Nuworld: Claiming Tara (16 page)

Tara’s eyes were moist with tears. There was no missing
how her face lit up at the mention of the Lord of Gothman.
Patha noticed
that,
and much more.
He
watched
his
daughter’s expression transform when she
began
explaining the thinking of the new, young lord.
“You’ve been in Gothman almost two cycles,” Patha
prompted. “You have Reena curious that you might be
staying.”
“Oh. I – uh…” Tara hesitated. She shifted her weight and
looked away from both of them. Without ceremony, she
plopped down and sat cross legged. Tara tugged on that
Gothman dress she wore under her Runner jacket. When
she pulled her jacket around her, Patha saw the symbol of
the Blood Circle Clan on the sleeve. But she’d slipped a ban
over the sleeve of her jacket – the symbol of the Bryton
house.
“The truth is he had my bike,” she told them, laughing
then looking down and tracing her finger along the tip of
her boot. “It’s okay, though. You should have seen Darius
when I let him ride it.”
“How did Lord Darius know you’re a Runner?” Patha
had already guessed but wanted her story.
As he always had, when his clan was close enough to
Gothman borders for a transmission to go through, he’d
contacted Reena. He’d hurried to Gothman as soon as
Reena told him that Lord Darius had claimed Tara. With
the Sea People ready to start trouble his clans were primed
for action. Patha had left with only a few of his men,
knowing they’d travel faster that way. For now, the clan
was safe where they were, although he’d left them on alert
and was maintaining open transmissions in case the Sea
People got stupid while he was away.
He didn’t want to attack Gothman. Now both of his
women were here. The last thing he would do was start a
war and risk either their lives. However, Patha would make
it clear to Lord Darius the same way he had with his sire.
Patha would kill to protect his family.
“I told him I was a Runner.” Tara put her hand on
Patha’s knee. Her face glowed when she smiled up at him.
“He had figured it out, but Darius thinks he has everything
figured out. At first I thought he was an idiot, because of
his laws about women. But don’t worry, Patha. Darius
won’t make me do anything I don’t want to do.”
Reena stiffened and fell clumsily back onto the swing
next to him. Patha gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze. Tara
hadn’t said she wanted to stay in Gothman.
“Have you fallen in love with this Gothman lord?” Patha
saw his answer when he looked at his daughter. He’d never
seen such a glow in her face.
“Yes, maybe. I think so.” She blushed and looked from
Patha to Reena. “He’s a good man. He claimed me, but I
told him I wouldn’t be claimed until I was ready. He could
have had me killed. But he didn’t. That speaks so much
louder about his character than any of the stories do, don’t
you think? He told me when they heard a Runner had
entered Gothman territory they hunted me, and he found
me. Darius wouldn’t have me killed on sight. He told me
that he didn’t see a threat, and like me, wanted to know
why the law to shoot a Runner on sight existed before
implementing it.”
Lord Darius is willing to wait for you to accept his
claim?” Patha searched her face for more of an answer than
she would give him with words.
“Gothman don’t feel a need for their women to accept a
claim.” Tara rolled her eyes but was still grinning at both of
them. “I think I’m going to claim him, though.”
“Does he know this?”
“I haven’t told him yet.”
A small smile appeared on Patha’s face. His daughter
would never do anything she didn’t want to do. That was
his Tara, stubborn as she was beautiful. She was also one
of the best warriors he’d seen in all his winters. A union
between Tara and Lord Darius would end the ban of
Runners in
Gothman.
Runners would be
even
more
powerful with Gothman under their wing. “I’ll have several
thousand Runners here
within a quarter-cycle.” Patha
turned serious. “Where’s his army?”
“I believe the Gothman armies are preparing to head
south.”
“Why are they heading in that direction?” Patha looked
surprised.
“He told me his scouts saw the Sea People heading in
from the south.”
“There are no Sea People there. We’ve come up from the
south after trading with the River People. When we rode
north outside of Gothman we spotted several Sea People
camps. My scouts report that they are travelling with tanks
and heavy artillery. They’ve already attacked several clans
north of here. According to the transmissions, there have
been quite a few casualties.”
