Ki Book One

  Chapter Eight

  It was hard going. Her feet throbbed. Every step sent shooting pain up her ankles and high into her legs. She desperately wanted to stop, rest, and find a cool pool to soak her swollen and hot heels and toes in. She did not say a word about it though. She doubted he would notice even if she did; he’d spent hours with his face twisted up in deep thought.

  Battling his demons. She’d seen men with expressions like that before. She recognized how heavy and thoughtless his movements where. His body walked while his mind was elsewhere. All too often he stumbled, only to curse, right himself and continue on with more alertness. But his attention would slip and that tight frown would return.

  She tried not to watch him, but often she couldn’t help it. She would find some excuse to glance his way, whether it was to check her feet, to tuck her hair behind her ear, or to pause to catch her breath.

  Though she was terribly hungry and a pounding headache was marching through her forehead, his obvious emotional turmoil was enough to distract her from all that. She couldn’t help but feel he was thinking about her. More to the point, what he would do with her once they reached the other side of this cave system.

  Though he’d promised he would help her through this, she understood it was likely an empty offer. She’d watched him carefully whenever he’d spoken of the war and his hatred of her people – memories and feelings like that do not ebb easily. They would be deeply rooted within his identity. He would see himself as a warrior who had fought against the Tarkan threat, who had kept their evil at bay.

  A few days with her could not change that, no matter how hard she prayed for it.

  Their trust would have to be a tentative one for now. If either of them lived long enough, maybe one day, given time, it would become more.

  As she thought, she brushed her hands up and down her arms, warming the skin. It was frigid cold in this cave system. Though she was thankful that her feet weren’t bare anymore, she would have cherished having her long and thick sleeves back.

  A few times he’d offered her his shirt, but of course she’d declined. Not only would it leave his torso exposed to this fell chill, it would be entirely inappropriate.

  After several hours of solid walking, she began to trip more and more. The pain from her feet had warped into an insidious, numb feeling that crawled up her legs, sabotaging her balance. Trying to be more careful, she secured herself with one hand on the cave wall whenever she could. It was not enough though, and soon she slipped down hard, slamming her right thigh into a jagged rock below.

  Jackson had wandered a step or two ahead, but he snapped around immediately, trying to catch her. It was too late though.

  Gasping in pain, she pushed herself up, but could hardly stand.

  “Damn it, we have to stop. You can’t go on tonight. We’ll have to try to make camp somewhere.”

  “I can go on,” she lied.

  He crossed his arms and shook his head, expression disbelieving yet somehow charming. There was an amused edge to it. “Sure, if I carry you?”

  Flushing, she tugged at the collar of her robe, ensuring it was as high as she could pull it. “That won’t be necessary. I’ll be fine.”

  “You aren’t fine. Now come on, we’ll try to find a wider cavern, somewhere with some flat ground. We might even be lucky and get some ground water or an underground stream,” as he spoke, his voice became distracted. Pulling up the scanner, he fixed his attention on the screen. “I think I understand this thing sufficiently to program it... if that’s the right term. I should be able to track out some water, if we’re close enough.”

  “How long will that take?”

  One cheek puckering as he flashed a half-smile, he shrugged his shoulders. “I thought you said you could go on?”

  “I just... wanted to know how long it would take.”

  “Of course you did.” That half-smile still fattened one of his cheeks. “Well... let me just...” he began to manipulate the scanner, prodding it experimentally as he flicked his gaze from the controls to the view screen.

  “Do you know what you are doing with that?”

  “I’m a scientist.” His voice had a hard edge to it.

  “Perhaps I should have a look? I’m may be only a priestess, but I’ve seen enough people use those things over the past year. I’m sure I might be able to....” She trailed off. It was clear he wasn’t paying attention to her.

  “There might be water... just ahead of us. To the left, down a side shaft... or it might be rock. I’m not sure what I’m looking at.”

  “Give me a look.” Lifting her robe, she tried to clamber around the large boulder that separated them.

