Protected

  But then, as we took the first step, something strange began to happen.

  The room seemed to grow somehow—elongating until the far corner was about a mile away. At least that was how it seemed. I looked back over my shoulder and saw that Grav and Shekk were now far away—almost the length of a football field in fact.

  “Hey!” I turned back to Magda who was hobbling along beside me. “What’s happening?”

  “Don’t fear, child. I put a Goddess-eye around my corner.” She kept walking towards the far distant corner and somehow I was still walking with her, despite the fact that things had suddenly gotten very, very strange.

  “A Goddess-eye? What does that mean?” I asked as we drew nearer the corner which, somehow wasn’t painted black like the rest of the room. In fact, as we got closer, I saw that it wasn’t a room in a bar at all. Instead, I saw a pleasant forest glade with green and purple trees and blue flowers growing around the base of a rustic looking cottage.

  “A Goddess-eye is the first thing taught to the wise-women of the Goddess of Mercy,” she said, smiling at me. “It allows you to have space and privacy of your own, even in a tiny or crowded area. And no one can enter without your express permission—you are only with me because I invited you.”

  “Um, thank you for the invitation but I really should be getting back.” My voice sounded high and nervous in my own ears. But Magda only laughed at my obvious fear.

  “Now, now, child—there’s no need to be afraid—especially not of old Magda. I’ll not hurt you—I’ve been waiting here for five cycles to meet you so I could help you.”

  We had reached the cottage by this time and I saw that there was a low wooden bench with a little table out in front of it.

  “Now, you sit down and make yourself at ease,” she indicated the bench. “I’ll just go and get the yarex. I have some all ready for I had a feeling today would be the day I finally laid eyes on you.”

  Mystified, I allowed myself to be seated on the bench while Magda bustled into the cottage, humming softly to herself. She returned quickly with a wooden tray bearing a steaming white and gold pot. It had white cups with golden handles to match. I would have said it looked like an ornate tea set but the cups were extremely wide and shallow—almost more like small soup bowls with handles than tea-cups.

  “Now then.” Magda set the tray on the table between us. “You must pour or your fate will not read true.”

  Mystified, I raised the steaming pot and poured a quantity of pale golden liquid into one of the bowl-cups. There were tiny brown specks in it that settled to the bottom of the cup after a moment. I looked at Magda and she nodded, so I poured for her as well.

  “Now then, now then,” she said again as I put down the pot and picked up the cup. “There’s some as like their yarex strong but I didn’t think that would do for you. So I brewed it weak.”

  “Thank you,” I said, not knowing what else to say.

  “Well, go on.” She picked up her own cup and drank some of the steaming liquid. “Have some.”

  Since Grav had said it was safe and since she had already drunk some herself, I thought it was okay to drink some of the strange steaming mixture myself. To my surprise it was good—very good.

  I’d been living for the last two days on re-hydrated Vornish and Braxian food from Grav’s stores and though I would never have told him, most of it was just awful. Not that I’m one of those people who won’t try food from other cultures—I actually love Thai and Indian and just about any other exotic food you can think of. And to be honest, some of the Vornish food was okay.

  But Braxian cuisine was alive.

  As in long, pink two-headed snakes that tried to slither off my plate, or tiny creatures that looked like bright blue hermit crabs you were supposed to crush with a mallet and then pick out of their shell with a special one pronged fork that looked like a miniature spear. There were even creatures that looked like big red roly-poly bugs—the kind that roll into a ball when you touch them. These were as big as Grav’s thumb and you were supposed to douse them in bright green hot sauce made of some toxic pepper before popping them, still wriggling, into your mouth and letting them crawl down your throat.

  So you can see why the yarex, which reminded me a jasmine tea with a hint of some exotic fruit I couldn’t name, was pretty much the best thing I’d put in my mouth in ages.

  “Mmmm,” I hummed appreciatively, as I sipped it. What is it about warm liquid running down your throat that’s so soothing? I’ve never been much of a coffee person although my friend Charlotte is completely addicted to it. But hot tea—well, I drink probably three cups a day. I hadn’t realized how much I’d been missing it before I had the hot yarex.