“Oh Patha, this is horrible.” Tara was mortified. She’d
been out of communication with the clans for almost two
cycles. “If I hadn’t spoken with you just now, I would have
allowed Darius to take his army south. Gothman would
have been unprotected. “Patha, somehow Darius has some
bad information. I need to warn him!”
Tara hurried to her feet and ran into the house to grab
her bag. She pulled out the flat landlink. It seemed to take
forever to activate. She punched keys the second she had a
signal. The tracer she’d put on Darius’ neck appeared as a
red dot on a grid map. He was already heading south.
“Patha, Darius has already left.” Tara yelled, but when
she turned Patha and Reena were right behind her. Reena
moved to the stove and reached for the kettle. “Reena, I’d
like to send Hilda and Torgo to stay with you for the time
being. I believe they’d be safer here. If the Sea People target
the area, they would go after Darius’ home. This place is
isolated, and we could post guards to protect you. Will you
have them?”
Patha gestured to the Runner who sat on the couch with
a landlink on his lap. “I can leave Duru here with you for
the time being. He can monitor the area.”
“Of course, child. They can stay here.” Reena walked
around the counter and put her hands on Tara’s waist.
“That is, if Lord Darius will allow it. You will go to battle
with your claim?”
“Oh yes,” Tara said. “I’d be of no help staying in hiding
with the women.”
Reena smiled but looked serious, almost sad. “My
daughter finally knows me, and she wants to leave for
battle.”
“Reena, don’t worry. I’ll be back.”
“Tara, you’re with child. You know this is true, right?”
Tara and Patha both stared open-mouthed at Reena.
“How could I be?” Tara was ready to disagree.
“There’s only one way.” Reena smiled.
Tara looked down at her flat tummy.
“I’d say just over a cycle. I know the glow and I’ve never
been wrong. You take very good care of yourself and my
grandbaby, you hear?”
Tara glanced at Patha, but didn’t say anything. Instead
she grabbed her bag, and ran out of the cabin. That last bit
of information was one piece of news too much.
Reena watched as Tara drove down the hill in Hilda’s
groundmobile. “Tell me we did the right thing.” She looked
up into Patha’s face for reassurance.
“We’ve discussed this for winters and now suddenly
you’re worried?” Patha walked into Reena’s kitchen and
helped himself to a slice of her pie. “Did you see her,
Reena? She wore symbols of the Blood Circle Clan and
Gothman on her sleeve. She is quite possibly the first
person on Nuworld to do that.”
“She ran out my door more excited to tell Lord Darius
about a war than of being pregnant.” Reena still wasn’t
convinced they were doing the right thing. “You were right,
though. I daresay you always are. Lord Darius claimed her
as soon as he saw her.”
“Of course he did. She’s as beautiful and smart as her
mama.”
Reena walked up
behind Patha, wrapped her
arms
around his middle and rested the side of her face against
his back. “I remember when your flattery, and your just
being here, took all my worries away.”
“You remember?” Patha complained and turned in her
arms. “Remember? You think I’m too old? I’ll show you too
old.” He lifted her without asking and plopped her on the
counter next to her pie. Instantly, his large competent
hands slid underneath her dress and up her thighs. “Duru,
you should go check on Sal.”
“Duru, you should leave Sal alone and let him sleep.”
Reena laughed. When she wasn’t strong enough to move
Patha, she put her arms around his neck and scratched
his short gray hair. “You don’t approve of her fighting when
she’s pregnant, do you?”
“You were serious about that?” The mischief in his green
eyes disappeared. “I’ll let you know after I meet Lord
Darius. What do you know about him?”
“He has a lot of power but he’s young. People that get in
his way have a tendency to fall into bad luck, so to speak. I
don’t know whether or not he’s good enough for our
daughter. But I really hope Tara will stay here. I’d like get
to know her. Imagine her living in Gothman as a Runner.”
Reena pursed her lips, trying to digest the possibility.
Patha moved his hands to cup her face. “It will be tough
on her
at first,
but
their
union will create
the
most
powerful nation in Nuworld.”
