Earth Legend (20 page)

With every adult in New Rochelle headed to
the greenhouses, it was a silent homecoming. Only Wilkes Zander to
greet us. His demeanor was somber. He noted our blackened
appearance and put two and two together. "Are you guys all right?"
Cullen nodded grimly and told Wilkes what had happened. Wilkes'
eyes narrowed. "Think there are more of them?" Cullen shrugged and
Wilkes continued. "All of our able-bodied people are at the fire."
His lips pursed. "But there are a few of us left here. Us old
people, some kids and those adults not on fire duty. We're not
helpless. We'll take care of Elle if anyone tries anything."

"I'll take care of her myself because I'm
staying." Cullen pulled me around until I found my back against his
chest with all of me folded in his arms. "Protecting Elle is my
number one priority right now."

Wilkes nodded. "I'll keep watch anyway." He
stood a little straighter. He was the mayor of New Rochelle and
would protect its residents.

Cullen shrugged and we went into my apartment
where we took turns showering. It took forever to get the smell of
fire and smoke out of our hair and off of our skin. When we were
done we threw our clothes into a recycling bin. Then we pulled them
back out and dumped them into the trash. No recycling for them,
they smelled too awful.

Then we simply sat.

Time passed, I don't know how much.

Thoughts crept into my mind. Memories. Family
stories about those of us who'd been thought to be witches. What
had happened to them. Told quietly so we kids wouldn't hear, but we
did and sometimes we didn't sleep after hearing those stories. Now
they came back and crowded my thoughts. I sat on my couch in my
apartment on the Destiny but everything faded and disappeared until
all that was left was the horror of what might have happened
because it had happened to some of my relatives.

I grew cold and wrapped my arms around my
middle but it didn't help. I found myself shivering and couldn't
stop.

The next thing I knew Cullen's arms were
around me and I was once again wrapped in his warmth and he didn't
let me pull away. Not that I tried, I needed him but it didn't
help. I couldn't stop shivering, couldn't get the pictures of those
relatives out of my mind. Couldn't stop thinking of how close I'd
come to suffering the same fate.

Cullen made a sound deep in his throat and
left. I stood without moving, without knowing where I was or what I
was doing, just that it was cold without him and scary. I looked to
see where he was, to find him and safety once again. I saw him
reaching into a pocket and bringing something out. The pan
pipes.

Did he have them with him always? Did he play
them whenever he was alone and had time on his hands? I'd thought
the serenades in the orchard were special but perhaps making
beautiful music was a part of his day whenever he thought he'd not
be overheard.

Now he pulled me down on the couch and sat
alongside me without our bodies touching. I wanted him to touch me,
to warm me, to make me feel safe. Instead, he started to play.

His first song was Greensleeves. The music
took me back to that night in the village square where I'd worn a
billowy, green dress and we'd danced, though awkwardly, to music by
the townspeople of New Rochelle. Was that why he chose
Greensleeves? Our eyes met briefly and something flared. Then we
each looked away.

He didn't stop with Greensleeves. He played
for what seemed like a long time and was long enough for my
shivering to slow and eventually stop. The music, some happy some
simply beautiful, sent all those bad memories to the place of their
origin, in the back of my mind where they belonged, along with
other nightmares of childhood.

I reached out and lay my hand on his arm.
When he finished the song he was playing, he put down the pipes and
simply touched me. I smiled weakly. "Thanks. I'm okay now."

"I lied when I said I couldn't play the
pipes."

"I knew you lied."

"And I knew that you knew."

We could have laughed at our little joke.
Instead, we just sat some more and I marveled that I'd got through
the past few hours intact and with a warm feeling in the pit of my
stomach instead of the terror and hatred that could have been
there. Cullen had done that for me. To me.

Then he sat up straight and stiffened. Looked
about, then settled back down so I wouldn't ask what he was doing.
But it was too late, I'd seen his expression. "What's wrong?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I thought I
heard something. It's probably nothing. A kid, maybe, playing ball,
and I over reacted."