  “You like it, child?” Magda took another sip from her own cup and smiled at me, nodding.

  “Very much,” I said, nodding. “Thank you. It’s lovely.”

  “’Tis said only the pure of heart may drink the yarex which is ground from the holy bark of the Goddess-tree,” she remarked. “Now I know you are indeed the one whose coming I foresaw.”

  Okay, now she was making me uncomfortable again. Why couldn’t we just sit in the sunshine beside her pretty little cottage and drink the yummy tea-like stuff in peace?

  “Oh, um…” I shifted on the bench, uncertain what to say.

  Magda laughed. “And now you’re unhappy because you think old Magda is crazy. No mind, child. I can read your dregs just fine, no matter what you think of me.”

  “I would never think—” I began but she was already taking my cup from my hands and turning it this way and that.

  I realized that somehow I had finished almost all the pale-gold yarex and there was nothing left but the tiny brown specks at the bottom of the cup, which had formed a kind of pattern.

  “Hmm…yes, I see. I see,” Magda muttered, frowning.

  “You see what?” I couldn’t help asking.

  She looked at me sharply.

  “I see that you travel from a familiar danger into a much greater and unfamiliar one.”

  “Uh, I guess so.” I shifted uneasily, thinking of Gerald and his abusive ways and the mission Grav and I were on. Still, her words were vague enough that almost anyone could have gotten something out of them.

  Magda laughed again. “You’re thinking my words could be meant for anyone. Very well, child—I’ll say it more clearly. You’re running from a beater—a male who lays hands on his female in a harmful way.”

  “I…you…how could you know that?” I whispered. I looked at the pattern of brown specks in the bottom of my cup. “Did the, uh, yarex dregs tell you all that?

  She shook her head.

  “Nay. I didn’t need them to. The way you flinched when your male defended you with violence, even though it wasn’t directed at you, told me as much.”

  “Grav…isn’t my male,” I said.

  Magda smiled. “No? Well, I’ll let time tell about that. Shall I tell you something else I shouldn’t know?”

  I bit my lip, then heard myself say, “Yes, please.”

  “You were dead, or deep asleep for years,” she said, looking at me. “But now you’re awake. Be careful that awakening doesn’t push you too far.”

  “What?” I leaned forward, looking at her intently. Could she possibly be talking about what I thought she was talking about?

  “You heard me. That part of you—the part you thought was dead or broken—it was only asleep. And it’s awake now. Awake and hungry, child. Very hungry.”

  “I know,” I whispered, thinking of how I felt around Grav, how I wished I could be closer to him, how I wanted to touch him all the time even though I knew it was completely inappropriate. “But I don’t understand. Why was it asleep? And why is it awake now?”

  “You were healed. That healing has awakened your own talent as well as your desire.”

  “Talent?” I shook my head. “I don’t have any talent.”

  “You do. And i
t will manifest in time. As you were healed, so shall you heal. But be wary—every time you need the healing touch, it will further awaken your need.”

  “How?” I asked. “Why?”

  “You are a La-ti-zal.” Reaching out with one gnarled hand, she stroked my cheek. “I know for I am one as well.”

  “Really?” I frowned. “I thought La-ti-zals only came from my planet—from Earth.”

  She shook her head. “They most often come from closed planets, it is true. But the talents of the Ancient Ones may touch any female born of their seed. We La-ti-zals are few, my child. Few and precious. And for such as we, only the touch of the right male can truly awaken the fire within.”

  “But…I’m married,” I said.

  “Joined to the beater, are you?” She looked at me sharply.

  I nodded and ducked my head.

  “Yes.”

  “A false joining,” Magda said. She put down my cup and took another sip from her own. “It is not binding. It cannot hold you because you were a different person when you made those vows. Now you are becoming something new. Can’t you feel it, child?”

  I looked down at my wedding ring which I was still wearing for some reason.

