Chance of Stardust

Stardust (ch 18)

Revelin led the way across the water. His body still hummed with pleasure but his mind was tangled. She’d accepted him and he’d hurt her. Instead of turning away from him, she’d held him, tried to reassure him. He didn’t understand her. Perhaps he never would.


Her slender hand slipped into his and gave a light squeeze. He glanced at her and met a faint smile and soft gaze. The churning inside him eased and his fingers curled around hers of their own volition. There was no reason to hold her hand. It hampered his ability to fight, to protect her, but he couldn’t bring himself to let go. The feel of her fingers tangled with his touched something inside him, as if that delicate hand was wrapped around his heart, keeping it safe.


The thought jolted him. His heart? Surely, he hadn’t fallen in love with her? He chanced another glance to find her watching a large bird hovering over the tops of the trees ahead of them. The curve of her face drew his eyes, the slim grace of her making him want to pull her into his arms. Love? No, but he was treading close to the edge. His promise to set her free buried a chill blade in the thought.


“How far to this creature is it?” she asked suddenly.


“Just within those trees.”


“We might want to hurry.” She squinted and then pointed at the bird. “I’m not familiar with all the birds in my world, but that one is a predator and they can be scavengers.”


The pragmatic answer dragged him out of the mire created by his lack of impulse control where she was concerned. Releasing her hand, he broke into a jog, moving ahead to chase off any interlopers on the meat that had become necessary to survival. Cassie didn’t complain but followed, keeping a little behind him and they entered the trees.


The smell hit him first, the stench of spilled entrails mixed with a wet, fetid smell that had him shifting without thought. A growl rose in his throat but he forced himself to silence. Cassie stopped, allowing him to move on without her. He caught her attention and laid two fingers over his lips for silence. She frowned and then her eyes widened and she tapped the back of her head. Good. She understood.


Trusting her to stay silent and hidden, Revelin crouched, moving into the brush without so much as a shifted leaf.


Three Gurot encircled the beast that Davi had killed, muttering to one another. They were identical in their squarish, blocky build and massive head with the protruding lower jaw. Black uniformed but without the star emblem of the Inali, they were regular troops but no less dangerous to Cassie or Llyr. One laughed, leaning down to rip a bite out of the creature, tearing through the shaggy hide and into the heavy meat below.


“Those fergin hirrient won’t touch this kill now,” he boasted, spitting the meat on the ground in a shameful waste of perfectly good food. “They’re too picky to scavenge.”


“There’s an easier way,” another shot back. Undoing his pants, he urinated on the carcass. “I don’t have the bad taste of hirrent stench in my mouth now.”


The first took a swipe at him and the group dissolved into snarling tussle that ended with the third Gurot dragging the two apart.


“Idiots. Be silent.” He held out a palm sized unit and lifted it into the air. “No signal close but that doesn’t mean anything and you should know that by now.”


They were tracking the Universals, likely having followed the signal when Cassie had first left the ship. If she spoke or got close enough to catch enough of the Gurot’s conversation to trigger her Universal, they would be on her. Once they caught her scent, they wouldn’t give up until she was dead.


He caught the soft scent of her just before a light touch on his waist let him know she was there. He swore silently. At least the breeze carried her scent away from their position.


She met his glower with a roll of her eyes and then pointed at the Gurot, her expression questioning. He nodded, motioning for her to retreat. Instead of moving, she touched the small laser pistol at his waist.


She wanted a weapon? He glanced at the Gurot who were now nosing around the carcass, searching for a trail, and then back at her. Without a word, he handed her the small pistol and wrapped her fingers around it correctly and then mimed triggering it to fire. She eyed the mechanism and then nodded. With a soft caress to his shoulder, she fell back, heading for the edge of the trees and the sunlit meadow beyond.


He waited until she had vanished into the dappled shadows before drawing his blades from the sheaths on his thighs. He could dispatch three Gurot easily without putting Cassie at risk but one thing he’d learned over the years, the Gurot never went anywhere alone. Where there were three, there would be more. Either scouting another section or on their way but the pack mentality of the species kept them in constant contact. As soon as they lost contact with these three, the rest of the force would move into the area. He had to do this and he had to do it fast or he placed Cassie in more danger than she was already.


A guttural challenge from the clearing was the only warning he had as a larger Gurot joined the group.


The uniform stretched over his massive frame in unrelieved black but for the small silver star on his shoulder. Inali. The three soldiers ducked their heads, cowering away from the bigger man. He snarled at one, his canines flashing in threat before lifting his head and drawing in the breeze. Trying to catch their scent.


