Chloë (17 page)

Chloë
and Heather nodded politely as they approached Raymond and the rider.  The
rider was an older Taik, probably in his fifties.  He was cleanly if not
simply dressed, and his ride, well it was massive.  The horse was tall and
in peak physical shape: it could probably work from sunrise to sunset. 
Good qualities on a remote colony.

“These
two young ladies are Chloë and Heather Stratford,” offered Raymond with a
smile.

“Delighted
to meet you,” offered the rider as he slid off his mount.  “I’m Poul
Overton, farrier and rancher,” he offered with a warm smile.  “Raymond
here says you girls had a rough ride in!  That explains the weird lights
we saw last night.  Our little town is about a half hour ride from
here.  You’re more than welcome to spend the night.  Asleep under the
stars might be pretty and all, but a bed is a far bit warmer.  I think
they are having a dance tonight if either…”

“Dancing! 
Heather is sold!” laughed Chloë.

“Hey! 
Am I that predictable?”

“Yes!”
replied Chloë and Raymond in unison.

“We’d
be honored if you’d have us,” began Raymond, “but we in no way wish to be a
burden.”

Poul
laughed, “No burden at all!  The missus would be delighted for the
company!  Here you two, hop on back of the horse.  No sense in you
two gals walking all the way into town.”

“But
it’s
your
horse,” interjected Heather.

“Heather,
for once in your life just shut up and say thank you!” grinned Chloë. 
“He’s trying to be polite, that means you…”

“Shut
up and follow you,” grinned Heather.

With
no small amount of mirth, Raymond and Poul were
eventually
able to get
both girls on the back of the horse and started the gentle trek toward town.

“So
what brought you out to us?” asked Raymond.

“One
of the neighbors out with his flock said he saw something prowling about. 
The last thing we had prowling about was one of those big bears!  They
didn’t used to cause trouble, but last winter was rough and now, well, they’ve
gotten feisty!”

“So,
how big is the colony?” asked Chloë.

“Well,
it’s split up into four areas, and each area into towns of its own.  Our
local town, well there is about a thousand of us: about evenly split half Taik,
half human.  The largest in the area is about ten thousand, same
split.  There is talk of starting another settlement way out west, more of
a modern affair, but that won’t even start for a couple more years.”

“How
long has this colony been here?”

Poul
laughed, “This time around, about sixty years.  It’s been off-and-on thing
for close to two hundred.  I was born off world, but the missus was born
here.  Quite the place!”  Poul rambled on for most of the rest of the
trip.  Chloë was only loosely curious, but the more their host talked, the
less explaining they had to do.  And that suited Chloë quite well.

Chloë
did her best not to wrinkle her nose has they hit the edge of town, she was
trying to be polite.  The town was simple.  With its timbered houses
and occasional stone buildings it loosely reminded Chloë of the highlands in
its outward appearance.  But the smell… yes, this was a farming community
and beasts of burden were common.  Edmundshire had a fair number of
animals as well, but now Chloë was wishing for that wonderfully effective split
paths and subsequent sanitation that Edmundshire had.  The difference was
remarkable.  And disgusting…

“The
missus is visiting town helping for the night’s festivities.  She’s at her
sister’s place here in town,” offered Poul as he led them up to a fairly stout,
but well decorated building bearing the sign “Seamstress” with a simple
rendition of scissors, needle and thread below the lettering.  Poul helped
the girls down onto the porch.  Well, at least the porch was cleaner than
the streets…  With a broad smile he waved them on inside.  “Marge,
Vicky, we have some visitors tonight!  Two young ladies and their
escort.  Seems they were the ones that lit up the sky last night with an
emergency landing!”

Two
ladies in their late forties quickly set down their work and descending upon
them, “Oh, your poor dears!  That must have been quite the fright! 
Can we get you anything?  Food, water?  How long were you traveling
on foot?”

The
questions came hard and fast, and while Chloë’s opinion of the town was less
than stellar, her first opinion of the inhabitants was quite refreshing. 
There was an air of honest warmth and concern that reminded her that good
people could be found anywhere.  She laughed lightly and tried to head off
the questions, “We are doing quite well, thank you.  Raymond here has been
looking after us and we already have extraction being arranged, it’s simply a
matter of time.  We are quite grateful for Poul bringing us into town, it
seems to be a lovely place and I’ve heard tell that there are to be festivities
tonight.  Oh my word!  Where are my manners?  My name is Chloë
and this is Heather Stratford.”

“Delighted
to meet you!  You and your sister are most welcome here!  And you too
Raymond, no intention to slight you!  We have rooms back at the ranch if
you need a place to stay…”

“Oh
heavens, Marge!  They can stay in the room upstairs!  No sense in
running the poor dears all the way back out of town.  Especially if they
are going to make the most of the evening!”  admonished Vicky with a
grin.  “Sit!  Sit!  You’ve been walking all day I’m sure! 
Are either of you hungry?”

