Ouroboros 2: Before (11 page)

‘
We are . . . from out of town,’ Nida supplied.

The entity had only taken over her body and voice briefly, and then it had promptly left, leaving Nida with the burden of actually talking to this alien woman.

Though the situation was unbelievably tense, Carson still shot her a look as if to say ‘out of town, really? That’s the best you can come up with?’

She turned from him. She paused long enough to draw in a much-needed breath of air.

She would have to think of a story better than that, and fast. If they weren’t going to shoot this woman, then they would have to placate her somehow, or she’d end up screaming down the whole forest.

‘
You don’t look like you are from around here. Are you from the resistance?’ The woman’s voice dipped down low and wavered on the word resistance. But that was nothing compared to what happened to her expression. A mix of awe, surprise, and hope flashed through her eyes, trembled across her lips, and smoothed her already slack and deathly white cheeks.

‘The resistance?’ Nida repeated blankly. ‘I . . . .’

‘You are—you’re both from the resistance,’ finally the woman pushed herself up. As she did, Nida caught a glimpse of a green, almost emerald like liquid oozing out of a deep gash in her leg. The woman leaned on her right hip heavily, and though her features crumpled with pain, her eyes still flashed with awe. ‘We didn’t think you would actually come. And if we’d known how . . . .’ She turned to stare at Carson, her already round and surprise-filled eyes growing all the larger as she stared at the red device on his hand. She took a moment, then managed a powerful swallow. ‘If we had known how powerful you are, we would have asked for your help sooner. Oh my goddess, I can’t believe you have actually come,’ she gave out a relieved laugh that had a strange, hiccup-like, bubbly sound to it that reminded Nida of water on a hard boil.

‘
Yes we have,’ Carson suddenly announced, his voice a reassuring, strong rumble.

Nida immediately turned to face him.

He shot her a look that told her to shut up. ‘We got here as soon as we could,’ Carson continued.

The woman clapped her hands together and looked at Carson with clear adulation brightening her cheeks. ‘Thank you so much,’ she said slowly. ‘If you hadn't come along, that thing . . . would have killed me.’

For the first time, Nida turned around and glanced through the thick foliage around her. She had no idea where that hairy, fiendish creature had landed, but by the sounds of it, it had been far off. Still, here and there she could see flecks of black fur that must have fallen from it during the flight. Even those wiry strands were enough to make her shiver.

Carson glanced at her, probably checking to see that she wasn't about to fall over and die, then he shot her a very pointed look that he obviously intended to convey some grand scheme. Clearing his throat, he faced the woman again. He nodded low at her. ‘We are here to help.’

The woman still had her hands clasped together, and now she cast an absolutely radiant smile upon Carson.

With a quick glance his way, Nida confirmed he was blushing, somewhere under all of those fake blue spots anyway.

Which was kind of funny when she paused to think about it. This was Carson Blake—the greatest hero of the Academy. A man who was used to saving people, aliens, planets, and dogs too probably.

So why was he blushing?

Surely all of this stuff would be old hat to him?

The woman kept smiling, and even though flickers of anguish crossed fast over her expression as she leaned on her right leg, she didn’t stop beaming at Carson.

After a while, he actually reached a hand behind him and patted down his hair, looking thoroughly awkward as he did.

But it didn’t last. With a heavy breath that pushed his chest out hard against his leather vest, his expression hardened, and that by-now-familiar determination ignited deep in his eyes. ‘Can you take us into the city?’ he asked suddenly. ‘To meet up with the rest of the resistance?’

The woman nodded, the move so vigorous, she could have strained her neck. ‘Of course.
Of course
,’ she repeated even more emphatically. ‘They’ll be so thrilled that you’ve arrived!’

Carson nodded. ‘We can’t stay here. When can we leave? Are there going to be more vargs?’ He quickly added as he glanced warily over his shoulder.

The woman shook her head, her shoulders crumpling in as she did. In a small voice she whispered, ‘one is usually enough.’

Nida desperately wanted to ask the woman what the heck a varg was and why it had been chasing her, but she knew she couldn’t. Not only had Carson firmly taken the reigns of this particular conversation, but it would likely show Nida’s ignorance. For all she knew, vargs could be as common-place on this planet as grass was on Earth.

She had to be very careful what she gave away. So for now that meant smiling dully and keeping her burning questions to herself.

‘
I’ll take you now. The resistance has a cell living in the underground tunnels to the east of the Central District,’ the woman spoke quickly, pointing over her shoulder as she did.

‘
Let’s go,’ Carson said immediately. ‘But first, what do we call you?’

‘
Harya,’ the woman placed a hand on her chest and bowed low. ‘And what do I call you?’ she asked as she straightened. Her smile still blazed, and as she turned it on Carson again, Nida could swear his cheeks flushed.

Again.

‘
I’m Carak and that’s Nara,’ Carson pointed to Nida. ‘And we are here to help,’ he added, as if for good measure.

Harya clapped her hands together and pressed her fingers into her mouth, smiling around them. ‘Thank the gods for you, Carak and Nara. If you hadn’t come along, the varg would have finished its job.’ She briefly looked down at her leg. But the sight of her slowly oozing injury did not dampen her cheer. ‘Please follow me; I must take you to the resistance at once.’

‘
Hold on, you’re injured,’ Carson gestured to the deep gash above her right knee.

‘
I will be fine,’ Harya said bravely.

‘
Sure you will,’ Carson noted skeptically as he knelt down and picked up Nida’s shawl. It had fallen on the ground when the varg had attacked her. Dusting it off in his hands, he walked up to Harya and handed it to her. ‘Tie it around the wound. Are you familiar with the herbs of this area? Do you know if there are any natural salves around?’

‘
Herbs?’ Harya asked, blinking quite prettily. ‘Salve?’

