Hunting (The Nine) (3 page)

A fire via firestones was crackling merrily. The rocks that Trusk and Cavos had gathered were brightly glowing once they cracked them with a fire poker and exposed their interiors to oxygen.

Niika sat near the fire and extended her legs, moving slowly and stretching them back to full mobility. The men watched her curiously, but they did not ask what she was doing. Once her legs were completely under her control once again, she got to her feet and reached into her pack. “Gentlemen, it is time to learn the fine art of Zaphling hunting.”

She wore her knives, held a small folded pack in her hand and led the way out to the field where the deliberate smacking of skull against skull told her that this herd was in the middle of mating season.

Perfect.

Cavos and Trusk were following, their curiosity bristling out of them.

She stopped and turned. “Gentlemen. We are about to go into battle against Zaphlings. They are fast, sturdy and exceptionally tasty. They are peculiar in that they can turn very aggressive when confronted. When I am saying aggressive, they can cause deep bites and nasty bruising.”

Trusk asked, “Why don’t you grow your protein?”

“You mean in a lab?”

“Yes.”

“With an eye to survival, we tried a lot of local offerings and saved our tech for medical and practical applications. We are still settling in as colonists. The Tokkel didn’t help matters, we lost a lot of good people.”

She cleared her throat at their silence. “Now, to hunt the Zaphling, you need a chaser who is hopefully scarier than the Zaphlings are and someone with a net and a knife.”

Niika turned and walked toward the edge of the city, looking out over the field that was holding court to a herd of over a hundred of the little creatures with several parts of the field divided for the males to have their competitions for their supremacy.

The men drew even with her, and they all stared out at the collection of possibilities. “So, gentlemen. Who will do what to which beast?”

Morro looked at her with a calculating gaze. “Which is the most dangerous, the males or the females?”

“Good question. The females. The males only notice two things, other males and females. The females watch out for everything else. Can you see anything else from here?”

Tidae looked and squinted at the small, pudgy creatures in the field. “They are crushing rocks with their teeth.”

She chuckled. “Yes, they are. They use them for digestion just like some birds do on the surface. Their jaws can be exceptionally dangerous. Don’t get bit.”

Morro gave her a narrow-eyed look. “I thought you said they were easy to catch.”

“Compared to most of the wildlife on Gaia, they are. Now, who wants to use the net?”

Cavos stepped forward. “I will. Do you have a spare knife?”

Blinking, she handed him one of her folding blades. “This should do it. Lift the head with your less dominant hand and slice back as hard as you can. The blood will scatter the herd. They won’t be around the smell of their own wounded. Basically, cut fast or they will be gnawing on your limbs before you know it.”

Morro asked, “You won’t be joining us in the hunt?”

“I don’t hunt with other people around. For me, the kill is solitary.” She shrugged. There was no way she could manage it today. Her damned straps were acting up.

She looked around and found a wall that would allow Trusk and herself to remain on higher ground. They boosted themselves into position and watched the proceedings.

She looked at her companion and grinned. “This is going to be fun.”

The Wilders straightened and made a run for the Zaphlings. The hunt was on.

Chapter Five

It took the intrepid trio three hours, and Niika’s sides ached with laughter. Trusk had soon joined her in hooting with amusement as Cavos was knocked over by a knee-high doe.

When the death was accomplished and the three hunters thoroughly exhausted, Niika stepped down from her vantage point and walked to the kill site.

“Allow me. They are particular buggers when it comes to being butchered. You don’t want to puncture the scent glands. It would ruin the entire carcass.”

She drew her long knife and took charge of the field dressing. The men watched attentively, and when she had removed the gut but kept the more edible innards, they lifted the skinned animal to carry back to the city.

She grunted as she got to her feet and bit back a scream as the braces contracted. She forced herself to her feet, wiped the blades on her trousers and sheathed them before she limped back toward the city.

