Do Or Die [Nuworld 4] (20 page)

who had turned to face the men. “And the Runners?”

“Our clan reports one hundred percent efficiency but I don’t think the other clan

sites are that high.” She was glad for the time she spent observing their armies,

otherwise she’d have no clue. She didn’t glance at Jolee for confirmation. Her mama

wouldn’t do that.

“Okay. Instruct your commanders to put their armies on alert.”

Jolee stood and straightened her headscarf. She looked at Ana then at Lord Darius

as if not to sure who she should direct her comment to. She finally looked from one to

the other as she spoke.

“I’ll head back to the trailer and contact Fartha. She can direct instructions to Farn.”

She referred to Tara’s commanding officer over the clan armies. Once again, a reminder

that Ana needed to choose her own commander for when she led the Runners.

Darius nodded and she headed for the door.

“I’ll be down there soon,” Ana said, as Jolee left and the Runner turned and

nodded. She turned back and grabbed the disc then stood up as well.

“You picked a lousy time to get drunk, you did.” Darius looked at Andru and his

son straightened. His eyes were bloodshot and Ana couldn’t believe he was able to

drink so much in such a small amount of time. It appeared he didn’t seek out one of the

many Gothman women that would please him willingly.

Andru didn’t answer but looked at his papa and then at Ana. She gave him a

reinforcing smile. Frustration emanated from him as he gazed longingly at her. She

wanted to reassure him but she held her ground.

“Are you working magic again, Ana?” Darius cocked his head as he studied

Andru’s face.

“It’s not magic, Papa.” Ana moved over to Gilroy, deciding she’d rather be within

his grasp than receiving the wrath of her papa. “His face looked awful and I took care of

him.”

“Get yourself a claim and she can take care of you,” Darius mumbled.

“Even when he has a claim, I’ll still take care of him, just as I do Gilroy.” Ana stuck

her chin out defiantly.

“Just as you do Gilroy?” Darius spoke through clenched teeth and lunged at his

daughter.

Andru leaped up from where he sat and jumped at his papa but Gilroy stepped

around Ana quickly and intercepted Andru.

“Go tend to your duties,” Gilroy turned and barked at Ana, and one look at those

intense blue eyes and she decided not to argue.

* * * * *

Tara returned to the clan site the next day with reports that she believed she’d seen

the unidentified clan. They seemed to be hovering around Ransboot, which was half a

day’s flight and over a day’s travel away on motorcycle. Whatever the plans were for

this new clan they obviously weren’t ready to be implemented because the clan kept a

low profile.

Days turned into weeks and the anticipation both nations experienced began to take

its toll. More fights were reported in Bryton as well as around the fires at the clan sites.

People grew edgy. Tara noted all this and also noted how Lara interacted among her

people. It was spooky how much she reminded her of Tasha and she couldn’t help but

wonder how the sisters would get along if Tasha were still alive.

Lara was usually by herself although she spoke easily enough to others. She spent

more of her time with men than women and it would be only a matter of time before

angry claims would start protesting. Tara didn’t remember Reesa being flirtatious. She

only had eyes for Patha. But that wasn’t to say what she might have been like before he

met her. Patha hadn’t been faithful to her however. That’s how Tara came to exist, from

his affair with Reena. For whatever reasons, Reesa’s daughters were tramps.

Ana worked on becoming friends with Lara. The woman was closemouthed other

than to talk about superficial items. But Ana was patient. When she wasn’t out

overseeing the Runner armies she tried to visit Lara as often as she could. She wanted to

work on her leadership skills as well because, unless she was in labor, she planned on

leading any attack against Lara, whenever the woman decided to make her move.

Spring was strong in the air when Ana found herself with some free time and

decided to seek her new conquest out. Lara wasn’t home when she stopped by so she

flew into Bryton to see if she could find her downtown. She’d recently undergone a

growth spurt and she could feel her lower body tighten as she walked down the wide

sidewalk and feigned interest in the window displays. She attempted casual surprise as

Lara walked out of the store in front of her.

“Goodness sake, sister, look how big you’re getting,” Lara crooned as she noticed

Ana. “Let me make up a liniment that will prevent stretch marks. We’d hate for either

of your men to lose interest in you.”

“I’m definitely a lot bigger than you are,” Ana responded pleasantly, ignoring the

idle challenge Lara implied.

“There’s a good reason for that, I’m afraid.” Lara’s face grew sullen and she looked

up and down the street before lowering her voice. “I’m pretty sure my baby is dead.”