“This kill was made a little more than an hour ago. Find them.”


The command was barked in a harsh voice that grated on Revelin’s ears. Moving low under the brush, he shifted away from Cassie’s position and gauged the distance to the group with a practiced eye. Flipping one of his blades around to lie along his forearm, he moved.


The first Gurot went down in a gurgle as Revelin’s blade opened his throat.


Revelin didn’t wait to see how quickly the others recovered but leaped the carcass of the hairy beast and dove through the brush on the far side. Stone tumbled away toward the valley floor, covered in tangled brush and more of the conical trees. He jumped, the fluffy looking branches jabbing at him with fragrant needles as he fell through to the rocky slide beyond. Stones bounced away in a rattle and the tree swayed and shivered, releasing more of the pungent aroma he hoped would hide his scent.


Two Gurot charged after him, bushes tangling their legs and the trees lashing at them. He waited motionless as one blundered by him, sliding on the needle slicked stone. The second managed to get a hold on one of the branches and caught himself before he fell. Revelin edged deeper into the cover, waiting for the Inali to show himself. These two were merely a nuisance. The big one was the real danger.


When had the Inali aligned themselves with lesser soldiers? In all the years he’d fought them, he’d never see one of the elite fighting alongside regular soldiers. Gorman didn’t waste talent in grunt labor.


He eased away from the two scrambling Gurot, toward a rocky edge that dropped twenty feet into a scrub and shale crevice. Bracing his feet, he shoved away from the tree and felt air catch him. The tip of a tree anchored to the stony wall flexed as he caught it, braking his descent, and then his feet met solid earth of the wall on the far side of crevice. He scaled the jagged, brush tangled surface and climbed over the edge, glancing back the way he’d come.


The Gurot didn’t see him, too busy trying to regain their footing and bearings in the cluttered slope across from him. He sighed and kicked at the loose rocks at the edge, tumbling them into the crevice in a cascade of noise. The two swung around, one going down onto his haunches to snarl a challenge.


Revelin grinned, flashing his fangs, and waved for them to join him. The sooner he rid the world of these two, the sooner he could deal with the Inali.


The Gurot were nowhere near as agile as the hirrient, but they weren’t weaklings. In fact, in their culture, weakness was a crime punishable by death. These two had not only survived to adulthood but had been accepted into their military.


They accepted his challenge, lunging for the edge of the crevice and powering across. The leap ended in a grunt and a tumble but both of them made it across. One of them heaved himself over the edge of the crevice sporting a bleeding gash in his cheek from a harsh meeting with sharp rock. Revelin let them catch a glimpse of him and then he was gone.


The trees on this side of the crevice were thicker, the slope of the land more gradual now that they were past the water shed. The aromatic needles of the conical trees carpeted the ground, silencing footfalls. He slid his blades away, claws slicing out as he took to the trees. He moved through the trees, leaving his scent in a scattered trail, making sure to rub against the wood from time to time.


The two Gurot followed the scent, the second ranging behind the leader. They weren’t stupid enough to simply blunder into the thick foliage together and make it easy for him but that could work in his favor. He moved from tree to tree, leading them deeper into the forest and away from Cassie. He wasn’t interested in killing them as much as he was in getting them away from her.


A rock face thrust up through the trees and he scaled it easily, leaving the two soldiers hunting him in the foliage below. Snarling curses faded as he moved, heading back toward the meadow.


He crossed the head of the watershed where it trickled up from a crack in the stone and followed the narrow ribbon of water back to the clearing where Davi’s kill still lay. There was no sign of the Inali. Bending low, he breathed in the scent of the earth, taking in the distinct notes that told their own story. Urine. Gurot. Blood.


He snarled. The dark scent was not that of the beast that lay behind him but Davi’s blood and that trail would lead the Inali straight back to the ship and Llyr.


Cassie.


She had headed back toward the ship. The single laser pistol would not be enough to stop the Inali. He was moving before the thought gelled.


He raced, scattering brush and branches in his wake. Her scent remained elusive, a faint hint of soft downwind from him but a new scent lingered where she had passed.


His.


He’d touched her, possessed her, and now she bore his scent. If there had been any hope of the Inali ignoring her as one of the indigenous people, it was gone. Fear rose, pushing him faster. He reached the edge of drop and crouched, staring down in to scattered trees below.


A breeze brushed his face, carrying with it the stench of the Gurot, heavy over Cassie’s softer scent. His lips pulled back from his teeth in a snarl. Too close.


