Void's Psionics (36 page)

They didn’t understand words he learned, but
by his intent and emotions. They were telepathic creatures, which
made them much more efficient. He didn’t need to speak. They were
now locked into his mind through the king of the Pride. The largest
one was the focal point. The bridge to them all. By focusing a
little on him, he could sense the others who follow his commands
and they go through him to reach Oliver. He was the smartest and
deadliest among them.

“
He has done it.”
The Archiver radiated pleasure.
“We shall leave you now.”
No one could say another word as there was a flash and the
three Creelin vanished soundlessly.

“
Well I’ll be… They don’t
look so bad without armor. At least it’s over.” Commented Satellite
as he landed on Stone’s pauldron perch.

Renee didn’t think as her fear at long last
was ended and she began running.

Hearing her inhuman flight footsteps, the
Ligers all spun around like one mind and the armor covered them in
a few moments to roar and take her down.

“
No!” Oliver yelled. Seeing
her in danger cleared his foggy mind and was consequently like a
mental slash that made the Pride all wince and hesitate. They all
looked back remorsefully and rumbled why they were so angrily
reprimanded for being bad. To ease their fears he said soothingly
“
Never
hurt Renee.
She is
my
mate. My
wife. She won’t hurt me. Do not fear she will hurt me so I’m lost
like the Queen you have missed for so long. She is good… and ask me
first should you need to kill. You can defend, but don’t attack
anyone without asking permission.”

Renee held completely still as several minds
probed her gently and they were unlike anything she ever
experienced. Yet from them she felt an overriding presence and knew
the patient and loving man she was also bound to. Through the probe
she began to sense they were telling Oliver they were sorry and
wouldn’t let it happen again. Mates were sacred to them. Renee was
Oliver’s and would be part of their Pride. But then they asked to
scent and taste her in a non-harmful way.

“
Red, are you
willing…”

“
To be recognized? Yes.” She
clearly feared Ligers nearly as tall as she was, vastly outweighed,
slower and could easily be made into a snack, but she barely
reached above some of their muscular shoulders. She bit back a
squeak as one sniffed and licked her hand she freed from being
covered by a gauntlet. The tongue was rough as wet sandpaper. In
return she got a pleasant response from the large female Renee felt
as the Liger alpha female and got the feeling the giant cat would
know any children Renee may have now and keep them safe too. But
she wanted a scratch badly so she itched under her collar where the
itch irritated. “So soft. And they don’t smell too bad.” She
admitted as she scratched the chin and got a rolling eyed purr of
pleasure that shook Renee’s whole body from proximity.

“
That and they are very
beautiful aren’t they.” At his words the whole Pride purred
together at the praise as loudly as Renee’s new best friend
did.

“
Do they have
names?”

“
Only
he
makes me feel should be named. They
are an extension of him. They won’t be able to respond to our
words. All they know of is emotions and how to differentiate
between bad and good. I’m going to call him… Nova.” he stroked the
shoulder of the king.

“
Your naming skills are at
least better than Renee’s, Brother. Can we visit too?” Stone didn’t
raise his voice, not with their sharp hearing.

“
All of them are friends. Do
not hunt or hurt them.” Oliver said and the same feeling to wish to
check them out came across and he mentally told him it is alright,
but that the air was bad and they couldn’t remove their
coverings.

Oliver sat down when his
legs could no longer support him and Nova mostly encircled him well
before any other Liger could let Renee through. Each wanted to have
a short visit and scratch. And they got their way. Saying no to
these great cats was not possible. They wouldn’t leave her till
they all got a scratch too.
Spoiled
brats
. She actually crooned back to their
gentle mental touch before finding her man now in a pair of pants
as Nova licked the angry and swollen red wounds. “Oliver, tell him
to stop, I don’t know what kinds of bacteria are in his mouth. If
you want healing saliva, ask Sparky. Now let me check… damn those
are
deep
muscle and
soft tissue marks. You should be in enormous pain.” She lowered her
hand after medically scanning the injuries.