Reena stared at Patha’s rugged, perfectly weathered,
handsome
face. She’d seen that incredibly focused,
determined look before. It hadn’t always been clear what he
planned, but she’d always trusted Patha. Not once had he
led her wrong.
With that one statement though, she understood Patha’s
thoughts. He was more concerned about how powerful
Runners and Gothman would be if the two were claimed.
She was more concerned about her daughter’s happiness.
Reena worried that the challenges Gothman, and Lord
Darius brought Tara would
be enough to
satisfy her.
Darius would command Tara to stay in Gothman. If she
didn’t, and Reena understood Runner blood better than
anyone, it might start a war.

the open room stairs, and called for Hilda and Torgo. The
two of them hurried to her, instantly concerned by the
worry in her voice. “I’m going to send you two to stay with
Reena.”

“Darius wouldn’t leave us here if
he didn’t think we were
safe.” Hilda crossed her fleshy arms over her bosom and
scowled at Tara. “We aren’t going anywhere.”

“Darius doesn’t
know how
many Sea People
are
surrounding Gothman right now. The Runners are here
and more are coming. With our equipment we can help
Gothman. These Sea People are ready to attack. You’re
safer at Reena’s outside of Bryton. I’ve already arranged for
guards to protect you,” Tara reassured both of them.

She followed them up the stairs.
“I don’t like the idea of being sent away from my own
home,” Hilda grumbled. “And by a Runner no less.”
“Hilda, I’m not your enemy.” Once in her own room, Tara
changed into her Runner clothing. Completely dressed for
battle, she sat down on the bed and pulled her landlink
from her black bag she had taken to Reena’s. It didn’t take
as long this time to activate. Soon she was communicating
with some of the Runners outside Gothman’s borders.
It felt good to be connected again. Gothman didn’t have
landlinks and therefore no networks. Now with a Runner
clan close to Gothman, she activated and communicated
with her people.
“This is Tara of the Blood Circle Clan,” Tara whispered
the words as she typed. “Requesting any known
information on Sea People in the area.”
Tara sent the message to the two clans she’d managed
to locate. She would check back soon for a response.
“Come on, let’s go!” she yelled as she left her room and
headed down the stairs.
“Whoa!” Torgo hurried down the steps and froze when he
saw Tara fully dressed as a Runner sitting on the couch
with her landlink on her lap. “Tara, is that you?”
“Torgo, never fear a Runner.” She beckoned him. “A
Runner will never attack someone unless attacked first.”
“I wasn’t scared. You look cool!” Torgo sat next to Tara
and stared at the flat screen. “And I guessed you were a
Runner all along.”
Tara grinned
under
her
headscarf
and
ruffled
his
already tousled curls, then pointed to her screen. “I’m
linked now so I can communicate with any Runner this
way.” She pointed to the map displayed on the screen. “I
can also tell where Lord Darius and his army are.”
“You’re kidding. How do you do that?”
“It’s Oldworld knowledge. It’s easy enough though. It
won’t take long to teach you.”
Torgo was leaning over looking at the screen when Hilda
came down the stairs.
“So, you’re a Runner now, are you?” She looked at Tara
disapprovingly. “Torgo, get away from that thing.”
“Hilda, I’ve always been a Runner.” In the older woman,
Tara saw some of the prejudice that had obviously kept her
son ignorant of the world outside of Gothman. “Now go,
both of you. Reena is expecting you. Remember, if you see
any Runners at her place, they aren’t your enemy.”
“Can’t I stay with you and fight, Tara?” Torgo pleaded,
not moving when his mama insisted. “Why are you sending
me away with the women? I’m not a child anymore, you
know.”
“I know.” Tara stood with Torgo, snapped her heels
together, and clasped her hands behind her back. “Stand
at attention, and let me give you your orders.”
Torgo imitated her stance and became serious, his large
gray eyes glowing with fascination.
“These women need protection. Right now I have no
soldiers to send with them. You will escort your mama to
Reena’s. You will stay there, guarding them with your life.
Understood?”