A glint of light off pale hair caught his eye and he saw Cassie leap from the steep slope to land on the grass. She stumbled and fell, rolling back to her feet and breaking into a run for the thickening trees. The Inali was on her before she took three steps, taking her down in a surging rush. Her scream echoed off the stone.


A roar broke from him and Revelin powered down the slope, leaping from narrow stone to barely existent foothold, intent only on reaching the Gurot before Cassie came to harm. She screamed again, scrambling for footing under the weight of the Gurot. He saw the Inali shift, the small black eyes fix on him as his feet touched grass.


Handling Cassie as if her slight weight were less than nothing, the Inali wrapped an arm around her hips and lifted her, his teeth sinking into the vulnerable curve of her waist, tearing into unprotected flesh.


Agony filled her cry.


Revelin hit the Inali full speed, knocking Cassie free of his grip. His claws caught on the meshed fabric of the Inali’s armored coat, cutting into the protection but not through into the flesh beneath. The Gurot crouched, muscles bulging and a barking growl thundering in his chest. Revelin didn’t bother reaching for his blades. He wanted to feel the Gurot’s blood on his hands.


Claws out, he tore at the Gurot, leaping away to leave the massive jaws snapping on empty air.


Cassie moved, trying to crawl away, her hand clamped over the bite on her waist. Blood seeped from between her finger and she whimpered. The Inali snapped at the movement.


Revelin leaped, slashing at the man, diverting him away from the wounded woman.


The Gurot laughed, a guttural sound.


“You protect her,” he spat. “Fool.”


Revelin didn’t answer. There was no point. Cassie was his weakness and the enemy would use that to his advantage.  Once again, he’d placed her in danger.


But this danger he could eliminate.


The Gurot lowered his head, jaws gaping. With the heavy muscle of his body and the gripping power of those jaws, the Gurot was not an easy opponent to defeat. Once a Gurot got a grip, they didn’t let go, their jaws strong enough to crush bone. Speed was the only defense against their unshakable tenacity. Neither of them reached for the weapons they wore.


Revelin didn’t give the Inali the opportunity to charge. He lashed out, ripping at the face of his opponent and leaving bloody furrows in his wake. He narrowly avoided being caught in the crushing grip that could snap his spine and leaped away. Moving. Always moving.


He circled, turning the other man away from Cassie. The wind whispered in the trees, rustling the grass and hiding the sound of her slow, stealthy movements as she dragged herself away. The further she got away from the fight, the safer she would be.


He twisted away from the snapping jaws, sinking his claws deep into the Inali’s shoulder. The armored fabric resisted and then tore, anchoring him in flesh. Jamming a foot in the man’s side, he shoved, his claws ripping free of flesh and armor. The man roared, enraged and bloodied.


Revelin grinned, unamused but knowing that the expression would only infuriate the man further. He circled, edging back toward the steep slope and away from the trees. The Inali followed, head lowered and nostrils flared in challenge. He had to end this and fast before the rest of the Gurot showed up.


He let his heels clip against the edge of the slope and pretended to stumble. The Inali flashed his teeth and charged. Revelin leaped. Catching a rock with his heel, he twisted over the Gurot, landing on the broad shoulders and sinking his claws deep. It was instinct to clamp his teeth over the heavy muscle on the back of the neck. The Inali didn’t thrash in pain but turned, slamming him back into the unforgiving face of the rock.


Revelin’s breath left in a pained rush. The Inali stepped forward to repeat the maneuver but Revelin let go, falling away to clamber out of reach again. He hung there, daring the Gurot to follow him.


The man laughed. Turning he headed for the meadow at a run, back toward Cassie.


Revelin sprang from the slope, landing hard between the man’s shoulders. It was foolish to grapple with a Gurot on the ground, but he was beyond thinking. Cassie was already hurt. She would be dead in seconds if the Inali caught her.


The Gurot twisted, sinking heavy teeth into his shoulder and Revelin fought to get a grip on the man’s throat. Blood ran down his arm, staining his armor and dripping onto the ground where the metal protection of his shirt was forced into his flesh. Inexorably, the Gurot pulled him over and pinned him. He slashed at any exposed area he could reach, shredding flesh and muscle, but the Gurot refused to let go.


Laser fire cut the afternoon sunshine. The smell of charred flesh and melted armor burned his sensitive nose.


The Gurot screamed, pain and fury an ugly mix as he reared away from Revelin to roar at the slender woman on her knees at the edge of the tree line.


With deliberate calm, Cassie took aim and fired again. The Gurot’s head exploded in a shower of boiling blood and cooked brain matter.


Revelin wasted no time shoving free of the dead man. Cassie sank back on her heels, the pistol falling to the ground beside her as she watched him come. He could smell the blood, dark and rich, that soaked the side of her shirt. Too dark and rich. He sank to his knees beside her.