  She did not get very far. As soon as she put weight against her left foot, the ankle buckled. She fell forward.

  She did not fall this time though. Jackson stumbled forward, catching her, the scanner slipping from his grip and clattering to the ground.

  There was a moment where he held her there. She could feel his arms around her. Despite the fact she knew exactly who this man was and where he came from, she could not deny it reassured her.

  “Be careful,” he hissed through a breath. It pushed out against her cheeks, tantalizingly warm considering how cold this cave had made her.

  Nodding, unable to speak, she waited for him to prop her up against a large boulder to her side. Immediately he turned and plucked up the scanner. Turning it around, he checked it thoroughly before letting out a rattling sigh. “This thing is a lot hardier than it looks.”

  “It does lodge into a scout’s armor.”

  He conceded her point with a nod. “I guess you’re right. Still, I better not throw it around too much. I’m going to need something to study when I get back to the Academy.” Though his voice had started out even and casual, towards the end it dipped lower.

  Shifting back, he turned around.

  Was he hiding his expression from her?

  Perhaps. But it was a useless move; she could still sense the tension washing off him. All that indecision was eating him up from the inside.

  She knew several techniques that would help him alleviate it, but she would never suggest them. He would no doubt take it as an opportunity to tease and degrade her further. They also involved certain neuro pressure points, and for some reason the prospect of touching Jackson’s back and neck sent chills up her spine. She was a skilled and experienced masseuse, but that was not enough to make her feel comfortable with the prospect of laying hands on him.

  Feeling uneasy, she flattened down her robe. Patting at her cheeks, she was irritated to find them hot and flushed.

  “I think I’ve spied some water this way,” he mumbled, still with his back to her. “I’ll just see if I can re-set this scanner.”

  She watched his shoulders shift as he manipulated the scanner. She could see them easily even under his thick shirt. Though they were clearly strong, she could note the tension turning them in, the same tension that translated down his back and into his legs. He would need a week of rest and relaxation to heal all that stiffness. He would not get it.

  “I think this is it—” he began,

  He did not get the opportunity to finish. Immediately a high-pitched, keening sound erupted from the scanner.

  Jackson dropped it, clutching his hands to his ears.

  She screamed, falling off the boulder she was seated on.

  The sound was so high it felt like it was shaking her in two.

  Jackson was close though, and he doubled over, clutching at the scanner, fumbling with it, obviously trying to find a way to shut down the sound.

  The gun clattered out from his grip as he thrashed. His hands scrabbled so wildly that he knocked the scanner away too.

  As the noise built, the rocks above and below began to shake. Dust erupted from the ceiling, rubble showering down on them.

  Above the noise of the shrill screech she heard a rumble.

  She didn’t have time to act.

  The cei
ling above gave way, huge chunks of stone raining down.

  The scanner was knocked towards her. She scooped it up, using every scrap of emotional control she’d ever developed to stop herself from dropping it just to get away from the sound.

  Hands shaking wildly, she forced her mind to focus.

  She recognized the buttons. Frantic, she pressed them in sequence.

  There was a soft beep, not that she could hear it. Immediately afterwards the shrill noise ended.

  Her ears ringing, her senses confused, she let the scanner topple from her grip as she turned.

  “Jackson!” she screamed, ignoring the lungful of dust she sucked in to shout his name.

  Several small stones tumbled down from the ceiling in a cloud of rubble, but that was it. The cave in, it appeared, was over.

  But she couldn’t see him.

  Fraught, she scrambled forward, her breathing frantic as she grabbed at the rocks, pulling them back with strength she shouldn’t still possess.

  “Jackson,” tears washed down her cheeks, tracking through the caked dust.

  Trembling, she grabbed at a large stone, not caring it sent a twinge deep into her back.

  She saw his face.

  Beyond desperation now, she moved as fast as she could, pulling, yanking, and grabbing at the stones.

  Time lost all meaning, she had no idea how long it took her, but she uncovered him.

  Pressing two fingers into his neck, she waited in abject horror to find out if he was dead.