“Yes. Understood.” Torgo broke out in a grin, and before
Tara had time to react he reached for her and gave her a
quick hug. “Be careful, okay?”
Tara smiled when Torgo released her. “I always am.”
Torgo hopped out the front door ready for the adventure.
Hilda didn’t look at Tara as she left. Since the old woman
and Reena had been friends for so long, Hilda probably had
known about Tara when she was a little girl. Although
she’d probably never hear it, knowing Hilda’s side of the
story about Tara leaving Gothman might have been a good
one, or at least interesting, if not educational, to hear.
As soon as the front door shut, Tara jumped up and ran
to the shed out back. There was a lock on the door this
time. Tara sighed and looked around the yard to see who
might be watching. No one was in sight. She pulled out her
laser, and a small blast caused the lock to fall to the
ground. Within seconds, she rolled her bike out of the shed
and snapped her landlink on it.
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
surprised to find a map of Gothman. She took off at top
speed.
Who would have led Darius to believe he should go
south? This was now the question at hand. There was
really only one reason she found plausible.
Tara considered the matter. The Sea People approached
from the north, but had come from the west, which made
sense since they lived along the West Sea. Darius would be
protected from any attacks if he was in the southern
region, but Gothman would not. Someone wanted Darius
out of the way so Gothman would be defenseless against a
hard attack. Who would want to place Gothman in such a
danger?
When her dot was practically on top of Darius’s dot on
her landlink’s screen, Tara parked her bike and scanned
for Gothman communication. It wasn’t hard for her
landlink to pick up their simplex form of transmitting.
Static crackled
through
her
equipment wasn’t designed to
sound
transmitters. Her
receive
such antiquated
forms of communication signals. Tara was lucky anything
came through at all.
She adjusted her frequency and managed to tap into the
Gothman conversation. Normally, Tara used her comm,
which wrapped around her ear and came down to her
mouth, to hear anything or communicate with anyone. The
Gothman audio transmission wouldn’t work with her
technology. She was forced to turn up her volume on her
landlink and listen that way.
Tara glanced around at her surroundings warily. There
were definitely Gothman nearby. They picked up on her
landlink although she didn’t see, or hear them.
Adjusting
her sound transmitters to a very low volume, she then
leaned forward on her bike, keeping alert to any movement
around her, and listened. The audio was poor but leaning
forward she heard conversation through the small boxes
attached on either side of her handlebars.
Every inch of her tensed when the first man’s voice
crackled
through
her
sound
transmitters. She
became
acutely aware of the slightest breeze moving branches, as
well as any sound she picked up that didn’t come through
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 remained straddled and pushed her bike forward
with her feet into the forest so she was better hidden. She
then stopped and froze. Up in a nearby tree, a Gothman
was lodged between two branches holding a walkntalk in
front of his mouth. Tara pressed her ear to her sound
transmitter, turned the volume down further, waited, and
listened.
She didn’t have to wait long. Tara heard voices and saw
movement through the trees ahead. So did the Gothman in
the tree. He pulled a bang stick from his jacket and aimed
at the group approaching.
Tara watched the Gothman focus on his target. She
shifted her attention when she heard Darius. He barked
orders, and the booming sound of his voice carried easily.
Then it dawned on her. Darius was the target!
Tara slid off her bike, moved to the tree where the man
was perched, hoisted herself up and knocked him off
balance. Before he had a chance to yell out, she shot him
in the back. The man’s body slumped over a thick branch.
His bang stick fell to the forest floor with a quiet thud.
Blood flowed down the tree from where she’d sliced him
open with her laser. It formed a sticky dark pool over the
bang stick. She pried the man’s walkntalk from his hand.
Tara leapt free of the stench and crept behind some nearby
bushes. The dead man’s companion had to be nearby.
“What is that smell, my lord?”
Tara froze and watched as Darius came into view with a
group of his men.
“I smell it too.
It smells like something’s burned,”
another guard answered.
Darius passed by without seeing her. “It smells like
burnt blood.”
He stopped so close to her hiding place she easily
smelled the scent of his soap, and the smell of him she’d
grown all too fond of.
