Chloë (18 page)

Chloë
stretched as the morning light flickered through the trees and a playful
butterfly danced on her nose.  She giggled lightly as she pushed the
energetic bug clear and sat upright.   The blankets given by the
townsfolk had come in very handy as the night air had gotten quite cold and
they had been adverse to building a fire that night.  A quick stretch and
she started to get up.  A subsequent glance to her side showed Heather’s
bedroll was vacant.  A slightly more panicked glance revealed Raymond’s
was likewise vacant.  She sprang to her feet as fear started to rush over
her; what had happened to them?  She was about ready to call out in terror
when suddenly a sound drew her attention: something close, just behind the
large sprawling False Oak.  She bit her lip and swallowed her fear as she
dared a quick look… the fear quickly faded as she caught sight of Heather and
Raymond kissing!

“Raymond,
get your filthy paws off my sister!”  Chloë half barked, half laughed.

The
startled pair quickly turned to face Chloë: Heather fell over backwards
laughing while Raymond tried to protest, “She started it!  I mean,
really!”     

 Chloë
marched over, caught Raymond’s tail and gave it a sharp yank.  He howled
in protest and Chloë finally let go.  “No more of that until you are
willing to risk getting caught by Father.  And I mean Llewellyn! 
Once we get home if you want to buy her a nice set of bells on rings, I’ll
leave you two alone.  But until then, you mind your hands, mister!”

“Oh! 
Bells on rings!  That does sound nice,” teased Heather as she lay on the
ground enjoying the show.  “You know, I think he’s going to have a harder
time with First Mother than Father.”

Chloë
glared at Raymond, “So long as you are employed by the Crown Prince of
Amseterval, you keep clear of my sister.  You find a new job and I’ll
let
you buy bells on rings for Heather.”

“Hey,
previously you just said he only had to risk Father, now you are piling more
terms on him,” protested Heather with a grin.  Someone was having too much
fun!

“As
soon the opportunity presents itself, I will resign my commission.  As far
as new employment, the only current offers are with Watzkel’s unit, but I will
make my services known in the Highlands if that is what it takes.”

“Wow!”
grinned Chloë.  “You really
are
hung up on Heather!”

Raymond’s
ears flushed and he swept his tail back towards Chloë, “Um, just go back to
yanking my tail.  It was less annoying…”

A
quick breakfast, or what passed for breakfast without the heat of a nice stove,
was quickly put away along with a flavored drink given by their previous
hosts.  It was tart and sweet at the same time and Chloë found herself
liking it in spite of it being slightly sticky.

“Lemonade,”
grinned Heather.  “Fun with citrus trees!  If we had stayed for lunch
at Trevor and Gillian’s place, I’m sure they would have made some fresh for
us.  It’s a human old world thing.  Quite tasty!”

“For
being in a stale wineskin, it actually is quite good,” agreed Raymond.  “I
take it the wineskin will need a serious washing when we are done, less it
become ‘unpleasant.’“

“Yep
yep!  Hey Chloë, can I ride on the back of Raymond’s horse today?”

“Um,
that means neither of you will be paying attention to the path… I’m going to have
to go with a ‘no,’ dear Heather.”

“Aw!”
grinned Heather.

Chloë
just laughed.  It was obvious Heather was having fun at Raymond’s expense,
but Chloë was certain there was an honest and sincere level of affection on
Heather’s part.  Suddenly Chloë felt serious,  “Raymond, you aren’t
playing the tease are you?  You aren’t toying with Heather, are you? 
If you break her heart…”

Raymond
bowed formally to Chloë, “Lady Chloë, I have no others in my life, if that is
what you are asking.  I do not know how serious we are, but I am serious
enough to not wish any hurt to Heather.”

Chloë
smiled, “That will do fine…  Lady Chloë?  So, what is my name?”

“Chloë
of House Stratford.”

