Tara The Great [Nuworld 2] (44 page)

accept the fact that the Lunians would set up camp in enemy territory with one access

point.

A vibration under his feet caught his attention. The table next to him rattled as the

ground moved. The soldier working at a landlink grabbed the contents on the table to

keep them from falling to the ground. Everyone braced themselves until the minor

quake stopped.

Questions and explanations drifted across the field.

“What was that?”

“My, now, that was quite odd.”

Another tremor hit, this one more severe. A large explosion filled the air with dust.

The soldiers took cover instinctively.

Darius stood his ground and searched the dark sky, but saw no indication of an air

attack. “Light!” he yelled to no one in particular. “Give me more light, I say.”

He aimed powerful beams across the field in front of him. Awestruck, he watched a

billow of smoke fill the air. The ground imploded. Obviously, they’d experienced an

underground explosion.

He wanted to explore the large mass of collapsed ground, but didn’t trust the safety

of it, especially in the dark.

Had everyone still underground been destroyed?

Who ignited the explosions?

Where was Tara?

The last thought sent a panic racing through his bloodstream. She had to be alive.

Gowsky appeared. “How many do you still have down there?” he asked, squinting

at the billowing dark cloud that spread across the field in front of them. He also used a

powerful handheld beam to cut through the darkness with its bright light.

“I don’t have a count yet,” Darius answered. “The third squadron hasn’t returned,

no.”

Another explosion rocked them.

More light appeared and one of Darius’ warriors trained the beam on the other side

of the field. They all witnessed a large expanse of ground sink, followed by a brown

cloud filling the air.

Darius stripped off his shirt and quickly tied it around his nose and mouth as the

dirt-filled cloud spread across the campground, surrounding them, and reducing

visibility to a few feet.

Darius turned his head and covered his eyes to avoid the inevitable burning.

Gothman, Runner, and Neurian coughed and waved their hands in front of their faces

until the cloud lifted.

“There can’t possibly be anything left down there,” Darius said, turning to where

Gowsky stood.

The Neurian didn’t hear him. He stood over by a tree, leaning over, his hand to his

ear, listening to something on his comm.

“Darius.” Torgo appeared next to his older brother.

Darius turned and pointed toward the Lunian camp. “Can you reach anyone?”

“I’ll check.” Torgo put his hand on his brother’s shoulder. “But first, something’s

going on, it is.” Torgo had his comm hooked up to his landlink and pressed his hand to

his ear. He looked to his brother, and an expression Darius couldn’t read covered his

face.

“Who are you listening to now?” Darius wrinkled his brow.

“Shh.” Torgo waved his hand at his brother.

“You don’t tell me to—”

“Please.” Torgo’s eyes looked desperate now, or maybe worried. “It’s Tasha. She’s

talking to Gowsky.”

He whispered the words, and Darius looked over in the direction of the Neurian.

The man had his back to them, with his head down and hand smashed to his ear.

“Tasha?” Darius whispered back, wondering why in the hell that woman would be

talking to Gowsky.

Darius grabbed Torgo’s arm and moved the two of them over to the seclusion of

some trees. His mind raced at the significance of what he’d just learned. “What’s she

saying?”

Torgo handed the comm to his brother so he could listen. “Something about her

baby. It’s missing.”

Something grabbed Darius’ stomach and twisted it in a death grip. An emotion he

couldn’t name seized him as he stared at his younger brother. He put the comm to his

ear and heard Gowsky tell Tasha to calm down. Her voice was close to inaudible. The

connection was bad, and she was hysterical as he listened to Gowsky telling her he

would look into it. The connection was severed. He could only assume Gowsky had

turned off his comm.

Turning slowly, Darius looked at Gowsky, who turned at the same time and stared

at him. Their eyes locked for a moment through the darkness, then Gowsky entered the

forest and disappeared. “What did you hear before you handed the comm to me?”

“I, uh, heard her say someone took her baby.”

Darius saw his brother swallow and squirm under his stare.

“She said whoever took it, I mean, um, the baby, they didn’t have a landlink, and

they were on a glider.” Torgo paused and looked at his brother.

Darius tightened his brow even more. “What else?”

“Well, she thinks it was Tara, she does.” Torgo dropped his head and began to

mumble. “She said Tara always managed to ruin her life, and that Tara would be the

only one who had reason to do it.”

