On seeing him the gnasher stopped short in surprise, then tossed its head angrily, brandishing long, curving tusks which looked murderously sharp. Bram knew he didn’t want to give it a chance to use those deadly weapons on him or anyone else.
Rushing forward, he got a tusk in each hand and pulled, twisting the animal’s head around in a circular motion, trying to break its neck.
The move would have worked on a number of smaller creatures but the gnasher was too big—the heavy muscles of its neck and hump too thick to allow a clean break. Still he did manage to keep it from charging at the fleeing females and he heard Alanah shouting orders from the top of the applen tree where he’d placed her, making certain all the women got to safety.
Can’t keep this up for long, Bram thought, straining grimly to keep the gnasher from breaking free. If it got away from his grip all Seven Hells were going to break loose. It might even charge the tree where Alanah was—he saw its tiny red eyes rolling upwards towards her when her clear voice rang out, urging her people to safety.
Can’t have that! A fresh surge of determination rushed through him and he wrestled harder with the giant beast. The gnasher didn’t strike him as being overly intelligent. If he could just get it turned around it might rush off in the wrong direction—maybe into the forest the way it had come.
Then he heard a scream and a crash. His head jerked to the right and he saw Jenla, Alanah’s friend, lying at the base of the tall applen tree. She’d obviously been trying to climb up the branches to reach safety but one of them must have broken or else she had lost her hold. As he watched, she tried to drag herself up but slipped, tripping on her long skirts. At the same time, Alanah called her name and started climbing down from the high perch where he had placed her, to help her friend.
Bram saw all this in a flash but his momentary distraction was the opportunity the gnasher had been looking for. With a snort, it threw its massive head to the left, ripping its tusks from his grip, and charged at the helpless females in the applen tree.
Alanah saw it coming and her eyes widened. But instead of climbing higher into the tree to find shelter, she jumped the last few feet to the ground and grabbed her friend under the arms, trying to pull her to safety.
“Up, Jenla—you have to get up,” Bram heard her gasping in a panicked voice.
“I’m trying—I can’t reach the branch. I—” But the last of Jenla’s words were drowned out by the gnasher’s angry snort. It lowered its massive head and aimed its razor sharp tusks at the two women, preparing to charge.
“No!” Bram bellowed. Fear and rage filled him like bloody water, blotting out everything else except the need to save the female he cared for. Gone was his worry about looking like a wielder of dark magic. There was time to do only one thing and he did it.
In one swift move, he drew his blaster and fired—three, four, five times in rapid succession. Each time the beam hit the target, the energy pouring into the gnasher increased. And the buildup had to go somewhere.
Later Ren, who had been watching on the viewscreen, pointed out to Bram that his actions were a classic case of overkill. The gnasher didn’t just die—it exploded, coating the forest in all directions in bits of bone and flesh and spraying blood like a bomb full of the stuff had been detonated.
Bram looked at the crimson, dripping mess he’d created and knew there would be hell to pay. But right now, all he could think about was Alanah. Was she all right?
“Alanah?” he called hoarsely, wading through the river of carnage towards the tree where he’d last seen her. “Alanah, where are you? Are you all right, little one? Please, answer me!”
“I’m all right, Bram.” Her voice, thin and uncertain, came from behind the tree. Going around it, he saw that she and Jenla were standing there with their arms around each other, shivering. Apparently Alanah had managed to drag her friend around to the other side just before he’d exploded the gnasher. The thick trunk had blocked most of the gore but both of them still had blood spattered on their garments and beaded in their long hair.
“Are you all right?” he repeated stupidly because he didn’t know what else to say and because her eyes were so wide with fright, he was afraid she might have some injury he couldn’t see.
“I…I think I may have twisted my ankle when I jumped from the tree but other than that, I’m fine. How…” She looked at him, her serious gray eyes filled with doubt and misgivings. “Bram, how did you do that? How did you destroy the gnasher so…so completely?”
“Was it magic?” Jenla’s voice quivered and she clung to her friend for protection as much as for support. “Did you…are you a male witch? I didn’t know males could be witches—I thought only the Elder Witch could wield the magic arts but I’ve never seen Thiera do anything like that.”
Gods, he’d done it now. Bram could have kicked himself for his stupidity. One well placed shot through the gnasher’s eye or heart would have left a small, burned hole which might have been hidden or explained away somehow. But by shooting it multiple times and killing it in such a spectacular fashion he had left himself open for all kinds of questions and speculation. And things had been going so well…
“Alanah, listen to me—I’m not a magic user. That was not magic,” he said earnestly. If he could just make her believe him the others might as well. “It was what my society calls technology—using a machine to do something more efficiently than you could do it by hand.”
“A machine?” Alanah frowned.
He grasped for an explanation.
“Like…like a mill stone,” he said at last. “The water turns the wheel and the cogs in the mill, which in turn moves the stone, which grinds the grain. That’s a machine—it has working parts and you can use it for a purpose but it has no mind of its own and there’s nothing magical about it.”
Jenla still looked at him doubtfully but Alanah looked like she understood—or at least was on the verge of understanding.