Cavos turned, and he dumped the innards into Trusk’s arms. In the next moment, he was next to her, running his hands down her spine and outer thighs. “I knew I had heard that creak before.”

Without another word, he lifted her and carried her with speed to the building they had set up camp in. He brought her into one of the empty rooms and kicked open the door of the bathing chamber. He ran water into the tub and quickly stripped off her outer garments.

He froze when he saw the bracing. “What the hell?”

She slowly turned and showed him the blaze of scar tissue on her spine. “It’s what lets me walk. A friend reprogrammed it for me, but I suppose it is wearing out.”

He ran his fingers over her scar, and she shivered. “That is a Tokkel blast.”

She shivered. “It is. The braces keep me moving.”

He helped her into the tub, and she grimaced at the pinking of the water from the blood on her hands. The warmth loosened the braces.

He sat and poured water over her shoulders and back. “Why does it have to be the braces?”

“We don’t have tech to repair spinal damage.”

Cavos sighed and sat back on his heels. “We do, but it would involve you going to the Mother ship.”

Niika felt a surge of hope. “Are you serious? Yes, I would love to.”

He nodded. “Will tomorrow be soon enough?”

She scowled and stretched her legs as much as she could. The band around her hips tightened and then relaxed as her muscles did. “I don’t want to cut this excursion short. I will be fine for two weeks.”

He looked at the expression on her face and shook his head. “No, you won’t. If the system is failing and your damage is as complete as you say, it will leave you unable to move within forty-eight hours.”

She groaned and pressed her forehead to her knees. Niika dreaded being immobile more than she did having to return the funds to the Nine.

“If you want to continue the excursion, it can be part of your rehab after the surgery.”

Niika looked into his dark eyes and blinked. “We can just come back?”

“The surgery will take a day, recovery two, and then, we can return to this area and start with a guide that can move. I am sure the others will agree.”

Morro spoke from the outer room. “We agree, so we will remain here tonight, and tomorrow, we return to the surface and call for a medical pickup.”

Cavos grinned, reached between her feet to drain the water and filled the tub up once again. “Can you remove the rest of your clothing?”

To her surprise, she was sitting in her half suit. It supported her breasts and covered her entire front but wrapped low on her hips to leave her entire back exposed. “Fine. Turn around.”

He turned and leaned against the tub as she sloshed and twisted to get the soggy clothing off. When it was off and the water had risen above her hips, she draped the half suit over the edge of the tub and watched as Cavos removed it to wash it out in the sink.

He twisted the suit to wring out the water and draped it over a towel rack.

Morro came in with her pack in hand and the most extraordinary thing happened, Cavos got to his feet and turned to stone in front of her fascinated gaze. Morro froze in his tracks, left the pack and walked out.

“Uh, what was that?”

Cavos changed back from icy marble to his normal grey, and he turned to smile. “What was what?”

“You turned to stone, and Morro just walked away without a word. It doesn’t seem like him.”

He smiled and turned to her with her pack. “Ancient custom.”

He stroked her hair and pressed a kiss to her lips. His mouth was cool and firm, but her reaction was a wave of heat and a peculiar shimmy in her belly that was most distracting.

She was staring into his eyes as he leaned back, and considering her state of undress, his eye contact was as extraordinary as anything else. Niika licked her lips. “Was that an ancient custom?”

He grinned and stroked her cheek. “No, it was much more recent.”

“Was it because I touched you when we were looking over the maps?” She had been told not to touch the Nine, but she forgot when it came to hunting a target.

“No. It started then, but it would not have bloomed if the ground hadn’t been right. Speaking of ground, how is there so much light in the city? I haven’t been able to find the source.” He winked.

She sighed. “You know very well that there are strategic crystals angled to catch the sun and direct it down here in various tubes. It is the only way that the Zaphlings could have survived as long as they did.”

“How did they get in here?”

Niika smiled. “There were great upheavals in the land before we got here. I am guessing that they made their way through a previously non-existent crack. They are very resourceful and quite small. This must have seen like heaven to them.”