Torgo looked back up at Darius and hesitated before asking. “So what do you want

me to do?”

“Keep an eye on Gowsky. I want to know his every move.” Darius felt too many

emotions ripple through him. Tara should be here with her people, fighting to be rid of

the Lunians. This news of a kidnapped baby was nothing to worry about, he told

himself. But Tara hadn’t surfaced from the underground city, and Darius feared

everyone still down there was dead. Would Tara have left for Southland without letting

him know? “Tell me if any activity stirs to the south, you will.”

He turned from Torgo, dismissing him silently. Had Tara somehow learned that

Tasha now resided in Southland? And if so, how would she have gathered that

information after being captured by the Lunians?

Darius remembered seeing the two figures run from the hole right before the

Gothman and Neurians had attacked the Lunians. He had dismissed what he had seen

at the time, deciding it had been irrelevant. But had one of them been Tara? Had she

escaped prior to their attack?

Another thought hit him, and even in the midst of the confusion of explosions and

rescue, he wondered why he hadn’t thought of it before. The young Neurian woman,

Tealah, had not surfaced in their rescue attempts, either.

Staring at the uprooted ground through the darkness, the worry and panic he’d

experienced through the evening now changed to unleashed fury and outrage. So that’s

where you are, my lady. What a fool I was to worry about you.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Tara hadn’t taken one thing into consideration. As her glider began making funny,

jerking motions, and she looked at the panel in front of her, she realized what it was.

Fuel.

“Looks like we’ll have to land,” she said to the sleeping child.

The front beam on the glider provided the necessary light to land, and the open

rolling ground south of Gothman offered few obstacles to block her path. There wasn’t

much she could do other than desert the glider and start walking. About all she knew

was that she headed north.

Her eyes burned from lack of sleep. Lack of food—she hadn’t eaten since the day

before—hindered her perception. The child seemed to gain weight in her arms, and she

felt clammy and cold, even though the night air was almost muggy.

You should stop. You have until midnight tonight. Or, was it tomorrow night already?

Now she wasn’t thinking clearly, either.

“Come on, Crator,” she cried out loud. “Talk to me. Where are you, dog-woman?

Help me stay awake.”

There was no answer.

She was on her own.

“Don’t you approve of what I’m doing?” She kept talking out loud, deciding a

conversation, even with herself, might help keep her awake. “You said I needed to get

rid of the evil. That’s what I’m doing.”

She looked at the bundle in her arms. “He doesn’t look evil.”

Did Crator not speak to her because He didn’t approve of her actions? Panic surged

through Tara at the thought that she could be making a grave mistake. The dog-woman

not appearing could be a sign. Tara almost stumbled over protruding rocks in the

ground.

Tigo stirred in her arms and his small hands reached out.

Tara regained her footing and snuggled the child until he relaxed and continued his

slumber.

This had to be the right thing to do.

Tara focused on her children, and the future each of them had as great leaders. No

one would endanger Andru’s right to rule if Tara could prevent it. And just the thought

of a bastard child of Darius’ interacting in their lives made Tara sick. She didn’t want a

continuous reminder that he had been unfaithful.

She wasn’t sure how long she walked, but she saw no indication of sunrise. It was

so dark she began to feel the night would last forever.

“Just put one foot in front of the other,” she ordered herself.

The next thing Tara knew, she lay on the ground. She didn’t remember stopping.

And she certainly had no recollection of falling asleep. Maybe she fell asleep while

walking.

Had she fallen in her footsteps and simply passed out? She couldn’t have. Tigo

would have started crying and that would have awakened her. Instead, the child lay

cuddled next to her.

Tara puzzled over the situation until consciousness drifted away again.

Dreams filled her sleep.

She couldn’t move her legs, and when she tried, a pressure around them tightened,

holding her fast. Tara struggled with this sensation as her inner thoughts told her to just

sleep and not worry about it. She inhaled, but then found she couldn’t. She gasped for

breath. Breathe. Move your legs. A nightmare.

Get up. Go to sleep. Can’t breathe.

Her thoughts bordered on waking up. The child could be in danger, and she had to

protect him. Did little Tigo still lie next to her? Her arms didn’t want to cooperate. She

tried moving them, wrapping them around the warm bundle that she felt sure was Tigo