  She couldn’t feel anything.

  Yanking her hand away, letting out a powerful, gut-wrenching whimper, she stumbled back. Falling onto her behind, she scuttled backwards. Robe falling between her exposed legs, she couldn’t stop staring at his still form.

  He couldn’t be dead.

  God.

  He couldn’t be dead.

  Crying, body rocking back and forth as the sobs racked her, she shifted back further until her hand knocked the scanner.

  Lips open, salty tears trickling around them and mixing with the harsh taste of powdered dust, she grabbed it up.

  She turned it towards him.

  Despite the fact the air was still choked with dust, she forced her eyes to open against it, thumbing the scanner’s screen until it was clear enough to see.

  She’d seen the so-called doctors in her compound use these devices against her. They could register someone’s state of health. Jackson had been able to do it that morning. Just by setting it correctly, he’d been able to tell where she’d been injured.

  It could do more though. She’d seen Zeneethians use them to emit some kind of healing field. She didn’t have the requisite knowledge to understand how it worked, but she could remember when they’d used it against her. Once or twice their experiments had gotten out of hand. Another time she’d slipped coming down the stairs into the laboratory.

  Rarely had they used more than a scanner to fix her injuries.

  Fear gripping at her stomach, she tried to manipulate it. With her heartbeat so wild it thrust her body back and forth, she panted through the dust filled-air.

  “Come on, come on,” she clutched at the device, pressing every button she could, burning through her memories, trying to recall the sequence she’d seen those doctors use.

  Tears misting her vision, she finally watched the screen change. Those blue outlines zeroed in on Jackson’s still body, somehow visualizing his insides. Areas of his body flashed white: his right shoulder, his left leg, a section of his stomach.

  She had no idea what it meant.

  “Please,” she prayed, tears clearing her muddied cheeks and catching over her lips as she spoke.

  The scanner began to vibrate, now emitting a warm, glowing, shifting field.

  She almost dropped it.

  The field travelled around her in a perfect sphere.

  It was familiar; she’d felt this same glowing energy lap at her skin before, searching out her injuries and healing them.

  It was intoxicating feeling it travel deep into every center of pain and dulling the sensation into nothingness.

  Intoxicating, yet she had to move away.

  She pushed herself up and back from the scanner, placing it gently on Jackson’s chest and moving back until she was out of the field’s effect radius.

  As soon as she left it, her heavy, biting agony returned.

  She hardly paid attention to it. Instead she sat, gaze transfixed as she stared at him and waited.

  The field would likely sap up all of the scanner’s power. Even if it did not manage to heal his injuries, it would soon be useless.

  Those minutes were some of the most fraught she’d ever experienced. Time became meaningless. Her own symptoms were nothing but a distraction. All concentration and attention she could muster she focused on him. On his chest. She wanted it to move up and down. Take in a single breath, anything to let her know he was alive.

  As she waited, alarm trickled in, breaking up what hope the scanner’s field was giving her. Rocking back and forth, she burst into heavier tears. Dropping her head, she cupped it in her hands.

  She had not liked the man, but for it to end like this....

  She gave up. She crumpled in on herself, truly succumbing to defeat.

  Then she heard the gasp.

  She snapped up, pushing to her feet and teetering at the edge of the field, staring past it.

  He was breathing.

  God, he was alive.

  Kneeling, a hand reaching up and brushing against the edge of the field but never going through it, she watched.

  He breathed.

  There she waited until the field gave out completely. She had no idea how long it took, but eventually it flickered and died. Seconds later the distinct blue glow of the scanner disappeared. With barely a click, it shut down.

  Moving forward, still on her knees, not caring that the sharp rocks cut into them, she placed a hand flat on his chest. It moved up and down. Fingers spreading, she could feel his warmth.

  Brushing at the dust that had covered his face, she shifted him out of his bed of rock, finding a flat place to lay him on.

  Then she did what she could.

  The priestess clan were skilled in many healing techniques. She would now have to pick up where the scanner left off.