“Cassie?”


Her smile wobbled, fear and sorrow darkening the blue of her eyes. He touched her face only to find that his hand was shaking.


“I got him.”


He leaned down to rub his nose against her, the need to touch her stronger than the need for air.


“You got him.”


She leaned into him, resting her hand on his shoulder. “He bit me.”


The words were too matter-of-fact for the pain he knew she had to be in. He pulled back, his hand dropping to her side and a sense of impending doom chilled him to the core.


“What is it, Cassie?”


“The blood is black, Revelin.” Her voice hitched and he could hear the fear he could smell in her scent. “He punctured my liver. I’m bleeding out.”


He didn’t pause to question it. Lunging to his feet, he lifted her in his arms and headed for the ship as fast as he could move. Each step sent jolting pain down his arm and his fingers were going numb. The metal of his armor was pinching off the nerves in his shoulder. He had to get her to the tube before he lost use of his arm altogether.


Cassie wrapped her arms around his neck, remaining silent. All too quickly, that grip began to slacken, falling loose as the ship came into view.


He bolted inside, already shouting.


“Kyall! Get us out of here!”


Ari stepped out of the med room and Revelin brushed by him. Davi sat on the tube, pale and weak.


“Move.”


Davi slid from the padded surface, pain twisting his features as he hobbled to lean against the wall. Ari was there, helping Revelin get his precious burden onto the tube as his arm gave out. Under his feet, he felt the first vibrations as Kyall took them airborne. He didn’t care where they were going, only that it was away from the Inali and the danger to Llyr and Cassie.


She looked so small lying there, so pale and fragile. His heart clenched in his chest. He couldn’t be too late. Fate would not be so cruel. He’d already lost his home and his family. He couldn’t lose her, too.


Ari nudged him aside, already working the controls and the fragile corona of light surrounded her. A soft exhalation.


“The damage is extensive, Rev. It’s going to take some time to get her fixed back up.”


“She’ll live?”


“If the tube can fix her faster than she’s bleeding, yes, but it’s going to be close.” The youngling turned to look him over. “Let’s get you fixed while we’re waiting on her.”


Revelin shook his head. He couldn’t think, couldn’t bring himself to care that he was injured. He needed to see her open her eyes, needed to hear her voice.


Ari ignored him, reaching for the damaged armor over his shoulder. A low growl throbbed in the air and Ari stepped back slowly.


Leiv appeared in the doorway. “Ari, take Davi and the two of you stay with Llyr. I’ll take care of this.”


The two youngest edged out of the room, Davi leaning on Ari as they obeyed the second. Revelin didn’t care. Cassie hadn’t moved, her breathing shallow and barely there.


“Bite me and I’ll bite back,” the big hirrient warned as he reached for the damaged armor.


Revelin growled again, in no mood to be handled by anyone.


Leiv’s growl answered, soft and full of warning but no challenge. “I could challenge you right now and you wouldn’t even fight back.”


“If you truly wanted to lead, you would have challenged me a long time ago.” There was nothing left in him for subtlety. “I lead because they follow, not because I want to. You could lead just as effectively.  More so.”


Leiv slid his fingertips under the damaged section of armor and began to pull it from the torn flesh. Revelin hissed, agony spearing down his arm and into his hand. He didn’t lash out, made no move that would take him away from Cassie’s side.


“You brought everyone under your care out alive.” Leiv’s murmur mirrored that pain. “I saved no one but myself.”


“Yet look where I’ve led us.”


“To a place where we are accepted, where our lives have purpose and honor.”


Revelin glanced at his second. Leiv was engrossed in easing the dented metal from his shoulder. Pain throbbed, easily ignored compared to the agony tearing his heart into shreds.


“I follow,” Leiv continued, “because I see hope where you’re leading us.”


“Gael is not our home.”


“Not for you or I, perhaps.” Leiv shifted the plated shirt higher, sliding it over his head and then down his damaged arm. “The younglings, though, have taken to the place. There are worse places for a man to spend his life than where he has purpose.”


There are worse places to make your home than in the arms of a woman.


He stared down at Cassie’s unmoving form, hardly aware of Leiv tending the wounds on his shoulder. He’d given his word he would set her free. Breaking that trust would kill any chance he had that she might care for him. But leaving her behind would kill something in him.


Losing her would destroy him.


Leiv gripped his shoulder. “Take care of her, Rev, and I’ll take care of the others.”


His second left quietly, leaving his to the tangled maze of his thoughts.