“How does blood burn?” an older, stocky warrior asked.
“Should we search the area, my lord?”
The group of men stopped around Darius. Their boots
shuffled over the undergrowth, crunching crumpled leaves,
dried pine and twigs underfoot. They weren’t concerned
about concealing their whereabouts. Nor did they notice
the dead man hanging in the blood soaked tree not far from
them. The walkntalk in her hand crackled and a voice
came through. If the guards hadn’t been so noisy, the
sound of it would have given her away.
“Why didn’t you get him?” a voice said. “Mikel will be
furious.”
Tara frowned. Her heart skipped a beat, and a pain
tightened in her chest. She fought for a soothing breath as
reality hit her. Mikel was Darius’ brother.
Something moved in a tree beyond where Darius and his
men stood. Scooting past the bushes, Tara moved crab-like
until she was sure Darius and his men wouldn’t see her.
Now all she needed was time to find the other man on the
walkntalk, kill him, and get back to her bike unscathed,
and undetected. Right now she would keep Darius alive.
Later
she
would
learn
why Mikel
wanted
him dead.
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 jumped
from the tree. He aimed his bang stick directly at her chest.
“And you’re a dead man,” Tara whispered through
clenched teeth. The whistling sound from her laser pierced
the air. The man fell to the ground.
She took a second look at the Gothman’s ugly face. It
was the guard who had tried to attack her the first day
she’d visited Daruis’ home. Now why didn’t that surprise
her? At the sound of Darius and his men approaching, she
damn near rolled into the bushes. Then scurrying for
distance, she crouched where she could see him between
trees.
“This is the smell.” Darius stood over the second man
she’d shot.
His men 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
in her
head,
making
it
hard
to
concentrate. Darius needed protection. Gothman might be
attacked and at the moment stood unprotected. And for
some unknown reason, Darius had an internal problem.
“Judo was supposed to be 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. There’s no indication
that any Sea People have been here. If he wanted to tell me
something, he would have used the walkntalk. It’s right
here.” Lord Darius squatted to take the walkntalk off the
dead man and studied the laser wound. He searched the
foliage and was silent for a moment.
No
Gothman
bang stick would
have
killed
in that
fashion. Tara pushed the button on the walkntalk in her
hand. “I need to speak with you alone,” she whispered into
the rectangular-shaped black 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. The dead men had been collaborating with Mikel.
She needed to warn Darius.
Darius stared at the walkntalk in his hand. Then taking
his time he took a good look at their surroundings. Tara
had just spoken to him. He seriously doubted she was
trying to reach Judo. That told him two things. One, she
had one of his other men’s walkntalk, and Darius seriously
doubted they loaned it to her. And two, she was watching
him right now.
An intense desire to wrap his fingers around her Runner
neck distracted him for a moment. Tara was risking her life
out here, and not knowing where she was at this precise
moment pissed him off and terrified him. He was going to
enjoy the challenge of taming his Runner claim.
“Let’s head back to camp.” Darius stood and kept a
shrewd eye on their surroundings. “Something’s not right
here. I want to confirm that the Sea People are south of
Gothman. Grab Judo and haul him back.”
His men began dragging the body toward the bikes. Tara
was somewhere in the woods. 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 warriors
than Gothman. While he questioned that, Tara had just
proven she did some things as well as a man. There was no
doubt that she’d killed Judo. The blood still flowed. She’d
just killed him, and he hadn’t noticed she was here before
she spoke through the walkntalk.
She was perfect in so many ways with that tempting
mouth, long soft strands of hair, and elegant slender neck.
He could feast on those breasts all day. Those toned thighs
she wrapped around him had the strength to make him
forget about a nation. But she was so much more than a
luscious female who warmed his bed.
Darius listened. Concentrated. He squinted and looked
in the direction where he thought he’d just heard
something.
There! Through
the
bushes! Something in
black. His men were at their bikes, working in solemn
uniformity wrapping Judo’s body to prepare for the trip
home. Judo had died in combat, a warrior’s death. His life
would be celebrated and his claim a valuable commodity.