“I’m
fine,” began Chloë with a grin.  “Our emergency provisions have served me
quite well, thank you.  But Heather here…  I think she was hungry
again right after breakfast!”

Heather
protested, “Hey!  I am not… not
always
hungry again right after
breakfast!”

“Yeah,
sometimes you go back to sleep!”

Marge
and Vicki both laughed.

“Well,
it is close enough to lunch then for both you and your sister!” grinned
Vicki.  “Come!  The kitchen is in back!”

Poul
excused himself, promising to return later that evening while the three were
shepherded to the back of the building.  “Sisters” the ladies had said…
Chloë had never
had
a sibling before and was becoming quite comfortable
with Heather treating her like one.  The conversation from days earlier
echoed back in the back of her mind:
As far as Father is concerned, you are,
for all practical purposes, my sister and thus his child. 
Here,
stranded on an alien and primitive colony, Chloë started to finally appreciate
how rich her new family truly was…

“I
don’t mean to pry, but you two don’t look like twins, yet your age looks
remarkably close,” began Marge curiously.

Heather
grinned and fielded that one gracefully, “We’re from the Highlands of Afon and
we have a
very
large family.  We have a group of younger sisters
separated by five months and then another by only two days.”

“Oh
my word!  Highlanders!  From Afon!  You ladies are a long way
from home.”

“Yes
ma’am, indeed!  We were hoping to visit a relative off world and things
got scary.  Raymond here, a friend of the family, has done an excellent
job watching over us in spite of some horrendously bad luck.”

Chloë
just grinned at Heather.  Every response had been
mostly
correct.  Honest enough not to worry about getting tripped over lies
later, but misleading enough to protect Chloë.  Now
there
was a
skill she would have expected her tutors to have taught: polite subterfuge.

The
idle banter plowed on as did a simple but filling lunch.  Discussions
quickly turned to the night’s festivities.  Those quite quickly caught
Heather’s attention!  Chloë just smiled and kept to herself.  Well
not entirely, she quickly donned a thimble and helped sew on buttons for the
two ladies.  She was in no way skilled enough to help them with their
proper wares, but buttons were simple but time consuming and the idle work
helped pass the time and keep her out of conversations.

The
afternoon’s routine was interrupted by an increasing number of people come to
collect various items for the night’s activities.  Mixed in with the
normal parade were an increasingly larger number of humans.  Chloë didn’t
know why it struck her so much that humans would be visiting a Taik seamstress,
but it did.  Then there were the obvious rounds as she and Heather each
kept grinning to each other as they tried in vain not to laugh at the
humans.  Oh! They were so naked looking!  Their hosts noticed the girls’
reaction and laughed along with them. 

Soon
the sun was fading as the streets came alive with decorative lights and flowers
of all sorts.  Chloë noticed a few humans with the flowers that Raymond
had warned of earlier: small flowers of red and blue alternating petals. 
That made sense if they were sticky: humans had an easier time cleaning
up.  That and humans had almost no sense of smell. 

On
the far end of the street a few musicians set up much to Heather’s
delight.  It was a mix of humans and Taiks, but the instruments were
familiar at least.  Heather’s broad grin threatened to consume her entire
face as she recognized several of the songs and variations of a few of the
dances.  She was soon the darling of the dance floor as she quickly
adapted to the local flavor and just as quickly out shone all the other
dancers.

Much
to Raymond’s chagrin, and Chloë’s amusement, he was soon sucked into the dances
as well.  Amid sighs and protests it was soon found that he had no small
amount of talent himself.  Before long, he, too, was smiling and enjoying
himself.  Any
schadenfreude
on Chloë’s part was quickly erased as
Heather dragged her, too, onto the floor to dance with Raymond, while giddy
Heather took to the stage.  With a borrowed fiddle in Heather’s hand she
quickly joined the merry musicians.  To the amusement of all she was soon
the crier as well.

Chloë
caught up with Heather at an intermission and had to all but rescue her from
the press of the crowd.  A quick snack and a lot to drink later and
Heather was ready for action again. 

An
older human lady quickly cornered Heather, “Young ma’am.  If you decide to
stay in our little town, we could really use your talents.  I’m the only
formal music teacher and I’m in my decline.  You would easily replace and
exceed me.”

“Pshaw! 
I’m no good playing music.  I have
nothing
on my parents…”

Raymond
and Chloë joined the human lady laughing at that.

“You
were excellent up there!  Don’t sell yourself short!”

Chloë
laughed as she watched Heather flush, “Half as good as the twins or First
Mother is
how
good?”

Heather
finally relented with a honest grin, “You have a point there… We can argue
about this later; I have to get back on stage!”

