“You are an empath, but you are the least in touch with true emotion of anyone I know. At least Domino’s jading comes from his heart being hurt by the deceptions he sees day in and day out. He is sensitive, despite what he would have the rest of us believe, and that is why his power hardens him. I thought, for a moment when we were in prison, that there was hope for you. I had not seen Kith my brother in so long, and I had missed him sorely. But that moment of agony and torture for me was almost worth it because I felt him again! The child I had once known who is lost to me now! Go! Leave my sight! I have other things to deal with that are much more important than the self-centered acts of a boy!”
By the time Kith stormed off in high temper and low shame, Bronse had come to Rave’s side. Without hesitation he enfolded her in his embrace. He hushed and soothed her.
“Easy,” he said. “Pay him no mind. He’s no more or less a cocky bastard than any boy his age. What is he? Twenty? It’s all hormones and thinking they know everything at that age.”
“I know.” She turned and began walking again at his urging, both of them keenly aware that they did not have time for internal squabbling. “It’s like suddenly having a stranger in your house. I mean, he has always been moody. His empathy is very difficult to manage and very hard on his psyche, but there’s no excuse for his callousness. He has had a good life in the temple. Perhaps too good a life. Perhaps some of the hardships of this outside world will temper him. But I do fear that it might make matters worse. This could be an issue for all of us. We have been relatively isolated for all of our lives. To be thrust into heavily civilized worlds may be too harsh for the young ones to handle. Especially Ophelia. She cannot bear even the smallest suffering without wanting to fix it. She would heal the world if she could. But we have no choice, and it’s up to me to take them safely through this change.” She bit her lip. “And things have been changing for me as well.”
“Wow. That makes me feel like shit,” he said grimly. “You have so much on your plate and I—”
“No!” she cut him off quickly, grabbing hold of his arm with both her hands and sliding down it until she had his hand in hers. “You’ve done nothing wrong. You’ve saved all of our lives and we are grateful for it.”
“I haven’t saved anything yet. We’re still in danger.” That said, he hurried her on a little faster. “But I will get you out of here. My problem becomes what to do with you afterward. I can’t show up at base with a ship full of civilians. Especially not a military base. If they found out about you and what you could do—”
“What? What would they do?” she asked curiously.
“Find a way to harness you. A way to use you for military purposes.”
“And that’s a bad thing? But you are military. They have harnessed you.”
“Well,” he hesitated, not knowing how to best explain it to someone as naïve as she was, “being part of the militia is something a person should be allowed to volunteer for, not be forced to do. The military can be a little too coersive when it comes to certain things.”
“You mean abusive? Like the Nomaads?”
“No! Not at all like that. But there are ways to make a person do things without being physically abusive.”
“Like using the children against me.”
Bronse looked at her with surprise. Maybe he was not giving her enough credit. “The militia is a hard life. You certainly wouldn’t want Ophelia exposed to the things we do to keep peace on all three of our planets, not to mention all the space in between. She doesn’t seem like the type who could bear that.”
“Ophelia has borne more than you realize,” she said sagely. “She has had to heal violence on many, many occasions, ever since she was a child. And Kith … Kith might do well to have such structure and discipline as you seem to have.”
Bronse could see she was thinking, her mind churning over possibilities.
“Let me be clear about something else though,” he said softly to her, keeping his voice low enough for her ears only. “The military has its flaws. One in particular is part of the reason there has been so much danger for me and my crew. Someone … someone has been trying to kill me. My last two missions have been traps set just for that purpose. We were running from one of those traps when I found you.”
“But why?” she demanded to know. “What could you have done to warrant such a thing? Your own people are trying to hurt you? How can you possibly go back there?”
“Because it’s not ‘people.’ It’s one person in particular. He’s working hard to make it look like a failed mission, which means he doesn’t want it to trace back to him. He doesn’t want to get caught with my blood on his hands.”
“What did you do to anger him so?”
“Nothing that I know of. It’s one of many questions I need to answer, and yet another reason why I wouldn’t want to bring you onto the base. I wouldn’t feel that you were safe until after I see this man brought to justice. And for me to see that done, I need to think clearly and find evidence.”
“And I keep you from thinking clearly?” she asked.
Bronse didn’t want to lie to her, but neither did he want to upset her. Still, he was truthful. “In a way, yes. You make me do things I never thought I would do. Things that could be costly mistakes. But at the same time, if it weren’t for you, we’d all be dead right now. And to tell you the truth, I’d rather have you close by where I can protect you and keep an eye on you. If I drop you off somewhere, I won’t be able to control what happens to you. It’s a damn untenable position I find myself in.”
“I don’t know why,” she said baldly. “It seems very clear to me what you have to do.”
He looked at her and raised a brow. “Oh?”
