.  No son of mine would have let his dead go un-avenged.  You’ll be punished for the pain you have caused.  For the lives you have stolen.”

“I didn’t cause anything, you crazed heifer.”  Leo stopped her retreat, her stance widening for the fight to come.  “Look.  We are both,” she hesitated,  “…rational adults.  We should be able to discuss this.  I mean two wrongs don’t make a right, and all that crap.”

“What of the lives you plan to steal?”  Uriel shifted, pushing up into a seated position.  “Vengeance is for the Goddess to decide.  You have not the right to it.”

“She is
Aljeni
, dear one,” her voice softening, when she addressed the younger female.  Almost soothing in its tone.  “She is beyond the reach of the Goddess.”

“None are beyond the reach of the Goddess”

“Silence.”  Vinda yelled, her voice echoing.  “Enough!” 

“Look you insane bitch—”

Without warning, Vinda catapulted herself, the impact unbalancing Leo until she was forced to grab the larger woman to remain standing.  The scalpel skidded from her hand and rolled across the ground.  Well, so much for a weapon.  With strength born of fear, she wrestled, grabbing the wrist that swung in a wide arch towards her.  The blade, about twelve inches long, pressed closed with each flexing twist until it took every ounce of her strength to keep it from embedding in her throat.  If she won this one, she’d so have to wipe the word ‘bitch’ from her vocab.

“STOP!”  The shouted command froze them all in place. 

Vinda glanced beyond the smaller female, the sight of her son momentarily grabbing her focus.  “Why are you here,
Mohoj
?” she spat the insult, lips curling to reveal the tips of sharp white fangs. 

“
Majka
, --”

“You are no son of mine.”  She snarled.  “My son is dead!”  Her attention returned to the female before her. “And so will you be!” 

Vinda lunged, the sudden movement taking Leo by surprise.  They crashed to the floor, sharp rocks digging into her back.  She struggled, amazed at the strength in the emaciated woman.  Who knew that skin and bones could pack such a punch? but insanity truly lent strength to anyone.  She watched the sharp blade inch closer, the tip angled towards her face.  With no warning, the weight was lifted off her, the suddenness causing her arms to flail up into the curved blade.  Blood gushed hot down the underside of her arm, the limb almost immediately going numb.  She watched Vinda struggle, her son’s strength more than she could, even in her insane state, match.