“
Understatement. I’m going
to wait here for the rest of the day. I’m exhausted and don’t think
I can take another step in this condition. The castle can wait
another night. Please sew me up.”

“
Alright. We’re safe here
with these overgrown kittens around… as long as they don’t need to
put you through anything else. We need to check in… I’ll send word
to…” a feminine mind slid in.

“
I have already appraised
the captain and your aunts of the situation. He agrees with Oliver
that you rest the remainder of the day. Through me he asks if
Oliver can punch a hole through the mountain opposite the vortex?
With a location it’ll make things easier and fix the air toxicity.
Perhaps collapse the other hole.”

“
Tell him I’ll do it Rose…
after a long nap.”
Oliver told her tiredly
as she had used Sparky to narrow their location to use her
telepathy.
“I’ll calculate a way for a ship
to be large enough to fly straight in after.”
he hardly felt Renee use her bracelet to sew some surgical
thread she kept in a pocket for emergencies and injected a broad
spectrum antibiotic and painkillers just in case.

“
Rest now. Let your sore
mind recover.”
And she left.

“
Well I’m amped up on
adrenaline. I’ll burn it off scouting the city.”

“
Better not.” Renee shook
her head while making a tiny spark to cut the thread stitched over
the fourth gaping wound.

“
We don’t know if anything
is booby trapped. I can’t see there only being Ligers left to
safeguard a city
this
big. They are protecting something. Why else do you think they
were told to guard? If something is here, other measures will act
as higher security. Later we’ll get Oliver to ask these Ligers and
see if I’m right.”

“
Hmmm.” Steven looked down
the street as the pyramids were daunting. “Point taken, but
there’ll be little chance for Visor to get hurt.”

“
Guess not.” She admitted
inside the crowded area of bodies.

“
You heard the lady. Have
fun and fill me in on what you see.” Visor nodded and flew of,
watched by hungry eyes.

Oliver felt their desire for sustenance and
looked Nova in the eyes to say “Go ahead and take whoever is hungry
out to eat. Have your fill.” Joy radiated from the big cat as he
licked Oliver’s whole hand in one rough swipe before getting up,
making a grunt and leaping over the wall ten meters high to not run
through the others. Mid-leap the collar released armor and it
covered from snout to tail in blacks and silvers before even
touching the top of the wall. Six other hungry ones followed Nova
and in seconds they had vanished from sight being so fast and
agile.

After the rest had met the others, the
remaining five Ligers moved as close as they could to Renee and
Oliver to lounge around as close to their new master as possible.
One remaining male expressed he was very soft and warm, hinting
Oliver would be welcome to lay with him and the offer was
gratefully accepted. Being so close meant no walking. A little
scoot across the floor and he was there. He slid on the armor again
doing so. The exhausting pain of the ritual put him to sleep on a
soft, furry arm in seconds of resting his head.

Sleep had never come so quick before.

Grimacing with a delicate frown, Renee gently
brushed Oliver’s hair back and caressed his face, feeling the
roughness of four day’s beard growth. Not since she first laid eyes
on him had he looked so pale and frail. She blinked, noticing her
fingers shaking as the adrenaline was wearing off and the turmoil
was being relieved. Her jaw was still sore from clenching so her
other rubbed the muscles. All the hours had taken their toll on her
as she was finding out and without worry she grew tired as well.
Getting closer she cuddled up to his unresponsive armored form,
kissed his cheek and laid her head down on the cat’s long arm too.
Falling asleep fast.

Sparky didn’t sleep at all as he laid among
the fearsome felines and close to Renee in event it was a ploy.
Meanwhile he spoke with Rose and the council on what next to do.
Even hours later when seven full Ligers returned casually at their
own languid pace did peace last.

Trauma took longer to awaken Oliver and
before his eyes even opened he was warmly welcomed by Nova and the
others. His mind had cooled down, but intense pain still burned in
his upper body from wounds that would take a good week to fully
heal on its own or a few days under Renee’s treatment she was sure
to have done already. She didn’t like suffering.