  “I don’t know,” I said, twisting the thin golden circlet around my finger. “I don’t know what to think, anymore.”

  “You will, child. You will.” She smiled at me and picked up my cup again. “Now for the dregs. Ah…ah-ha…” She frowned, studying the pattern of brown specks.

  “What?” She’d told me so much she shouldn’t know I was inclined to believe almost anything else she said.

  “You’ll meet a male,” she said, after a long time. “One you think you shouldn’t trust. He will ask you questions you feel you mustn’t answer.”

  “Really?” I looked at her doubtfully.

  “Really.” She looked up at me. “Now, listen to me child: trust this male. And tell him what he needs to know.”

  “Um…” I wasn’t sure what to say.

  Magda leaned forward, looking at me intently.

  “Tell him,” she emphasized. “The fate of the very galaxy depends on it.”

  Well, that was a pretty strong statement.

  “Okay,” I said, because it seemed like she wouldn’t stop staring at me until I agreed. “Okay, I’ll tell him.”

  “Good. That’s a good child.” Magda leaned back at last, looking contented. “Then the last five cycles of my life have not been wasted waiting in this hole. Well…” She rose stiffly to her feet and took the tray. “Let me just clear up these things and then we should be getting back. Your male and Shekk will have agreed on a price by now and you’ll need to be going.”

  “I guess so,” I said.

  Magda nudged open the cottage door with one foot and I jumped up to help her.

  “Nay, child, I’ve got it,” she said, nodding. “I’m just trying to be careful that Purrah, my pet hyl’dy doesn’t get out.”

  “You keep a pet out here too?” It seemed strange, but no stranger than the idea of her having an entire forest and cottage set up in the small, dusty corner of a back room at a bar.

  “Oh my yes, I don’t go anywhere without my Purrah. But she’s lately had kits which makes her fractious. And ‘tis a wee bit dangerous for those who don’t know how to handle them.”

  “Protective mama, is she?” I asked, smiling a little. I’d had a cat who had kittens back when I was younger and she was an extremely fierce protector of her little family.

  “Oh my, yes she is.” Magda smiled. “But that’s not the danger. It’s—” A sudden sound from inside the cottage seemed to catch her attention. “Excuse me but I must check them before we go back.”

  She went inside and shut the door firmly behind her. Clearly I was meant to stay outside.

  Not that I minded.

  I sat in the flood of golden green sunshine and waited for Magda to finish and come back out. Far off in the distance, almost to the strange horizon, I could still see Grav standing in front of the wooden throne, talking to Shekk. He glanced at me once and nodded and I nodded back. I wondered what he saw when he looked at me—did it look like Magda and I were just sitting in the corner having tea or yarex or whatever? I was almost certain he couldn’t see the cottage or the forest or the flowers…

  Or the strange creature coming towards me out of the trees.

  It looked a little like a kitten, a little like an otter, and a little like a raccoon. And it also looked nothing like any of them because it had bright orange and green striped fur and six legs—three on either side.

  “Mmmmnow?” It made a purring, buzzing hum at the back of its throat as it came up to me and started rubbing its head against my leg in a friendly way.

  “Well now, who are you?” I’d always loved animals, especially cute fuzzy baby animals and alien animals were no exception. I wondered if this was one of Purrah’s kits that Magda had been talking about. She’d said something about danger but since the mother didn’t seem to be around, I didn’t see any harm in at least petting the little creature.

  Stooping down, I reached for it and tickled it under its furry chin. The kit went wild, wiggling with joy as I stroked it, licking my fingers with a rasping little green tongue.

  “All right now, that’s enough,” I told it but when I tried to pull my hand away, it reached out with all four of its front paws to grip me.

  “Ouch!” I exclaimed—it had sharp little claws that dug into my skin.

  The kit seemed to realize it was hurting me somehow because it retracted its claws and lifted its pointed little face appealingly. It had huge, copper-colored eyes and I could have sworn it was begging to be picked up and loved on some more.