Two
more rounds of music soon filled the air as everyone had a wonderful
time.  With the stars twinkling overhead and the lanterns bathing the
dancers from the side, it was a glorious evening.  But all good things
must come to an end…  Chloë just wished they had ended more peacefully!

A
gunshot into the air at the far end of the street brought the dance to a sudden
halt.  Two humans and one Taik, all mounted on horses and brandishing
weapons glared at the crowd. 

“We’ve
come for the two girls: Heather and Chloë.  We don’t want any trouble.
Just send them over and there won’t be any violence.”

An
older looking Taik stepped forward from the crowd, “If you didn’t want trouble,
you shouldn’t have come and caused a ruckus!  There is no way we’d hand
over two girls to the likes of you!”

One
of the humans pointed his rifle squarely at the man, “We can do this the easy
way or the messy way.  Your call!”

Heather
snarled and jumped down off the stage.  The crowd quickly parted as she
marched down the street.  “You want us!  Come and get us!”  That
wasn’t
exactly
what Heather had said, the actual translation made
Chloë’s ears burn.  Where had Heather learned such language?  Chloë
took some humor at Heather’s challenge, their horses were suddenly nervous and
twitching at the reins.  They at the very least realized where they were
in the food chain.

“Chloë! 
Follow me!” barked Heather as she walked past.  She held her hand out and
Chloë, with butterflies threatening to consume her innards, stepped forward and
took her hand.  The pair marched squarely forward.  Chloë wondered
where Raymond was but knew better than to look for him.  If he was up to
something, he wouldn’t want her to give him away!

The
spooked horses became even more nervous as the pair approached and Heather just
put on an evil grin, “Out of curiosity, what’s the reward now days?”

“Half
a million for each of ya’,” one replied evenly.

Heather
laughed, “Oh, you are getting
screwed!
  It was five million a week
ago, and people have only gotten more desperate since then.”  Laughter
overcame her again and the horses all but bolted.  “Okay, we are
here.  Now what?” she asked as her fur stood on end. 

The
confusion on the three of their faces was complete but one finally barked, “You
hop up and ride with us!”

“Right!” 
Heather replied dryly as she reached up to an offered hand.

Chloë
panicked!  Were they going to ride away with these three and hope Raymond
would rescue them in the night?  What was Heather thinking!  Two
heartbeats later, Chloë realized what Heather
was
thinking: a repeat of
those many nights ago when people had tried to abduct her from her bedroom!

Heather
took the offered hand and yanked the man from his saddle and down on his
head.  In the same motion she rocketed up the side of the bewildered beast
taking the man’s rifle as she went.  Once up to the height of the saddle,
she spun, throwing the rifle at the man opposite her.  The spinning barrel
caught the surprised man square in the face and quickly joined his co-patriot
on the ground.  She then leaped at the Taik sitting on his horse and the
pair quickly tumbled to the ground.

The
Taik, unlike his human friends, hit the ground still in control and he quickly
produced a vicious looking dagger as he squared off with Heather.  Heather
heeded her father’s admonishment from weeks earlier and retaliated by invoking
a pair of Live Steel blades in their comfortable blue glow.  She easily
raked the dagger to one side and stabbed him squarely in the shoulder,
rendering the arm all but useless.  Two more quick shallow slashes to his
thighs sent him to the ground in pain and no longer a threat.

Heather
started to return her attention to the two previous targets when someone barked
from the shadows,  “That’s quite enough Highland girl!”  He stepped
out of the shadows with his rifle shouldered.  “No more theatrics! 
Didn’t look for backup, did you?”

Heather
briefly sported a mock surprise look before her armor burst around her,
cocooning her in iridescent shell.  “Yes, actually!  Did you?”

Chloë’s
ears rang as a squarely placed pulse rifle shot dropped the fourth.  She
turned and looked as the panicked horses scattered to find Raymond grinning
back at her.  “You
okay?”         

 Chloë
rubbed her ears but smiled to him, “I’ll be okay.”

“Crap
shot, Raymond!  The guy is gonna live,” grinned Heather as her armor
sparkled and disappeared.

Raymond
rolled his eyes and laughed, “You’re welcome, Heather.  Let’s tie the guys
up and then round up their horses.  I think it may be best for us to leave
tonight.”  Raymond made eye contact with the older Taik that had spoken
out in the girl’s defense.  “Is there going to be any problem if we take
their horses?”

“Don’t
take too kindly to a guy point’n a gun at me, much less trying to kidnap two
young ladies; take their horses!  It’s the least we can do to help.”

“You’ll
need water!  Food!  Blankets!”  came the parade of offers from
the crowd.

Chloë
beamed at the outpouring of support and turned to Heather, “Hey, if you knew
Raymond was getting ready to shoot, why did you raise your armor?”

