The Saga Begins [Nuworld 1] (42 page)

“It’s almost new winter. You’ve intentionally cut my foot and stitched it up so it would look like the injury from the building. How long have you had me here?”

“You’ve had plenty of time to think in here, haven’t you?” Gowsky leaned back in his chair, crossed his arms, and stretched his long legs out in front of him. “Well, it’s true. We made certain you’d remain unconscious longer than a few days. It was necessary at the time.”

He said this so nonchalantly, the words stung. Anger brewed through her veins slowly, building to a boiling climax.

The Neurians had held her prisoner for cycles.

“I assume the Gothman and Runners believe me dead.”

Gowsky looked at her with dark eyes and sipped from his mug. “Like I said, it was necessary at the time.”

“So why did you bother to wake me now?” She matched his look of apathy. Her mind now, however, focused on a method of escape.

* * * * *

Gowsky shifted position, drawing his long legs underneath the chair and then stretching them out again. He thought of the best way to answer her question. It was one he had anticipated being asked and had thought of several convincing responses. He couldn’t tell her it was the suggestion of another Runner. He wouldn’t say,
sorry lady, it was politics, and Neurians need an income
.

He’d almost talked himself into doing away with her when Fleeders came forward and mentioned that Tara had talked to a guardian in the desert. Gowsky was a man of faith. He’d seen the dog-woman in his dreams a lot lately, and they’d made him uneasy. So he’d brought Tara out of her unconscious state. If anyone discovered her here, Gowsky knew he’d never be elected to another term

He desperately wanted to confide in Tara and tell her everything that had happened. The woman possessed a calmness, a sense of authoritative ease, that led him to believe she could talk through a dilemma and find a solution to please everyone. He wanted to share his dreams that he’d had during her time in captivity. He knew it meant Crator guided him when he dreamed of a Guardian, and he wanted to share this with her. She wouldn’t understand though. She was a Runner, a member of a race without Crator. If she had seen a Guardian in the desert, it only validated his dreams; it didn’t mean she understood Crator.

* * * * *

Tara realized from the way he hesitated that Gowsky wouldn’t give her a straight answer. Her mind raced. Darius thought she was dead. Had he claimed another? Was someone else raising her children? What about Patha and Reena? Did her parents believe her dead, as well?

If so, Patha would name someone else to be his successor over the Runners. She would have to fight for her rightful title if someone else was named heir in her absence.

Her children were the heirs to two nations. When they grew up, Andru would lead Gothman, Ana would lead the Runners. She would not have that right taken from them. If Tara lost her title, she knew Darius would see that Andru became Lord of Gothman when he grew up, but Ana would be without a title.

Tara looked into Gowsky’s dark eyes surrounded by that handsome face. Darius would never have to worry about her being unfaithful with this man. He was quite possibly as gorgeous as Darius was, but he had ruined her life.

“The Gothman were prepared to attack us when they thought you were a prisoner. We’re not in a position for such an attack.” Gowsky swallowed. “You died a warrior’s death, saving one of our scientists from a horrible death. We escorted your family safely to a rendezvous point where they joined one of the Runner clans.”

“How long ago was all this?”

He sucked in a breath and then exhaled loudly. “Six cycles ago.”

Tara’s muscles lurched. She wanted to leap from the bench and attack from midair. She wanted to pounce onto him, fists ready to injure with accurate stinging punches. She wanted to kill him.

Instead, Tara used every bit of power she possessed to remain calmly wrapped in the blanket, emotionless. “So now what?”

“We’re not murderers. You were put to sleep to protect our nation. Time has passed and our nation is no longer threatened.” His voice faded off as if to say,
The rest is history
.

“And so now you send me home.” Tara seethed with the outrageous suggestion he implied. “Just like that?”

Gowsky reached for the pitcher and stood. “We’ll discuss this further once you’ve calmed down.” He walked to the door and opened it, letting cold air rush through the small shed. “Get dressed if you want a hot bath.”

Tara sat in the same position for a long time after Gowsky left. Sunlight drifted through the cracks of the wood. She watched the dust rise through the rays of light as they shot through the room.

The Runners and the Gothman believed her dead. Darius had had six cycles now to mourn her and could quite possibly be ready to move on with his life. Andru and Ana would be over a winter old now. They would be walking and climbing and exploring their home.

Where
was
their home?

Were they living with the Runners? Or the Gothman?

She felt certain Darius would have them. They would grow up in his large house, exploring from attic to basement. The fields and hills surrounding it would be their backyard. And all of Gothman would be their playground. Tara groaned aloud. Oh, how she missed them. All of them. Somehow, she had to let them know she was alive.

Tara dressed quickly and threw the comforters to the side. The cotton pants she’d been wearing the night of the fire offered little to keep her warm in the shed. Her shirt sleeves were short, providing no protection for her long thin arms. Her flat leather boots, with their flimsy soles, would not do if she had to walk a long distance. Not only would her clothing not protect her from the elements, they would not protect her during battle, either. Somehow she needed to obtain different clothing.

She stood in the middle of the shed and jogged in place. Her foot had mended. It was sore, but she could live with that. After a bit, she dropped to the ground and began doing pushups. Her muscles were still far from the standard she normally expected from them.

Tara surveyed the walls of the shed. She could put her weight on her bad foot now. She glanced through the cracks in the wall and saw no one. Her time was limited. She took one of the blankets and carefully wrapped it around her leg. Using the laces of her shoes, she tied the blanket around her foot and leg. She stood up and tested the security of the blanket around her leg by jumping up and down. The blanket didn’t move. It would serve well to protect her from the wood of the shed. She’d already tested the sturdiness of the four walls and knew which wall was the weakest.