“Are you saying you have something in your pocket that has the force of an entire millstone in it?” she asked. “Because…I could see a gnasher ending up like…like that one did if it was ground up by a millstone. Ugh…” She shivered.
“It’s something like that.” Bram drew out the blaster which he’d shoved in his inner pocket, noticing as he did so that his hands were sticky with drying blood. He would need to take a sonic shower on his shuttle and later have a long soak in the bathing pool in his quarters on the main ship to get the stuff completely off.
“This little thing was able to kill the gnasher?” Alanah was staring in wonder at the blaster which had a thick silver barrel and a blue metallic grip with a yellow trigger. She reached out to touch it but Bram drew it away a little.
“Look but don’t touch,” he told her. “Later I’ll teach you to shoot one if you want but it’s not safe if you don’t know how to handle it.”
“Did you hear that? He told the Princess he’ll teach her how to use the magic he used to kill the gnasher!” said a voice behind him.
“Was it the giant did that?” asked another.
“Oh yes—I saw him do it! He pointed his finger at it and it just blew all apart! I never saw anything like it!”
“It’s a sight better than the magic the Elder Witch works,” someone else said. “All she does is touch your hand and mutter over you a little. The giant actually blows things up!”
Bram groaned and repocketed the blaster. This was exactly the scenario he had feared and now he didn’t know what to do about it.
“I should go back to my ship,” he said to Alanah. “Get cleaned up.”
“No, don’t—stay.” She put a hand on his arm, not even wincing when the gnasher blood got on her skin. “If you go, they’ll start to fear you,” she said urgently. “Thiera will hear this story and make them fear you. If you stay at least you can show that you mean no harm—that you were only trying to save me and Jenla and do good.”
“All right.” Bram nodded, seeing the wisdom of her s
tatement. “But I’m afraid my time here is short anyway, Alanah.”
“Is it?” Her eyes widened and she bit her lip. “Are you…are you leaving so soon?”
“Only if you’ll come with me,” he said in a low voice. He was more aware than ever that the women of the applen picking party were coming back now that it was safe and there were many curious eyes on them. “Look—you said your ankle was twisted. May I carry you back to the castle, Princess?” he asked formally. They needed some privacy and this was the best they were likely to get.
“I…yes of course.” Alanah looked down at her ankle. “I don’t think I’ll be able to walk on this for some time. So if you would assist me to the castle, it would be a great kindness,” she said, using the same carrying tone he had, to let the curious women around them know what was going on.
“It would be my honor.” Gently, Bram scooped her into his arms and cradled her against his chest. “Come, Princess—let’s get you home.”
* * * * *
Alanah lay her head against her giant’s chest, listening to the deep, steady rhythm of his heart and trying to block out everything else. But though she tried not to let them, nagging doubts kept seeping past her guard, trying to bother her.
He said it wasn’t magic—he called it a machine. But how could anything so small be so powerful? Powerful enough to blow a huge gnasher to bits like that?
Still, despite her worries and doubts one certainty was clear in her mind—Bram had promised he would never hurt her and Alanah believed him about that. He might kill to protect her but he would never turn the destructive power of his magic or machines—whichever it was—on her.
She drew this certainty from the dreams they had shared as well as from the feeling she got when she touched him. Even now, cradled in his arms as she was, she could almost feel his concern for her through their contact—his desire to make sure she was safe and well. And she felt the same for him. The rightness when he touched her was beyond anything she had ever felt.
Alanah imagined it must be at least a little what a mother felt when she held her newborn child—the deep need to protect, the overwhelming emotion…she didn’t dare to call it love. She hadn’t known him long enough for that, she told herself. But there was no other name for it—this sense of peace when Bram held her and the deep longing she had to be closer to him.
And yet, there was another dimension to that feeling too—a desire to hold more closely, to touch more deeply. Alanah couldn’t let herself think about too much about that—it made her nipples feel tight and her flower feel tender and empty somehow—strange sensations she was afraid to dwell on too deeply.
It was Bram who broke the silence between them after most of the party had gone on ahead and they had a little cushion of distance that gave them privacy.
“You need to come back with me, Alanah,” he said, looking down at her. “I wish I could stay here on your little planet and prove myself for weeks but we’re running out of time—especially after what just happened.”
“Yes, I know.” She sighed and pressed closer to his broad, bare chest. The sky had turned overcast and a chilly Autumn wind was whipping the skirts of the women walking ahead of them but Bram was so warm. He put out heat like a roaring fire and she felt completely protected in the circle of his arms. “Thiera won’t like it when she hears what the girls have to say,” she added. “There will be no convincing her that what you did wasn’t magic.”
“I’m not completely certain I’ve convinced you,” Bram said. He spoke lightly but his sapphire eyes were anxious.
“I don’t know if you have either,” Alanah admitted. “But, well, I know you won’t hurt me. Whatever you did and however you did it, you did it to save Jenla and me.”
“True. I…went a little crazy back there and overdid it,” he admitted. “I thought that Goddess-damned beast was going to gore you right in front of me.” His eyes blazed, glowing brilliant blue in the dim Autumn afternoon. “I lost control when I thought of you being injured or killed.”