“Easy!”
grinned Heather.  “The armor also kills the noise of the pulse rifle.”

“Yeah,”
Chloë laughed as she rubbed her ears.  “Yeah, that was kinda loud.”

“Sorry,
Lady Chloë,” apologized Raymond. 

Chloë
smiled and kissed Raymond on the nose, much to the amusement of
Heather.  

“That
will shut him up!”

Chloë
giggled as she watched Raymond bite his lip and stare off into the stars
overhead.  She tried to help round up the horses; she was pretty certain
that Heather was just going to scare them!  With the help of the
townsfolk, all three horses were quickly secured.  As she led them back,
she broke out laughing at the mob that was surrounding Heather.  From
would-be suitors, tomboys and town leadership, everyone was
fascinated
by the brash Highland girl.  A sudden call in her direction of “and that’s
her sister!” sent part of the mob Chloë’s way and she flushed horribly from all
the attention.

“Alright! 
Give the girls some room!” bellowed Raymond, and the crowd back off… a little
bit.

“So
much for traveling incognito,” grinned Heather.

“You
are loving every minute of this, aren’t you?” teased Chloë.

“Well,
save for getting pinched.  I hope I didn’t break the kid’s wrist,” grinned
Heather.

“And
why, oh why, did anyone ever think you needed an escort?”  laughed
Chloë.  “Now… Daddy’s little girl needs to calm down, graciously accept
these people’s generous offers and then get her furry butt up on one of those
horses.”

Twenty
minutes later they were
finally
moving out.  Fresh water,
provisions, a slew of blankets and an odd poncho or two and they were on the
move again.  Heather’s first few attempts at controlling the horse’s reins
ended up in complete disaster: she didn’t like the horse and it was scared to
death of her.  Instead, Chloë’s share of the provisions were loaded onto the
third horse and Heather rode behind Chloë on her horse.  It wasn’t
elegant, but they were moving!

Chloë’s
mind wandered as they carefully threaded through the countryside at night,
“Heather, I know its rude to ask…”

“Spit
it out, silly girl!”

“Um,
does Gwen have any children of her own… you know…”

Heather
laughed softly as she shook her head, “Still hung up on trying to figure out
whose is whose?”

“No,
not at all.  I just feel kinda lonely for Gwen.”

Heather
smiled softly, “Don’t be.  She may not express things like you and I, but
she is still all there and is a wonderful person.  Three, by the way.”

“Three?”
asked Chloë somewhat shocked.

“Yep. 
Clover, Jasmine and Freya.  Didn’t expect that, did you!”

“No,
not in the least!  How did that happen?”

“Second
Mother can repeat the biology lecture if you missed it… it’s not
that
complicated…”

Chloë
laughed as she flushed horribly, “No!  That’s not what I meant!”

“Gwen
loves and is loved.  What more needs to be said?”

“Nothing. 
That is just so beautiful and wonderful to hear.  Your family…
Our
family
is just the most wonderful family I’ve ever met.”

Heather
smiled, “If you want all sunshine and roses, covered in sugar, I need you to
meet Uncle Penn’s family… oh… my… word…”   Heather shuddered and
laughed, “Gah!  Let’s just leave it at that!”

“Pardon
me, are you girls going to be able to stay awake a while longer?” interrupted
Raymond.

Heather
looked and Chloë and they both nodded and replied, “Sure!”

“How
are you doing, Raymond?” asked Chloë.

“I
slept this afternoon while you two were laughing at the customers, so I’m doing
quite well.”

“Er..
sorry, that was kinda rude,” murmured Chloë.

“Yes,
yes it was,” replied Raymond evenly before turning and sporting a grin, “But
humans are awful funny to look at!”

Both
of the girls laughed at that.  Heather, a little too much so: she had to
fight to keep from falling off the horse!

Around
ten o’clock they stopped at a stream to water the horses and Raymond went about
trying to unshoe the beasts.  He didn’t have proper tools for the job and
that complicated things.  Heather advocated just cutting them off, but
Raymond was concerned about leaving partials of nails left behind.  But
with Chloë holding a horse’s head, Heather and Raymond working together were able
to remove them with some creativity.  Heather wanted to toss the shoes in
the stream, but Raymond opted to put them in the beasts’ saddle bags: prefit
shoes would be much easier and cheaper to replace.

“Okay,
if we aren’t going to let them run wild, why are we taking their shoes
off?  Don’t they have better traction and things with their shoes?” asked
Chloë.

Raymond
grinned in the pale moonlight, “More importantly, taking their shoes off makes
them harder to track.  Come on, I’d like to get a few more miles under us
before we stop for the night.  We are going to head upstream a bit and
then a bit more overland.”

Chloë
nodded with understanding and then laughed as the comedy of errors that was
getting Heather on the back of a horse, repeated itself.