Something jumped onto her arm and clung, something black and ugly. Camryn flicked it off but another crawled up her arm and nipped at her. “Ticks!” Camryn ripped it off her arm and blood flowed down her wrist. The mare tensed, her nostrils quivering. Her nicker was one Camryn hadn’t heard before.
Food. Oh god. She’d transformed from helpful friend to food. Camryn sucked on the site of the bite and licked the blood away. The metallic taste of blood barely penetrated her dread. She had to stop the bleeding. Now. She clamped her fingers down cruelly, the pressure of her fingers leeching the color from her skin. Backing away, she slipped behind a tree and leaned against the trunk, panting hard. Camryn shook her head and noticed another tick on her arm. Revulsion filled her but she couldn’t afford to make the same mistake again. Camryn clambered up a tree out of Gabby’s reach and hoped like hell Ry hurried.
* * * * *
“Was it uncomfortable up the tree?” Kaya didn’t try to hide her smirk.
At every opportunity the warrior ribbed Camryn about her night spent perched in the tree. Even though it had been three weeks ago, and she’d spent the time since training Gabby and getting her and Luke used to loading on the tender.
“Old news,” Camryn snapped. “I’m going to check on the hell-horses. Gabby wasn’t very happy earlier.” She stalked away with Kaya’s laughter rippling after her and fumed throughout the entire loading process.
The tender finally took off. Camryn and Mogens spent the journey down in the cargo bay with the mare and foal while Ry flew the tender. Mogens gave the animals a mild sedative to calm them and they seemed relaxed.
They had decided to fly closer to the city and would stay on the outskirts of a mountain village Jannike had heard about during a crew jaunt to a tavern. Sounded good to Camryn. She hadn’t liked the city. The convicts and the marines with their easy brutality turned her stomach. Walking down the city streets made her think of a gritty historical novel set in Australia, and the constant black fog was depressing.
The mare whickered and tossed her head. The foal crept closer to Mogens and nudged his arm to urge the seer to scratch behind his ears. Camryn smothered a smile. Luke loved a good scratch behind the ears and became quite aggressive if petting wasn’t forthcoming.
Kaya sprinted into the cargo bay. “Ry says to hold tight. We have other tenders in the area.”
“His brother?” Mogens asked.
“We’re not sure yet. Just be ready for anything.” Kaya hurried away.
“Great,” Camryn snarled. “If I ever meet his sainted brother I’m going to slap him myself. Ry said Talor set him up for murder.” Curiosity tinged her words.
Mogens grunted. “I wasn’t with Ry from the start. I understand Talor stole his fiancée. Ry needed currency to escape Ibrox and he cleaned out his brother’s safe. He’s tried to clear his name. Every trail ran cold. He lives to harass his brother.”
“So he steals his brother’s cargo shipments? I can’t imagine a feud like that with my brother.” But she’d disappointed Max. She’d seen it in his eyes each time he looked at her. His disappointment made her desolation worse, and she’d drunk more.
Without warning the tender lurched sideways. Gabby yapped in alarm. Luke practically clambered on top of Mogens, seeking reassurance.
“Okay, Mogens?” Camryn stepped to Gabby’s head, murmuring soothing words. Only the tempting scent of a cooked steak had enticed her inside the tender today. Luke had scrambled after Mogens like a friendly puppy.
“We’re fine.”
The ship lurched again, flinging Camryn against the wall. Off balance, Gabby fell, crushing the breath out of her. Weakly, she pushed. “Move, Gabby. Move.” The instant Gabby shifted her weight, Camryn clambered on her back and slid over the other side.
“Impressive acrobatics,” Mogens said.
“A childhood dream,” Camryn said. “My brother and I gave our parents gray hair with our daring maneuvers while we trained to join the circus.”
Gunfire sounded. Gabby growled, eyes rolling and ears flattening to her head. Camryn tensed.
“Pirates.” Kaya thumped into the cargo bay. “Ry sent me to warn you. Things are about to get rough. There’s a storm coming. We’re flying into it.” She disappeared at a run.
He wouldn’t want to risk the hell-horses. Fair enough. Camryn just hoped they could keep the creatures calm.
“How bad will this get?” she asked Mogens.
Animals sensed things and the hell-horses seemed more intelligent than most. They’d discern their stress, their fear.
She felt the speed of the tender increase. “Do you think the tender following has stopped firing?”
“Hard to say.” Mogens skin bled to white then swirled with ribbons of black.