“And then, we came in and ruined it.”

She chuckled. “Reducing their numbers is a boon. The normal size of a herd is around thirty, so this many will soon break into another herd, and then, the territory disputes will occur and they will kill each other. There is a finite amount of grazing available here.”

Cavos smiled. “Do you have any questions about my people?”

“You can walk through stone, but what else can you do?”

“Well, it varies from person to person. Trusk is a carver. He can use his hands to turn ordinary blocks of stone into the most detailed statuary you could imagine. He is here to research some of his family’s works.”

The braces on her legs gave her a few more inches of play, and she leaned back in the hot water. “What about you specifically? You already know my secrets.”

He turned off the tap and then rummaged through her bag until he found a soft cloth that he soaked in water before cleaning her face. “I can move through stone, find minerals and shatter rock if necessary. Far more force than delicacy, I am afraid.”

Cavos seemed very attentive and careful of her skin as he finished cleaning the streaks of Zaphling blood from her cheek. The scent of roasting meat started to reach them, and he chuckled. “Did you need to soak more? I can bring you something to eat.”

She laughed. “No. Give me a moment to wash my hair and I will be right out.”

“I will help you.”

Niika wanted to fight but having someone help her was far too tempting with her body still exhausted from the agony of the braces locking. She nodded and reached an arm out of the tub, next to his thigh, until she grabbed her bath pack and pulled out a swatch of dry shampoo. “Get this wet and work it through my hair. The gel will swell quickly.”

With his hands on the paper-thin sheet of shampoo, she quickly untied her braid and then dunked her head to wet her hair. He worked his hands through her hair with the ease of previous practice.

“You have done this before.”

He grinned. “I have four little sisters. Bath time was always hectic, but at least you are not trying to splash me.”

She chuckled. “I could if you like.”

Cavos snickered, “I can even braid your hair into a bow if you like.”

He carefully kept the soap out of her eyes while they bantered. He eased her into the water and her hair was sluiced clear.

When her hair was clean and the water was pink again, she wrinkled her nose at how much blood must have been on her head.

He helped her to her feet, draining the tub with a flick of his wrist.

She blushed, but he seemed more interested in checking on the functioning of the braces than he was her nude body. It would have been insulting in any other circumstances.

She had to wipe off with the tiny towel she kept for that purpose but when she eased into her coveralls, relief went through her. If Cavos wasn’t just flirting, she might be free of the braces. It was a possibility she had never considered from the moment Ularica had put them in place.

Cavos held her arm while they walked slowly back into the main room where the rest of their party had commenced roasting a meal without them. She grinned, “Well, I am guessing I have nothing to teach you.”

Morro cocked his head, and his ferocious expression grew contemplative. “I believe you could explain to us why a person of Gaia is wearing a Tokkel torture device as the means to mobility.”

Niika sat on her bedroll, and she stretched out her legs, massaging the muscles out of habit. “Well, since you already know, you may as well know the whole thing.”

Chapter Six

Niika looked out the archway toward the fountain in the centre of the square. “It was a plain, ordinary day. Em and I were foraging along the coastline when we saw a strange streak of light, and being curious idiots, we ran to see what impacted the ground with enough force to shake us.

“Now, remember, we hadn’t seen a Tokkel ship before. The attacks hadn’t started, and this was the first alien craft that any Gaian had seen since before the colony began. I headed for the silver hulk while Em ran back to the habitat to alert her parents and call the authorities. The ship opened, and a gross, green, lumpy hulk of a man stepped forward, shouting at me in a language I did not understand. He fired and missed me by inches, so I turned to run. That is when I was struck in the back.

“Pain burned outward from the strike point, and I blacked out.”

She shuddered at the memory of what happened next. “When I woke up, I was in a full-control harness. I could move my body slowly, but whenever I shifted quickly, I locked in place and fell over.”