“You need to bring us with you. You need to tell them who we are and what we can do. That will give you and me the power to keep all of us on the base together where we can keep an eye on one another. I can see to it that the children are well protected even against the pushier tactics the military might want to try. There are things I can do that you don’t even know about yet. Trust me, we are very capable of taking care of ourselves.” She nodded her head. “Yes. That’s what we should do. The Chosen Ones should be brought to the militia. It seems to me you would be rewarded for bringing us to them.”
He would be. A great deal, in fact. The intelligence division would go crazy for the things Ravenna alone could do. But he wasn’t looking for rewards. And certainly not at her expense.
“I would never forgive myself if we did this and you became unhappy.”
“This isn’t about you, Bronse,” she said, her tone very matter of fact. “This is about me trying to find a place for my brood that will be best for them. Can you think of a place where we would be better protected than on a military installation?”
No. He really couldn’t. “But you realize I’m an active soldier,” he hedged. “I’m off the station just as much as I’m on. I wouldn’t always be there to protect you.”
“I don’t need you to protect me. I’ve already told you, we’re quite capable of protecting ourselves.”
“Is that how you ended up getting whipped by the Banda?” he shot out harshly.
She turned her pretty face to him and gave him the most unusually enigmatic smile. “That happened because I made a choice to wait for you. I knew it would mean the least amount of injury and death to those who were holding me captive. They may have wished harm on me and Kith, but I did not wish the same on them. But believe me, had I wanted to, I could have found the opportunity to free us. I simply was not willing to pay the price it would have cost while knowing that there was an alternative.”
“But you did pay a high price. They really hurt you.”
“They did. But they are victims of their own ignorance.”
Bronse shook his head. “I don’t know if you’re disgustingly noble or just plain out of your mind.”
“Think what you will. Just do not mistake me for a victim.”
“I’ll be sure not to do that. I have to go catch up to Justice and take care of a few things. Let me know if you need anything.”
She already had everything she needed from him, she thought as she watched him leave her and hustle up to the front of the line they made. Kith’s audacity in treating her like she had been a whore to Bronse—a man who had treated her more preciously than any other when Kith himself was infamous for using women and discarding them as easily—had galled her, but she considered the source. Kith hadn’t even bothered to search beyond the sexual desire she had felt for Bronse. Had he thought to dig further, he would have found the deeper emotions. He may even have found them in Bronse, too, if he had bothered to look. She was not certain yet, but she suspected that Bronse was coming to care for her deeply and quickly.
It was Bronse’s acts of uncanny tenderness and thoughtfulness that told her she was more than a bed partner to him. He watched, sensed, and acted, always considering her best interests. She was confident that she was first in his mind at all times because he proved it with incessant consistency.
She did look on herself with criticism though. She shouldn’t have lost her temper with Kith to the point of violence. She was a much better person than that. She simply did not like herself much when she lost control. Violence should always be used with complete control of thought and total lack of raw emotions, she felt. It was a concept that she believed Bronse epitomized. Even when he had been emotionally distraught over her captivity and the violence that had been done to her, he had never used it as an excuse to get out of hand and commit uncontrolled mayhem. He was trained to think with his head and not his heart. It was a quality she found commendable in situations like this.
After Bronse had consulted with Justice, he drifted back down the line again and walked beside Ravenna. They broke through the brush, and he occasionally took her hand to help her over a rock or a fallen tree, but he kept his attention and his rifle trained before him. Everyone was silent as they moved toward the pasture that they were looking for.
They broke into it all of a sudden. It was not flat—it was rough and littered with fallen trees—but it was just big enough to suit Bronse’s needs.
“That’s going to be one tight squeeze,” Lasher mused as he surveyed the area.
“And a bumpy landing,” Ender remarked.
“But both are doable,” Justice said confidently, whipping out her remote pilot pad and seating herself on a boulder at the edge of the glade.
“Okay, Lasher, Ender, cut a perimeter around the glade twice. I don’t want any surprises today.”
“No more dances with Hutha lions?”
“Exactly,” Bronse said grimly. “Domino, Kith, take these.” He held out two pistols to them. “Do not fire unless you’re staring an enemy in the eye. You got me?”
“What, no guns for the girls?” Justice asked with a smirk. But what looked like chauvinism to her was just keen thinking to him. Rave and the females under her care would not resort to violence if it could be avoided, and if someone came up on them, it would no longer be a matter of avoidance. Despite Rave’s statements of confidence, he didn’t see that she had it in her to do what was necessary. These females had been raised with a different sort of deference than Justice had been.
Bronse saw Kith’s surprise that he had been handed a loaded weapon and trusted to use it. Kith should look that way. Given a decent choice, Bronse would have done neither. But he needed to reconnoiter behind them and see how close the enemy was, how many there were, and if he could learn their intentions. So, leaving Justice to maintain order until Lasher and Ender returned from scouting out the perimeter, he moved to backtrack their progress.
“Wait.” Ravenna made the command softly, but there was power in her grip as she clasped Bronse’s biceps and pulled him to a halt. “I know you do not have to answer to me, but I would feel better if you told me where you were going.”