Huh, Mogens feared worse to come. Without warning the ship dropped like a plane hitting turbulence. Camryn gasped, her stomach struggling to catch up. Luke whimpered. Mogens stroked his neck, whispering soothing words.
Camryn wrapped her arm around Gabby’s neck. “Steady, girl. It’s okay.” The mare trembled, rolled her eyes.
The tender’s flight path leveled. Camryn’s breath eased out in a puff of relief. That hadn’t been so bad.
Without warning, they hit more turbulence. A hard bump. The tender dropped again. Camryn’s stomach didn’t have time to settle before they hit a second bump. Luke yipped, almost crushing Mogens. The seer’s skin swirled with changing colors, the pale gray changing to charcoal, the sole clue to his unease.
Camryn pressed against Gabby.
Comfort the mare. Keep her calm.
The ship jumped, the roar of the engines almost dying before giving another full-throated roar. Gabby squealed, stood on her foot.
A yelp roared from Camryn as pain galloped up to her knee. “Shit!”
The mare was so much bigger. Camryn pushed her withers, struggling to free herself without panicking the mare more.
“Dammit.” She choked off her curse. She was collecting bruises faster than an avid gambler collected debt.
“Camryn?”
“I’m okay.” Apart from the bruises on top of bruises.
The ship bounced. The mare shuffled sideways, moving off her boot. Camryn winced and didn’t have time to check for damage before the ship bucked again like a two-year-old being broke to saddle, each crashing thump sending Camryn off-balance. She lost her footing and fell beneath the mare’s feet.
“Camryn,” Mogens shouted, but he could do nothing except hold the foal steady.
“Bloody hell!” She scrambled across the slippery floor. Gabby struggled for footing, trying not to stand on her. A hoof clipped her hip. Tears smarted at her eyes.
Her legs were rubbery by the time the buckin’ bronco ride ceased. She’d ended up squeezed between the wall and the mare again. Before she could shift, the tender hit more turbulence. Gabby fell, shoving Camryn’s arm against the metal wall with such pressure she heard a sharp crack. Pain, agonizing and swift, hit. Tears filled her eyes as she breathed through the agony.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, the ship straightened. Through a haze of pain, Camryn heard Mogens murmuring to Luke. He soothed Gabby, pushing her away from Camryn. The mare’s weight had kept her upright and with it gone, she crumpled.
At least there was no blood, she thought before her world faded.
* * * * *
Ry landed the ship on the outskirts of the village near a lake. Set at the base of a mountain with the houses clinging to the slopes, it was a beautiful spot. And best of all, he didn’t think there were other visitors in the area, or at least he hadn’t spotted any on their radar system. It was a good place to set Yep at rest, if they could persuade Nanu to let him go.
Jannike stood, letting her harness go with a quick yank. “Good flying, Ry.”
He grinned. His piloting during the storm had been nothing short of brilliant.
Kaya rose. “Looks pretty out there. Do you think they’ll have a tavern?”
Jannike snorted. “Is your hair bright blue?”
“Exactly what I thought,” Kaya said, shaking said blue hair.
Ry stretched the tension from his shoulders. A faint whinny from the cargo bay brought a frown along with a rise of tension. Camryn. He took off at a sprint, his boots thudding on the tender floor.
“Captain?” Kaya shouted after him.
Camryn
. He cast out his mind, attempting to snatch thoughts from the cargo bay. Nothing. Not unusual when it came to Mogens but he often caught Camryn’s unguarded thoughts from this range. He burst into the cargo bay to find Mogens hunched over her limp body.
The mare bristled, her ears going back as they always did when he went too close. Apart from the first day when she’d let him carry Luke, the mare preferred him to keep a distance. Too bad. He shoved past and crouched beside Mogens. “What happened?”
“The turbulence threw us around. Gabby crushed Camryn against the wall.”
“Fukk it.” The bloody race was going to be the death of him. His hands tightened to fists and eyes narrowed dangerously. Or his brother…
“Gabby didn’t mean to do it. It was an accident.”
Ry ignored Mogens concern about blame to concentrate on Camryn. Her face looked ashen and she didn’t move. Fear stripped away everything but the need to fix Camryn. So small and defenseless. So still.