But it wasn't a kid. Cullen was experienced,
he knew the sound a kid would make and this wasn't it. I watched
him intently. Watched his eyes shift from one window to another,
watched his attention hone to a tight pitch. "What's wrong, Cullen,
and don't lie to me."

He rose softly, stealthily. "Maybe nothing.
Hopefully nothing. But I'll check just to be sure." He moved like a
panther to the windows and peered outside. Seeing nothing unusual
he padded to the door where he stood listening for any sound on the
other side. For a while he just stood like a statue, then he came
towards me with one finger on his lips for me to keep quiet. He
pulled me up and to the nearest window, still making sure we both
made no sound.

Then he ever so slowly opened the window and
gestured for me to climb out. There were no screens, none are
needed where there are no insects and I was on the first floor so
it was easy enough to slip through. Cullen folded himself after me
and quietly closed the window. Then he pulled me towards a corner
of the building, where he stopped and whispered, "I'm going to
look. You stay here." And, like a shadow, he eased his large body
close enough to the corner that he could see the entrance to the
apartment building. A mini-second, no more, and he was back and
squeezing my hand, still whispering. "Trouble."

"They couldn't have survived the fire." But
there had only been a half dozen men in the greenhouse. There had
been a couple dozen people at the restaurant outside of Saul's
apartment. "Many people hate me."

Cullen looked about. The field beyond my
window was large and open and there were no other buildings close
enough for us to slip behind unnoticed. We moved along the wall but
no cover presented itself.

Then we heard voices, Wilkes Zander's in
particular, asking with false conviviality what someone was doing
in New Rochelle. He played the part of a nosy mayor to perfection,
loud voice and all. To make sure we heard and knew danger was near.
"To what do we owe this visit? New Rochelle is a lovely town but we
don't get many visitors."

Evidently no one had expected to be stopped.
There was a pause before someone answered. "We're looking for
someone. She lives somewhere around here."

"And who would that be?" His voice louder
still, he was warning us as best he could. "I'm the mayor and I
know everyone."

Cullen peered carefully around the corner
again, watching for a moment before coming back to me. His voice
was barely discernable. "Wilkes is pretending to rub his arm but
he's actually using his comunit." His voce was puzzled. He couldn't
figure out what Wilkes was doing.

Suddenly, so fast that I jumped, a face
appeared around the corner Cullen had just vacated. "I found her!"
He grinned as his words filled the air.

In seconds they were there but Wilkes was
there too, screaming into his comunit. "Emergency! Emergency! The
baseball field!" Over and over until one of the men in the small
mob struck him on the side of his head. He toppled over and didn't
move.

"Elle, run!" Cullen grabbed me but this time
it wasn't necessary. I was all primed to move so before the words
were out I was skimming over the field, heading straight to the
place I knew best, the place where I'd lived when I first boarded
the Destiny, the one place where I might be safe if there was any
safety on this space ship. The orchard.

Cullen was right behind me, pushing me when I
slowed, turning and firing his taser as he ran. From a corner of my
eye I saw two of our pursuers stumble and fall but the rest came on
and there were way too many for him to taze them all. "The bikes,"
he yelled in my ear as we ran. "Make for the bikes. We can get
away."

I shook my head, hair flying in a wind of our
own making. "The orchard. I'll be safe there."

"Trees can't save you. I can."

But still I ran and there was nothing he
could do except follow. As I ran I thought that he might be right,
there's little that apple trees and cherry bushes can do. Maybe
nothing. But I needed to be in that orchard, surrounded by things I
loved. Needed to be there. Had to be there, no matter the
consequences. Needed to at least feel safe.

Before we reached the trees, we heard another
sound. People yelling, feet running. A lot of people. I took a
chance and glanced over my shoulder. It seemed that every adult
left in New Rochelle was congregating on the baseball field. They
were confused at first, not knowing why they'd been summoned. Then
someone pointed to Wilkes Zander lying motionless on the ground
surrounded by strangers. A howl went up. And they acted.

