“Are more coming?” Tara pointed her gun straight at his head. He ducked down again behind her bike. She was close enough that she could hear his breathing. “I’ll give you only one more chance to save your life, Gothman. Are more coming?”
“My lady, if we aren’t back in an hour, Lord Darius will send out the next group of guards.”
“I see. Well, if you start running now, you should be seen by them before it gets dark.” Tara altered her aim by a fraction, and laser fire bounced over the field, causing several large rocks to fly.
The Gothman shouted his surprise and then hunched farther behind her bike.
She walked up to the bike and stood over the guard.
The guard backed away from her and slowly stood up. He quickly raised his gun.
She shot the gun out of his hand while hardly moving a muscle in her body, then she cocked her head and gave him a small smile.
The guard turned and ran back toward Gothman territory.
Tara let out a laugh as she let the man go. “Well, my loves, I think we might have won round one.”
Andru and Ana must have realized there was a break in the action, because both of them simultaneously let out screams of protest over the experience they had just been forced to endure.
“It’s okay, babies,” Tara cooed as she climbed over the seat and grinned at their outraged expressions.
Both children wanted out of their car seats and reached for her as she spoke to them.
“Are both of you okay?” Tara pulled the blanket from their squirming bodies, which resulted in tiny legs kicking even harder. “It appears so,” Tara said with a laugh, feeling almost shaky as adrenaline pumped through her.
Tara reached behind the seats securing her children and pulled a cloth bag free. “We don’t have time to get out and play right now, my dears, but how about a snack while I get us ready for another ride.”
The children fussed, showing their disapproval, but calmed a bit when she produced crackers and an apple, which she peeled and diced before giving them their portions.
It took a long time for Tara to hook the trailer back up to the jeep. The children were fussy and wanted to be held, but Tara knew she couldn’t waste time preparing them to drive again.
Tara took each child from their seat and checked diapers then calmed them with bottles after re-securing them. Darkness approached when she finally resumed her trip. While the jeep and the trailer left an easy trail in the tall grass for someone to follow, it was soon obscured by darkness as night fell.
If Tara had known the turmoil going on at home, she might have been calmed.
* * * * *
Patha’s comm beeped as he parked his bike.
“The less gossip about this matter, the better, I’m thinking,” Darius said as Patha listened through his comm. “We’ve accomplished a lot in bringing our two nations together, and if word spreads, it will reverse everything we’ve tried to achieve, it will.”
“Agreed.” Patha decided he could wait until later to lecture the man. “I will come get you.”
He left Reena at the house and took off toward the back hills.
“Make sure Hilda is quiet about this,” Patha instructed Reena, before he left her at the Bryton house and headed south to gather his son-in-law.
* * * * *
“Hilda, are you here?” Reena let herself in the back door and moved through the quiet house.
“Hello?” Syra walked into the kitchen with a white rag in her hands.
“Ah, it’s a good thing you’re here, it is. Call your papa, child. He’s worried about you.”
“He knows I’m here.”
Torgo walked through the back door at that moment and froze in mid-step.
Reena ignored the boy’s reaction and persisted with Syra. “Tara has left, child. Your papa was scared you went with her, he was. Call him now.”
“I still don’t understand why I have to check in with him every few hours.” She stomped over to the landlink set up in the corner of the living room.
“What do you mean, Tara has left?” Torgo walked over to the counter, and grabbed a cookie from a plate that had several more on it. He watched Syra as he stuffed the entire cookie in his mouth.
“I think Lord Darius should explain the situation. All I can say is that Tara and the babies are gone.”
“They went out to say goodbye to some of the Runners.” Syra said, her tone indicating she thought the old lady was confused.
“Is Hilda upstairs?” Reena wasn’t going to explain anything to the children. She didn’t feel it was her place, and she knew Lord Darius would be quite angry if he came home to a household apprised of the situation.
“Hilda, may I come in?” Reena tapped on her friend’s bedroom door.
“Reena?” Hilda was working on a sampler for her grandchildren’s bedroom wall. “Is something wrong?”
Reena entered the bedroom and shut the door. “I do believe Tara has left Darius, I do.” Reena pursed her lips.
Hilda let her sewing fall to the floor. “What?” Hilda asked in disbelief. “Why would you say such a thing?”
“She caught him, Hilda. I daresay he should have known Tara wouldn’t stand for that behavior, no.”
Hilda gathered her sewing and then stood to face her lifetime friend. “How do you know she is gone? Where are the babies?”
Reena kept her tone to a whisper as she told Reena about Tara’s visit. She stopped talking every time she heard a noise from somewhere in the house, and both women would look toward the closed door.
“And I’m thinkin’ she took our grandbabies with her, I’m sure,” Reena concluded. “Patha went to get his Lordship. I daresay they will be here soon.”
Hilda just looked at her friend. “My son has more power than he can handle, I fear. His actions have surprised me more than once, they have.” Her words sounded strained, and Reena knew she referred to her two dead sons.
* * * * *
Torgo and Syra tried to talk to each other in the kitchen, awkwardness threatening to overwhelm them, oblivious to the conversation taking place upstairs.
“So after my clan leaves, I will be staying here and helping Tara with the babies.” Syra leaned against the counter and studied the golden hair on Torgo’s arm. “Of course, I’m sure I will have plenty of time for other things, too.”
Torgo had just put another cookie in his mouth and almost choked on it. “Like what?” he asked with his mouth full and then slapped at the crumbs that he spit on the counter.
Syra shrugged. “What do you do around here for fun?”
Torgo had a hard time looking at her face and not her rather large breasts. She looked soft and curvy. He wasn’t too sure what he’d do, exactly, if he had a chance to be alone with her…really alone. The opportunity to find out might be nice, though.