“Where’s she hurt?” Ry squatted beside her to brush the hair from her face. He couldn’t see any blood but sometimes injuries lurked inside a body, unseen. He shuddered, mentally giving thanks for the lack of blood. He’d seen the way the scent whipped the hell-horses into a frenzy. After the tick episode, they’d taken special care to treat small nicks or cuts the sec they occurred. Mogens had also taken the extra precaution of giving the female crew herbal treatments to suppress their normal cycles.
“As far as I can see, it’s her shoulder. It’s dislocated. Hold her while I put it back.”
“Why isn’t she conscious?” Ry held her, giving Mogens room to work. She smelled of the herb paste the seer liked to slap on injuries.
“I think the pain was too much,” Mogen said, forcing the shoulder back into place with a sharp jolt. “Her body couldn’t cope.”
Mogens glanced at him as he dipped his head to nuzzle at her neck. Her eyes flickered and she relaxed. Ry nodded at Mogens and the seer went to work, smoothing more paste on her shoulder. Ry licked her again in the exact place where he’d bitten her neck and nibbled lightly. The contact surged through him, the connection taking him by surprise. He moaned and attempted to rein back his raging desire.
Mogens checked her swollen wrist and smeared herbal paste on that too. “All done.”
The clomp of boots announced the arrival of the rest of the crew.
“What’s happened? Is she dead?” Jannike asked.
“Unconscious.” Ry stood, trusting Mogens to take care of Camryn. He walked away despite the protest of the feline who teased him to linger. A shiver racked his body and he caught strange looks from both Jannike and Kaya.
“Captain?” Kaya asked, cocking her head like an inquisitive bird.
Ry took a deep breath, determined to act like captain instead of the confused feline shifter who couldn’t bear parting from a weak Earthling.
“Where’s Nanu?” He wrapped authority around his shoulders like a mantle.
“He’s sitting beside Yep’s shroud,” Kaya said.
Ry nodded, acknowledging they needed to jerk Nanu back into the land of the living. They needed him because they couldn’t afford to let the repairs slide. Both the
Indy
and the tender needed to operate at full capacity. Mechanical difficulties weren’t an option. “I need you both to start working on a yard to confine Gabby and Luke. I’ll talk to Nanu and come out to help when I’m done with him.”
“Aye, Captain,” Jannike said.
“Mogens, I need you to make Camryn comfortable and watch Gabby and Luke.”
“Gabby will need feeding. We’re out of steaks,” Mogen warned, reminding him of the hell-horse’s need for meat.
Ry nodded. “Once we have the yard constructed, I’ll get Kaya and Jannike to go into the village to buy supplies.”
“Maybe they’ll have more of those large birds we captured at the last campsite. They’re easy enough to catch and Gabby seems to like them,” Mogens said.
Ry walked away to find Nanu. While he understood the man’s grief, he needed to jolt out of his misery. Kaya and Jannike hadn’t complained at the extra work, but they couldn’t keep it up indefinitely.
“Nanu, I need you to come and help construct the yard for the hell-horses.”
Nanu raised his head, eyes bloodshot with huge circles beneath, depicting the man’s lack of sleep. “I can’t leave Yep.”
Ry placed his hand on Nanu’s shoulder and squeezed lightly in support. “We need to have the funeral rite here.”
Nanu’s head jerked upward, the beads adorning his hair clacking with agitation. “No, I must take my brother home. He must burn where my ancestors burned or his soul will not pass.”
Ry forced a harsh tone. “You are outlaws in your home country. The corporation will shoot you on sight.”
“No, I must take Yep home.” Nanu rocked on the chair without taking his gaze off the shroud covering his brother. “Yep must go home to family.”
And sometimes you couldn’t go home, no matter how much you wanted it.
Ry squeezed his eyes closed for an instant before shoving his sympathy aside.
“I won’t let you commit suicide. We will conduct the funeral rite here by the lake. We are your family.” Ry grasped his engineer’s shoulder again and urged him to stand. He’d use force if he had to because if Nanu didn’t snap out of his lethargy someone else would die. With the approach of the race, they needed to focus. Talor had shown he didn’t care who got in the way. His brother didn’t care who died in their personal war. “Move. Yep is not going anywhere.”
Nanu glowered and stood. With a pained look at Yep’s shroud, he stalked from the bridge, his back stiff with fury.
The yard construction didn’t take long since Camryn had suggested they bring wood from the previous site. Although not big, it allowed the hell-horse and her foal space to move while keeping them confined.
Ry had landed the ship on the far side of the lake in an area away from dwellings and crops. Hopefully their presence wouldn’t upset the locals and they’d be welcome to stay until the start of the race.