Golden eyes opened to a sea of plush white
fur that was the perfect warmth. Wincing, he sat up to pet the one
who hadn’t moved and let him sleep. “Thank you.” The cat purred
deeply. Laying beside him was his shield and blades.

“
Thank Nova. He picked them
up and brought them over. We were too distracted to bring them
back.” Said Stone leaning against a nearby pyramid dwelling lightly
coated in luminous moss.

Without needing to scan, Oliver felt out the
Pride leader instantly and looked at him. “Thank you for fetching
them.”

Nova got to his feet and in doing so showed
Renee was scanning him and gave Oliver an irritated look which
meant his interruption was untimely, but before he could dwell on
it Nova sent Oliver a mental picture of him throwing the sparkling
shield like a Frisbee. When the king asked, it made a chain
reaction as the others thought it was the greatest idea EVER.

“
What’s going on? Why did
they all get up making that noise?” Steven asked as he came over
carrying a filled water bladder from a fountain he already checked
and was remarkably clean.

“
They want to play.
Apparently my shield was a game the Queen loved doing with them.”
Oliver ‘listened’ to their excitement. Two or three lowered their
heads and lifted their rumps like playful dogs.

“
This I got to see.” Steven
chuckled and ascended the wall for a good view.

“
You guys want to play?”
Oliver flipped the round shield, their excitement being
contagious.

Their answer was unanimous in deep cheerful
grunts and flicking tails.

Remembering how fast they were, he didn’t try
limiting how fast he can sling his arm and snap the wrist. He had
played Frisbee several times with Stone who taught how round
objects can go further. It was a difficult art, but rather fun so
he transferred the shield to his dominant left hand and threw it so
hard it whistled through the air.

Twelve Ligers roared in challenging fun and
seemed to have vanished as they tore through the city entrance and
down the road. His chip calculated his throwing speed at six
hundred and thirty eight kilometers per hour and the Ligers were
averaging around five fifteen. The shape of the shield made it lift
and turn into the breezy room, but the Ligers were all radiating
pleasure and joy for playtime.

Before it could ricochet off the far wall one
of them pushed off the wall of the gradually slowing shield and
caught it in its mouth, but the game wasn’t over. It ran for Oliver
while being harassed rather roughly by the others wanting to steal
it. But no one was hurt. They liked playing a little rough.

“
Well you broke the fastest
human Frisbee throw clear out of the water.” Satellite laughed,
standing up on the pinnacle of the pyramid Stone still leaned
on.

The Liger who caught it proudly came to a
stop and dropped the shield. Caught up in the antics Oliver cocked
his arm back and flung it again, this time in a different
direction. They were all off. This time Nova brought it back and
stumbled on the next for another to catch.

Oliver did this for nearly twenty minutes and
they barely breathed hard, showing they had tremendous endurance.
When it returned covered in saliva and dirt he said “That was it
for the last time.” Some pawed the ground, retracted nails coming
out to scratch the surface. “No, that is enough playtime for now. I
promise later.” They weren’t happy, but knew he made a promise and
knew they could play more later. “It’s time to work.”

Work. They knew work. Round ears swiveled on
him. They liked work.

“
Nova,” The new name had the
king’s extra attention. “Are there any traps or dangerous areas
that might kill any of us?” Needing to ask after Renee had voiced
the concern between the game and had even thrown a few times
herself.

The response was near immediate as images
came up around places the Pride avoided completely. Places that
cut, burned and crushed the unsuspecting. Only one very complex
route was safe to move through. “Good thing none of you left the
immediate area. Nova told me this place is riddled with still
active traps and only one safe path. Traps that cannot be detected.
He told me the Queen activated them before she left to fight
something he knows is very bad. The traps are unable to be disarmed
except by a console in the castle. If you try disarming there is a
laser at the top of the central pyramid they call a castle, that
will cut through the person till life signs cease. He says not even
my power could stop the beam. It is too thin to see and has power
equal to a million Solarians focused to a point that the atoms are
lined up.”