Standing in front of the wall, she jumped into the air and kicked the wall hard with her foot. Several of the boards immediately cracked and a hole, several feet wide, appeared in the wall. The blanket caught in the wall, and Tara fell to the ground with her foot stuck up in the air. She pulled her foot loose and got up to survey the situation.

There was still no one in sight outside the shed.

Tara rolled up the blanket tightly. Quickly, she untied the shoestrings and re-laced her shoe. She draped another blanket over the hole in the shed so that it covered the splintered and broken wood and easily jumped out of her prison.

The bitter morning air slipped easily through her thin dress, and she shivered. Wrapping one comforter around her, and carrying the other under her arm, she glanced at the clear sky and got a sense of her direction.

Semore was north. All indications showed Gowsky’s house to be on the southern edge of the town. If she moved south, she’d be out of town sooner. Then, she’d work her way west before heading north again.

Tara ran quietly through the yard. There was still no sight of anyone. She had no warm clothing, no food, no weapons, and no way to communicate with anyone. The odds for survival were not in her favor.

Within minutes, she stood surrounded by a clump of trees at the large yard. Tara turned back and looked at the house.

That was too easy.

Tara surveyed the abandoned shed back by the house. Did he want her to escape? Gowsky had said they weren’t murderers. She guessed that they didn’t know what to do with her. Were they just going to let her go?

“No,” Tara said out loud to herself as she pulled the blankets tighter to fight the chill. “It would be foolish to let me go back to my people and tell them I’ve been put to sleep for six cycles by the Neurians.”

She looked around at the trees and focused on the land south of her. Aware of how technologically advanced this society was, she searched the topography for potential restraining devices. An icy breeze rustled through the trees. Was it her imagination or did the trees half a dozen yards away not appear affected by the breeze? She reached down and picked up several rocks and threw one at the trees in question. The rock came back to her with such force she instinctively ducked.

So that was it…a force field of some kind. She walked in what she believed to be a parallel path to the invisible field, determining its location by tossing rocks until they bounced back at her. No wonder no one was pursuing her. She was fenced in.

Again, she studied the house. Were they watching her? Studying her? Figuring out what abilities she possessed?

Tara was perplexed. Without a landlink, she had few skills to handle her current situation. She couldn’t just look at the field to see what it was made of, determine where it began and ended, or identify weak spots. She could throw rocks all day and quite possibly not learn a thing.

She climbed one of the nearby trees so she could perch high enough to see into the distance. Her blankets slipped and attempted to trip her several times, but she managed to settle on a branch, relatively hidden by dead leaves, and wrap the comforter around her. The force field contained her, but she would not surrender easily.

Sooner or later, someone would come out and check on her. Obviously, her whereabouts were important to these people.

Gowsky would probably be the one to find her. After all, he had risked much, holding her as he had for the past six cycles, working to keep her alive. He wouldn’t revive her simply to let her sit out here, undisturbed, possibly freezing to death. His curiosity would get the best of him. His landlink would locate her.

Patience was a virtue, the Runners taught their young warriors. Tara had never done well with that lesson. She felt impatient. How long had she sat on this branch?

Tara thought she heard a noise so she listened for sounds other than leaves rustling. There it was again. Two Neurians were approaching her from either side. She immediately thought of the five Gothman she’d taken out in the forest the day she’d entered that nation. The memory brought a smile to her face. So, the Neurians wanted to see what she was made of, did they?

Two men, each carrying handguns, wandered through the trees toward her. They were looking in her direction, but she felt sure they couldn’t see her. As they approached each other, they turned around slowly, focusing on the area beneath her. Their landlinks had led them to her.

She waited until they were within a hand’s reach of each other. Slowly, the two men looked up into the branches of the tree above them.

Wait. Wait.
Tara’s muscles tightened, her adrenaline flew, and the breeze brushed her neck. Icy fingers crawled from her spine to the rest of her body. The excitement of the hunt sent chills through her. Her body and mind had been deprived of this for too long. She inhaled the cool air deeply.
Wait. Wait.
She watched the two heads tilt back, and then two sets of eyes looked up until they saw Tara.

Now!

She pounced onto them, the comforter acting like a cape as she took both to the ground instantly. One of the men pointed his gun at her. She grabbed the front of it with her hand. With the force of gravity to assist her, she fell to the ground, shoving the butt of the gun into his face.

“Do you plan to kill me?” she hissed.

The butt hit square on his nose, causing him to squint and howl simultaneously. His own blood blinded him. Grabbing the gun from his hand, she turned and shot the other square in the face. She landed on the ground, the two men underneath her.

“You broke my nose,” the man howled, as he covered his face with his hands.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t like it when people point guns at me.” Tara tugged her blanket free from under the dead man and seized his gun.

Turning, she hardly had time to aim as a third Neurian, this time a large woman, lunged at her. The target was close, and Tara took her down easily. Two more Neurian women were right behind her. They, too, proved easy targets.

An incredible blow from behind sent Tara flying forward.

She hit the ground with excruciating force. Tara squirmed, absorbing the pain inflicted by rough ground tearing into her flesh. She scurried to her knees and crawled to grab the gun that had flown out of her grasp when she fell.

“Hold it right there.” Tara aimed the gun straight into the mouth of a young Neurian man. His eyes doubled in size as her finger tightened on the trigger.

“That’s enough!” A voice boomed through the air, jerking every muscle in Tara’s body as she jumped in surprise.

She turned to look at the man who’d shouted the command. “You steal six cycles from my life, and then tell me this is enough?” Tara pulled the trigger and shot the Neurian in the mouth. At the same time, she grabbed the other gun from her pants’ pocket and fired on the man who had issued the command.