He hesitated long enough to give the request serious thought. She was as much a part of this mission as any of them now. But he couldn’t escape the urge he had to protect her from the starker truths of their situation.
“Bronse, I have a family at stake here,” she reminded him.
“Of course. You’re right. I’m sorry. I’m scouting back to see how far behind us our pursuit is.”
“Alone?”
“One man traveling fast and silent. Trust me, this is my job. I’ll go out only as far as I need to and will be back before the ship lands. I need to reassure myself that they are far enough behind and that we’re protected long enough.”
“Okay. I understand. I’m sorry to sound as though I’m questioning you.”
“It’s okay.” He smiled, giving her cheek a sweep with a single finger. “Stay with the girls. I’ll be right back.”
Ravenna reached up suddenly, flinging herself against him as she wrapped her left hand around his neck and laid her right on his heart. She dragged him down for a deep, desperate kiss that she refused to relinquish until she was satisfied. She stepped back at last, wiping her finger over her moist lips and meeting his eyes. She saw him narrowing his thoughtful periwinkle gaze on her, and she flushed.
“We’re going to talk about that later,” he chided her. He turned and ran into the woodlands.
Feeling at ease, despite his warning, Ravenna returned to the others.
Bronse gritted his teeth at what he saw. The enemy was much closer than comfort would allow. He should have sent Ender to recon, but he was the faster runner. Ender would have strung out some nice tricks for this bunch to run into. And it was a bunch. Fifty strong and far too well armed for mere Nomaads in a backwater world. Ravenna had seen them loud and clear in her sleeping vision. Bronse could also tell that their rambunctious attitude was that of soldiers who had had a recent victory, and a lot of fun pulling it off. Their morale was sky-high.
The village.
He couldn’t let himself worry about the villagers. Hopefully the warned servants had been able to get some villagers to safety, but he doubted it would have been very many. There was nothing his crew could have done to help them. They would all be prisoners by now, or worse if they had tried to defend the indefensible.
Bronse slunk out of range of contact and then ran light and silent back to the makeshift landing field.
“Justice, we’re out of time!” he shouted as he ran into the glen.
“Two minutes tops, Commander.”
“Make it thirty seconds. The minute they hear the ship fly overhead, they’ll be after us.”
“Coming in now, sir.”
They could hear the scream of the ship’s engines as she brought it in fast and heavy. Bronse and the men pulled the kids to their feet and corralled them together. Ender and Lasher kept their eyes on the forest where Bronse had come from.
Justice landed the ship in the bracken with a loud and awkward thunk. They didn’t wait for Jet to open the bay doors before they went running for it. Bronse hauled Ophelia off her feet, and Lasher grabbed Devan, tossing the girls aboard before the ramp had even touched down. They all raced on board, and Justice threw herself into her seat. The ramp was closing when the whine of laser fire could be heard. Bronse shoved everyone deeper into the ship.
“Now, Justice, now!”
She yanked and banked so hard that the gravity plating couldn’t compensate, and they all went flying over the deck, save Bronse, who grabbed onto his seat.
Then they were up and away.
Bronse threw himself into his seat, gripping the armrests tightly and staring hard at the forward screen until they were safely out of the atmosphere. With no sign of any kind of pursuit, he finally exhaled and sat back, taking the time to visually check on the passengers. The lot of them had picked themselves up and were huddled together, clinging to one another the way only family would do. In the center of it all was Ravenna, and all of her attention was fixed on his face as she held her flock close.
“All right, we’re safe now,” she said softly t
o them.
It was like casting a spell to animate them. As she touched a hand of comfort to each of them, they began to draw away from her, their confidence in her statement quite the thing to behold. Ravenna had grown up just as sheltered as they had, but she didn’t look the least bit frightened of the things she was seeing and doing. Quite the opposite, in fact. She looked strong and secure and very much like a true leader.
Bronse stood up and walked over to her, helping Devan to her feet as he did so. He then stood barely a foot away from Rave and found himself staring into her rich topaz eyes. He suddenly reached out to ring her neck with one hand, and then he pulled her up to the hard fall of his mouth against hers. He kissed her as if he had nothing else to worry about, as if it wasn’t highly inappropriate behavior for the commander of the crew, and as if he was not interested in stopping. Finally he broke away for a breath.
“You’re right,” he said fiercely. “You’re safe now.”
The promise made in that single statement was clear. She was safe, and as long as he was alive in this universe, she was going to stay that way. He would see to it personally, no matter what.
It was so strange to think he’d known her for barely a day. And yet she’d had such a tremendous impact on him. On everything. He had no idea what the future held for any of them, but he did know that he was not going to let her go.
“Justice, stay at the stick,” Bronse instructed. “You’re not to leave that seat unless something blows you out of it. Ender, find these kids some quarters. It’s going to be a while before we get anywhere, and I want them out from underfoot. Lasher, you and I have to start talking about what our reports will say.”