‘
Never mind. Just tie your wound off.’ Carson nodded at her, taking several steps back as he did.

Nida could tell he wanted to lean down and take care of Harya’s injury himself. The way he frowned at the woman as she inexpertly wrapped the shawl around her bleeding knee confirmed that fact. But something held him back. He had already mentioned that this province was oppressively chauvinistic. Perhaps seeing to an injured woman would get you a whipping. Or worse—perhaps it would get her one.

As soon as Nida turned to follow, Carson stopped her. With a quick step to her side, he brought his face close by her left shoulder and whispered, ‘don’t turn your back to her; you’re injured.’

Nida wanted to protest that she wasn’t, yet as soon as Carson suggested it, she started to become aware of a horrible tingle escaping over her back. Rushing between her shoulder and the base of her spine, her skin smarted.

She could also feel a worrying wet sensation.

Carson still stood resolutely by her side, and he flashed Harya a reassuring smile as she tied off her bandage.

‘That’s the way; make it as tight as you can, but not so tight that you will fall over,’ he cautioned.

As Carson distracted Harya, Nida reached up behind her and felt her back. She quickly realized the fabric of her top was torn. Worse than that, as she surreptitiously brought her hand around and stared at her fingers, she could see the red blood painted across them.

She clenched her teeth together and drew a whistling breath between them.

Carson shot her a quick look. ‘Just keep your back to her; I’ll do the rest,’ he promised. As he did, he was sure to stare directly into her eyes.

. . . .

He did that a lot, didn’t he? Staring right at her, as if for those few brief moments nothing else existed in the entire universe.

Despite the uncomfortable ache crawling across her shoulders and down her spine, she was suddenly only aware of how Carson’s direct gaze made her feel.

Soon enough Harya finished tying off her bandage, and she got to her feet, tucking her loose white hair behind her ears and smiling again at Carson. Though the woman was not human and rather belonged to this strange planet, Nida still felt she understood the emotion flashing in Harya’s gaze.

And just for a moment it seemed to mirror her own.

Suddenly Nida shook her head. What was she thinking? She had just been attacked by some great brute of an alien creature, and her back felt as though it had been slashed to shreds. Yet here she was, wondering whether she should harbor jealousy at Harya’s clear interest in Carson.

Bringing her hands in front of her, Harya clasped them neatly, then nodded. It was a long and drawn out move, and it was directed Carson’s way.

Despite the fact Carson was still obviously alarmed at Nida’s injury, his cheeks still became a touch pink, and once again he patted his hair down, even though there wasn’t much to neaten. ‘Okay,’ he mumbled quickly. ‘Now, if you think you can walk, we need to get to the city,’ his tone hardened, and any embarrassment disappeared in a blink.

And that, there, summed Carson Blake up perfectly. Despite how embarrassed or put off he could seem, he was only ever a blink away from returning to the diligent, trained, and ever capable lieutenant.

Once again Nida’s stomach kicked with nerves, yet once again it had nothing to do with the pain biting its way into her back.

‘
How long will it take us to get to the resistance?’ Carson now questioned, his brow furrowing low over his eyes, the shadows over his cheeks drawing dark and long.

She knew what he was thinking; they couldn’t afford to be out here in this forest much longer. Yet neither could they afford to embark on a long and circuitous journey to wherever this so-called resistance was based. Their entire mission wasn’t just time sensitive; it was time dependent. Nida and Carson had no idea when or if the entity would corrupt again, yet it seemed clear that the longer they spent in this time period, the more likely it would be to occur.

Stiffening as she realized how serious this was, Nida was sure to always keep her face directed towards Harya, and her back well and truly out of sight.

‘
I can walk,’ Harya concluded after she experimentally put weight on her leg. Then, for the first time, she appeared to look past Carson, and locked her gaze on Nida instead. ‘But how about you? That varg had you pinned to the ground. Are you injured?’

‘
She’s fine,’ Carson answered before Nida could do or say anything. ‘And we need to get going. But first, I’m just going to go and check that the varg really is down,’ he said through a low growl. ‘You wait here, Harya.’ Then he nodded at Nida. ‘I’ll need your help,’ he said pointedly.

She understood. He intended to lead her off into the forest to see to her injuries.

If Harya thought it suspicious, she did not let on. Instead, she kept her hands cupped before herself, nodding low once more. ‘Of course. I will wait here.’

‘
We will be quick,’ Carson promised. With that, he made a move as if he intended to grab Nida’s hand. Then he stopped, his fingers frozen a few bare centimeters from her wrist, as realization quickly caught up with him.

Reversing direction and choosing to rap his knuckles on his thigh instead, he shot her a nervous look and quickly turned around and headed into the forest.

They walked in silence until Carson appeared satisfied they had travelled far enough from Harya. Then he stopped, turned around, closed his eyes, puffed his cheeks out, and gave an enormous, rattling sigh. ‘That was close,’ he admitted, winking one eye open.

She nodded.

She promptly winced. Stumbling forward slightly as she tried to reach a hand around behind her to clutch at her injury, she let out a swear word. ‘I didn’t even know that varg had cut me. Is it bad?’ She asked, practically spinning around in a circle as she tried to touch that impossible-to-reach spot just below her shoulder line.

Despite the situation, Carson managed a chuckle. It was low, it was light, and it didn’t last, but at least it was there. They were back in time, fighting desperately to return the entity to its home, and Nida was injured, yet Carson could still muster a moment of mirth.

And that meant something.

To her, anyway. Because it saw a small smile spread her lips. ‘What?’ she asked eventually.

‘
You really are the worst recruit in 1000 years,’ he conceded. His tone was not bitter and neither did it have the sharp reprimand she was used to hearing from the other officers back at the Academy. No, it was gentle, and tantalizingly friendly.