We didn't stop running. We reached the
orchard and kept going, slowing down only slightly until we were
surrounded by greenery. We could hear the sounds of a melee in the
baseball field but Cullen wouldn't let me stop to see what was
happening. "Keep gong, Elle. You must be safe. You are more
important than anyone back there. You alone can save the Destiny.
You."

"They could be hurt." My friends, people I
hadn't known until boarding the Destiny but who were now part of my
life were back there. "They don't know what's going on."

"They'll figure it out." He steered me deeper
into the orchard. "We need to find a place where the bushes are
thick. We'll hide until that mob is taken care of by the good
people of New Rochelle."

I was already headed for such a place. The
place where I'd lived when I first boarded the Destiny. Where
Alicia gave me Braveheart. Where the bushes and trees deliberately
grew into a wall thick enough to hide anyone. I kept running and
the trees and bushes parted as we went until we were sitting on
faux dirt and leaning against a couple of dwarf apple trees.

I breathed, wondering if I'd breathed lately
or not. I thought not. Cullen inspected our hideout. "It's thick
here. It might do."

Of course it was thick. I waved an arm. As we
watched, the greenery grew thicker and still thicker until it
became an impenetrable wall. Cullen whistled softly. "You did that,
didn't you?"

"Not me. The plants did it."

"But you told them to."

"I asked and they agreed." He whistled again
and I shushed him. "Now we should be quiet."

He scooted to where I was. In a gesture that
seemed unconscious and probably was, he wrapped one arm around me
and pulled me close. Then he whispered, "That's a handy gift you
have. It's going to save us."

I peered into those stormy eyes. "It was my
so-called 'gift' that almost killed us."

"I'd choose having the gift over not having
it." One hand moved over my hair, getting tangled in all those
curls until he had to pull it free. "You're one very special woman,
Elle, and I'm glad I know you."

I had to press my face in his shirt in order
not to laugh out loud. I wasn't sure it would have been hysterical
laughter or not. It didn't matter, I could laugh again. "That's not
what you said a while back."

"I know but that was then. This is now." With
a small, satisfied sound deep in his throat, he slid down to a more
comfortable place and leaned back. "So we wait."

"What do you suppose is happening back
there?"

A lopsided grin lit up his face. "Knowing the
good people of New Rochelle as I do, I suspect those thugs are
wishing they'd never listened to all that ridiculous talk of
superior and inferior genes." The grin grew and he twirled a finger
in the air. "In fact, I'm willing to bet that they wished they'd
never applied for a spot on the Destiny." The finger made a slicing
motion. "And when this is all done and they face the consequences
of their actions, I almost feel sorry for them. Almost. Because I
happen to know that Captain Smithers doesn't suffer fools gladly.
In fact, he doesn't suffer them at all."

I sucked in my breath. "The airlock?" Even
after all they'd done, all they'd tried to do to me, I couldn't
wish that on anyone. The specter of being shoved out the airlock
myself was all too deeply ingrained in my mind. "I hope not."

"We'll see," was all Cullen would say as he
pulled my head onto his shoulder and closed his eyes for much
needed rest. "We'll see." And then, miracle of miracles considering
the circumstances we were in, we slept. Cullen because he was used
to situations like this and could sleep anywhere, any time. Me
because his arm around me and his solid body against mine spoke of
safety and a future that I'd not believed possible when I walked
across that room so long ago and joined the colonists on their way
to the space station.

Chapter Fourteen

The captain declares martial law.

We stayed in the orchard until we heard
Wilkes Zander calling our names. Then I told the trees and bushes
that we were safe and they could let him through and they did.
Wilkes' gaze went furtively from one side of the opening that
appeared suddenly to the other, but seeing us he stepped through
and soon stood before us, a blood-soaked rag around his forehead.
"It's safe now. We took care of those guys. But you two need to
come out so you can file charges." Curiosity was clear in his eyes
but he asked no questions and we said nothing.

When we emerged from the orchard a small
cheer went up from the group of New Rochelle residents armed with
pitchforks, baseball bats and several tasers that had been taken
from the mob of sullen men that they now surrounded.