“What?” Ana was shocked.

“What are you doing right now?”

“Lara, have you seen a doctor?”

“I’m not going to go see your doctor. He’s probably the one that issued the poison I

found in my bloodstream.”

“You found poison? When?”

“It looks like it was several cycles ago. More than likely, right after I got here.” Lara

looked down at the bag in her hands. “I’d appreciate your help, if you don’t mind.”

“Help with what?”

“Birthing this child. I picked up some herbs and if I make the mixture strong

enough it should bring on labor quickly.”

“Lara, we need to at least find a midwife.”

Lara chuckled bitterly. “I don’t think many of these Gothman midwives want much

to do with me.”

“You burn your own bridges,” Ana didn’t hesitate to point out. “We could go to

Reena, my grandmama. She’s birthed hundreds of babies. What if we do something

wrong? You could bleed to death.”

Lara’s eyes lowered on Ana and discreetly looked her up and down before

speaking. “Our blood is the same, sister. I trust you with my life.”

Lara showed Ana how to make a broth that was more pungent than the one Ana

had created after she found out she was pregnant. The fumes made Ana nauseous and

she had to leave the trailer several times. Lara drank the potent drink and then aired out

her trailer so Ana could tolerate being in there. Less than an hour later, Lara was in hard

labor.

Ana was right about the blood. She couldn’t remember ever seeing so much blood.

And when the tiny undeveloped fetus was finally delivered, the mess the placenta

made sent Ana running to the bathroom. Somehow she hung in there and managed to

clean Lara up and strip the bloody sheets from her bed and put down fresh ones. Lara

was exhausted and pale afterwards but seemed content to sleep and so Ana left her

alone.

It was well after dark when she returned to the house. By the time she reached the

top of the stairs she felt the exhaustion sink in.

“Ana, oh Crator, what’s happened to you?” Gilroy stepped out of the landlink room

just as she reached the entrance to their upstairs wing. He was by her side and grabbing

her arm before she could respond. He spun her around to face him as Andru and Torgo

came up behind him. They all looked at her in horror.

“I did something I’ve never done before today. I just want to go take a hot bath.”

“Woman, is that blood on you?” Andru stepped around Gilroy and wiped at her

forehead.

It was then that Ana realized her appearance. She looked down at herself and

realized she’d forgotten to clean herself up after cleaning up Lara and her bed. Her

loose-fitting Runner shirt and maternity pants were speckled with dark sticky blotches

and there were red spots on her cheek and forehead as well as a smear through her hair.

When Gilroy held up her hands for the three men’s inspection she realized she was

trembling.

“What is it that you have done for the first time?” Gilroy looked at her carefully,

demanding nothing less than the truth with his eyes.

“I helped deliver a baby,” she spoke quietly and looked from one man to the other.

They all stared back at her incredulously.

Andru finally broke the silence. “Gilroy, clean your claim up than bring her to me.”

He addressed his order to Gilroy but his gaze was hard on his sister. She looked back

surprised. What had she done to make her brother so mad?

Chapter Twelve

Tara hurried into the house with Syra on her heels. They made it up the stairs as

Gilroy disappeared with Ana into their private suite. The women headed straight for

the landlink room just as Torgo and Andru returned to their seats.

“We’ve got some kind of activity going on north of us,” Tara said and Torgo

immediately spun around in his chair. He quickly flipped screens until he confirmed

Tara’s comment.

“It looks like a large army—or possibly a clan is moving south out of the Norther

country. They’re just now coming over the mountains. At the pace they’re going it looks

like they’re on motorcycles.”

“That’s what we saw.” Syra moved over behind her claim and rested her hand on

his shoulder. “Do you detect any transmissions?”

“I want to know if they’re communicating with anyone from our clan,” Tara added.

They all leaned toward Torgo as he punched away at the landlink, his fingers

moving quickly as one screen jumped to the next just as quickly. No one could keep up

with what he was doing but they all watched intently nonetheless.

“This is interesting.”

“What?” Tara demanded.

“Well, there might be a link established but if so it’s very weak and not being used

right now.” Torgo ran his fingers through his blond curls, causing them to stand on end

haphazardly and then began typing again. “Let me run some checks on this.”

“How long will it take?”

Torgo looked over his shoulder at Tara. “Give me a couple of hours.”

“Let me know in an hour.” She then turned to Andru. “Where is your papa?”