  “Oh…all right. You win,” I told it, completely charmed by its furry little face.

  I scooped the kit up carefully and it came to me with no problem and cuddled against me rubbing its head under my chin and making its soothing, buzzing-humming purr. In fact, it purred so loudly it almost seemed to vibrate my entire body.

  “You’re just a cutie, aren’t you?” I murmured, stroking its soft, vivid fur. It was about the size of a kitten but longer in the body, I guessed to accommodate the extra pair of legs.

  I had opened my long cloak because the warm golden-green sunshine was making me hot. The kit was curled up and purring on my chest as it nuzzled its little head under my chin. Really, it was the cutest thing I’d ever seen and I was just wondering if I might ask Magda if the kits were old enough to leave their mother so I could have one as a pet, when a sudden bumping or thumping sound from inside the cottage seemed to startle it.

  With a loud hiss, it dug all six of its little claws into my cleavage, making me gasp with pain. But before I could get hold of it and try to get it off me, it took off like a shot, jumping from my chest to the ground and scooting off into the forest so fast it looked like a green and orange streak.

  Just then, Magda came back out of the cottage.

  “There now, Purrah,” I heard her saying. “He can’t have gotten far, your littlest kit. He’ll be coming home again directly.”

  “Is everything okay?” I asked, standing up and quickly pulling my cloak closed around me.

  “Oh, it’s naught but one of the kits has slipped out and Purrah’s worried about him. Hyl’dy are very careful mothers and it frets her not to know where her little one is.”

  “Is he green and orange striped with six legs?” I asked.

  Magda looked at me sharply. “So he is. Have you seen him? You didn’t touch him, did you?”

  “Um…I saw him run into the forest,” I said, avoiding her question about touching the kit. Would his mother refuse to take him back if he had my scent on him? I really hoped not.

  “Oh, that’s all right then. I’ll find him when I come back.” Magda relaxed and nodded. She smiled at me. “Well then, let’s be getting back, shall we?”

  “Sure.” I nodded and tried to
return her smile, but as we walked back to the horizon where Grav and Shekk were talking, I couldn’t help being worried. Purrah’s little kit had been so cute—I hoped I hadn’t done any permanent harm by petting him.

  I also hoped he hadn’t done any permanent harm to me. The places where his little claws had scratched me really stung—more now, even, than when he’d first made them. Absently I rubbed at itchy scratch marks on the back of my right hand. He’d really gotten me good, that little booger!

  At last we crossed the strange threshold where the Goddess-eye ended and the back room of the bar began. Stepping out of it, we found ourselves just two steps from the center of the room where Grav and Shekk were apparently finishing up their business.

  “And you’re sure this’ll do the trick?” Grav was tucking something that looked like a long, slender cylinder into a pocket of his black leather vest. “And it’s completely untraceable?”

  “As long as you wear it implanted under your skin,” Shekk said, his red laser light suit sizzling. “Unless you want to wait for us to grow a skin-graft bag you can wear against your skin? Less painful that way.”

  “And how long would that take?” Grav asked.

  Shekk smiled. “Only a solar week—we have the fastest incubatorial growth tanks on this side of the galaxy.”

  Grav shook his head regretfully.

  “Sorry, but I don’t have a week. My ward is in trouble now. I need to get to her.”

  Shekk frowned, his balloon face contorting like melting plastic. “I thought you said she wasn’t your ward anymore, Gravex?”

  Grav shrugged, his massive, muscular shoulder rolling with the movement.

  “Just because her grandfather dissolved our contract doesn’t mean I stopped feeling responsible or protective of her. She’s out there and I have to find her—soon.”

  “Hopefully before one of the Biters takes a mouthful of her succulent flesh,” Shekk remarked callously. “You don’t want her getting the Biter’s Curse—she’d be better off dead.”

  “Don’t fuckin’ say that,” Grav growled. “Teeny’s alive and she’s gonna be just fine. I got her back before, from that scum Tazaxx. This is no different.”