“Thank you for saving me. I would have been dead without you,” Alanah said seriously.
“Then let me save you a second time.” Bram’s deep voice was urgent. “Let me prove to you the danger you and your people are in and take you away from this place.”
“Take us away? From our home—our world, you mean?” Alanah could scarcely take in what he was saying. “All of us at once?”
“I would rather you didn’t speak of it until you understand my reasons and you’re willing to help me convince your people to go, but yes—all of you at once,” he answered.
“But…is there room and food for everyone on your ship?” she asked. “There are over a thousand women under my protection—that’s a lot of extra mouths to feed, Bram.”
He gave a soft chuckle. “Little one, my ship is what we Kindred call a Mother Ship. That means it’s like a self-contained city with plenty of resources for all. It is modeled after the first Mother Ship—the one built by our Kindred ancestors when they left their home planet of First World.” He sighed, sounding sad. “And since almost all of our females have died off, there is plenty of space aboard.”
“It sounds lovely. What I’ve seen in the dreams we shared, well…” Alanah shook her head. “It’s like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
“It’s built on a bigger scale than you’re used to but we can manage that,” Bram promised. “We’ll take you off this frigid rock of a planet where you’re never warm enough and you never get quite enough to eat and bring you to the Mother Ship where there’s warmth and plenty enough for everyone.”
Alanah gave an uncertain little laugh.
“You don’t know how often I’ve wished I could live someplace where it was warm and safe and the chores were done by magic.”
“Not magic—technology,” he corrected her. “And though there’s work for everyone who wants it, all of your most onerous chores like growing crops, tending livestock, cooking, cleaning, washing clothes—all that would be taken care of for you.”
“No more wash days?” Alanah sighed in wonder. Wash day was a long, miserable affair which consisted of hauling water, boiling the clothes and linens in huge pots filled with stinging lye, scrubbing any stains with a stiff bristled brush, rinsing them in cooler water, wringing them out by hand, and hanging them on a line until they were dry enough to fold up neatly. Having someone—or something else, maybe like the machines Bram had talked about—do all that for her, would certainly be nice.
“No more wash days,” he told her. “Let us take you away from this miserable existence, Alanah. Let me take you away and make you happy.”
Alanah looked up at him uncertainly. “Was one day with me enough to know I’m miserable? Or did you use…”
She left the sentence unfinished but he spoke the word she was thinking.
“Magic? No, not unless you count the dream-sharing as magic. Watching you for six solar months was enough to let me know how unhappy your existence has become.”
“But the dream-sharing—if it’s not magic, then what is it?” Alanah asked, mystified. “Is it caused by another one of your machines?”
He laughed, a deep rumble that came from the bottom of his broad chest and vibrated her entire body pleasantly.
“Hardly. Dream-sharing is part of being Kindred. We are genetic traders—we seek out new mates. When we find a female who is compatible with us—that one perfect match in a universe of countless others—our minds become aligned with theirs. It helps us find new females who can mix with our kind and produce children.”
“But…” Alanah bit her lip, unable to say what was on her mind.
“But what, little one?” Bram frowned down at her gently. “Tell me the problem. Is it our size difference again? You’re thinking that the dream-sharing must have been wrong this time because there’s no way you and I can fit together?”
How well he knew her already! Hesitantly, Alanah nodded.
“I just don’t see how
…how it could work,” she whispered, feeling her cheeks heat with a blush as she spoke. “You’re so big and I…I’m assuming your big everywhere, Bram. And even though I’m considered much too large for a woman by my own people, I’m still so much smaller than you. I just don’t see—”
“Then let me show you,” he murmured urgently. “Let me show you how the two of us can fit together.”
Alanah bit her lip. “I have no father to give me away to you. We would be unmarried. It…it would not be proper.”
“I will join with you in any ceremony you choose.” His eyes blazed into hers. “I swear it, Alanah—I’ll join with you and wed you if you’ll have me.”
“But will you be able to have me afterwards?” she asked, and then blushed again at the frankness of her own words. “I’m sorry, Bram, but I just don’t see how it could work.”
“Among my people we have what is called a Claiming period,” he said, still holding her eyes with his. “It generally lasts for four solar weeks but in our case, I’m afraid we would have to shorten it to four days—we cannot spare more than that with the danger your planet is facing.”
“What are you saying?” Alanah asked uncertainly.
“I’m saying come with me, little one—give me four days to show my devotion—and to prove we can fit together and love each other in a physical way.” He looked at her earnestly. “I promise it can be done.”
“And if it works for us…” Alanah said slowly. “It should be possible for my people to be with yours—if they want to,” she added.
“Only if they want to. If their minds align,” Bram promised. “What do you say, little one? Will you give me four days?”
Alanah bit her lip. “Thiera won’t like it if I leave with you, even for a while. She’ll see it as a challenge to her power—her authority.”
His eyes flashed. “She shouldn’t have that kind of authority! You are the leader here, just as I am the captain of my ship. I solicit advice from qualified experts and advisors from time to time but I am the one who makes the decisions—just as you do here on your world.”