“I dunno.” He shrugged. Torgo tried desperately to think of one thing he did at his house, just so he could impress Syra. But his mind saw breasts, his groin hardened, and he knew he couldn’t move from where he leaned over the counter. “I could do something with you…uhh…I mean, maybe I could show you around…”
Torgo jumped as Patha and Lord Darius walked through the back door, wondering if he’d permanently injured himself when his hardened dick banged against the cupboard door beneath the counter.
“Tell Reena to come here.” Patha’s tone implied that he didn’t care which teenager jumped to his request.
Syra ran from the room.
Torgo looked at the blood on his older brother. “What happened to you?”
“Not now.” Darius waved his hand for Torgo to come to him. “Help me get upstairs.”
One look at his brother and all thoughts of large breasts and personal injuries left Torgo as he became a human crutch for his older brother.
Once Darius was in his room, Reena had Syra on the run gathering necessary items to mend his wound.
Torgo loitered in the hallway, catching bits and pieces of the very alarming news.
“Send out four of your fastest riders,” Patha said into his comm, as he shut Darius’ bedroom door behind him. “She’s not to be hurt, you understand? Those babies are with her, and I want them all back here before nightfall.”
“I can’t believe she didn’t take me with her,” Syra whined several hours later as she joined Torgo. The house had settled a bit, and they stood in the upstairs hallway, leaning over the banister that opened below into the front entryway. Torgo wanted to suggest they go to his room, but didn’t have the nerve and couldn’t imagine what he would say to her once they got there. At least she was talking to him, so all he had to do was nod and watch her. “My clan is leaving. Now Tara’s left, and I’ll be stuck here.”
“I don’t mind you being stuck here.” Torgo blushed so deeply he looked down at the ground. He was grateful for the deep shadows in the hallway. “I mean, I get really bored most of the time. It’ll be nice to have someone my age to talk to, uh, sometimes.”
Great, now he was talking like a bumbling idiot.
He glanced sideways at her, hoping she hadn’t noticed. Just being near her raised his body temperature.
* * * * *
Syra guessed from Torgo’s actions that he hadn’t been around many girls.
Boy, could she teach him a thing or two.
It brought a smile to her face that she could make him blush and feel awkward. He was so cute, already pretty developed. And, he was a lot taller than she was—that in itself was a bonus—especially since she was taller than most boys her own age. “My papa and I travel around a lot, and there aren’t many people my age to hang out with either.” There were boys her age in the clan, but she didn’t want Torgo to think she’d been with a whole bunch of them. And she hadn’t, really, just a few.
“He’s really lucky she just shot him in the foot,” Syra continued, dropping her tone so as not to be overheard. She wanted to keep their conversation going.
“I know. If she shot his foot, that is what she was aiming for.”
They were quiet for another minute or two, trying to figure out what to say to each other.
“Maybe you could show me,” Syra began, but stopped talking when footsteps sounded on the stairs.
Patha approached them and passed, not seeming to notice they were there as he entered Darius’ room. It was easy to overhear the conversation beyond the partially open door. “They found her, but she easily got away from them,” Patha said.
“I’m not surprised. She isn’t going to get caught unless she wants to. Still, I can’t let her get away from me like this.”
“You’ve made a mess for yourself, son.”
“No lectures, please. Things are bad enough as they are.”
“I suggest you let me look for her when we leave tomorrow. We know she headed south, and she’ll probably pass through one of the towns to restock. I’ll be able to find her.”
“Ah, but will you be able to bring her back?”
“Son, you’re going to have to do that. You’ve made a terrible mistake, and she’ll not forgive you easily. I’ll find her for you, but you’ll have to do the convincing.”
Patha came out of the room, and Syra and Torgo tried to look as if they hadn’t been eavesdropping. Patha still seemed uninterested in them, but he paused and turned to address them before he reached the stairs. “Syra, I guess you should come with me, and I’ll take you back to your papa. There’s no reason for you to stay here.” He disappeared down the stairs.
“Great, more time alone with my papa,” Syra groaned. “I wish I could have gone with her. This isn’t fair.” She stamped her foot on the ground before following Patha.
They didn’t leave right away, however. Hilda insisted Patha and Reena stay for supper, as it was about ready. Darius hobbled downstairs with his wrapped foot and endured the looks his mama gave him as she set the table.
She finally started to cry over the loss of her grandchildren and the woman who had taken them. Torgo didn’t want to hear his brother yell at his mama, so he slipped out into the backyard. His brother had made his mama cry one too many times, and it was more than he could handle right now.
When Syra saw the opportunity, she followed him.
“You know, you’re complaining that you have to leave, and I wish I didn’t have to stay.” Torgo leaned against the shed staring at the star-filled sky. He switched his gaze to her as she approached him.
“Is this yours?” Syra ran her hand over his bike.
“Yeah, and it was Tara who taught me to ride.”
“That’s why I was here, to earn money to buy my first bike.”
The two were silent for a minute then Syra had an idea. It was really awful, and she didn’t want Torgo to get the wrong impression if she brought it up. He’d started shining his handlebars with his shirt. His blond hair was a mass of tousled curls and his gray eyes were lighter, and not as deadly as his older brother’s. He’d be nice to have as a boyfriend, she decided.
“Don’t take this the wrong way or anything,” she began and looked back toward the house to make sure no one else had come out. “Why don’t we go find her ourselves?”
“What?” Torgo whispered the word. “There’s no way we could get out of Gothman. Both of us together don’t have half the skills Tara has.”
“It’s not like they are going to hurt us if they catch us. It would be an adventure, and I’m going to be bored to death if I have to spend another minute with my papa.” Syra looked at Torgo slyly. “Are you scared?”