“The
Crown Prince of Amsterval might disagree…”

“Then
he might want to take that up with the rest of the Altshea Confederation: he
will find himself alone in that regard.”

Chloë
gave Raymond a quick hug and laughed, “Okay, enough serious stuff, let’s see if
we can get Heather on the back of a horse,
any
horse.”

“And
in less than twenty minutes!  That would be a welcome change.”

“Hey!”
protested Heather.

Clouds
began building as the day wore on.  The bright and cheerful morning soon
gave way to a heavy overcast with distant sounds of thunder.  Raymond
distributed the two ponchos to the girls as the threat of rain increased.

“This
must cause terrible flashbacks to your arrival in the Highlands, sorry,”
offered Heather with a quick hug to Chloë.

Chloë
just shook her head and grinned, “Not at all a thing alike!  I have food,
proper clothing and, most importantly, I am traveling with friends.”

A
brief chirp from Raymond’s saddle pack made them all tense up.  With a
second short chirp, Raymond dug through the packs and produced the emergency
radio from the life pod and clicked it on.  A recorded voice repeated over
and over, “75258863… 75258863…”

“What’s
that?” asked Heather with more than a little curiosity. 

“The
number is the start point for the secure communication with Watzkel’s
unit.”  He worked quickly to type in the number into a small device and
then plugged it into the port of the radio.  “Radio, strength 5. 
Team, strength 3.  One complication, resolved.  ETA, original
schedule.”

Watzkel’s
unmistakable voice soon replied,  “Radio, strength 5.  Team, strength
24+31+45.  Two complications, both pending.  ETA, original+4 hours
full.  ETA advanced team, original schedule.”

“Understood. 
Dustoff?”

“Dustoff
confirmed, plus four.”

“Dustoff
plus four hours?”

“Negative. 
Dustoff plus four options.”

“Confirmed
and out.”

“Out.”

“You
go through that complicated encryption thingie and you still talk in vague
terms,” murmured Chloë nervously.

“Actually
once we get closer, we’ll shift to the blackbook, a one time pad, and then we
can speak freely.  None of us knows if the regular security on these
things is that good.  Look whose ship they were on after all.”

“So,
they are split in three groups, ran into two bits of trouble and there is one
rescue vehicle at least with four more other ways to leave here,” parroted
Heather.

“Exactly.”

“Um,
what are the odds that someone from the town is following us?  I mean the
bulk of them were nice and all, but it only takes one…”

“Odds
are a hundred percent,” interrupted Raymond.  “That is part of why we lost
the horse shoes last night.”

“You
knew we were being followed and didn’t tell us?” asked Heather.

“And
how well would Chloë have slept?”

 “Good
point!” laughed Heather.

“Besides,
with the coming rain, we are going to be even harder to track.”

Chloë
sighed, “I wish you two would stop treating me like a pampered princess.”

Heather
nodded, “Yes.  Yes indeed.  Raymond, she’s my sister, tell us both
what we need to know.  Need to know if something bad happens to you!”

“My
apologies, I did not mean to offend…”

“Well,
you can start by apologizing for the ‘my apologies’ crap,” grinned Heather.

Raymond
laughed, “Yes, dear!”  He smiled at the pair of them as he rearranged his
wool blanket for protection from the elements.  “Two separate groups
followed us from the town.  One seems to have been thrown by the horse
shoe stunt and has returned.  The second team is still out there. 
Just a pair of guys on horses.”

“So
they are probably going to try to spot us and report us in… take a finder’s fee
and quit with their noses clean,” suggested Heather.

“That
is a very good guess.”

 “Hey,
I don’t like this.  If it is only a pair of people, why don’t we just go
talk to them?  On
our
terms,” offered Chloë with a flash of teeth.

Raymond
let out a deep sigh, “Heather, oh my darling Heather… what have you done to Chloë?”

“Not
a thing!  Any of my sisters would have made the same suggestions!” grinned
Heather proudly.

“You
have no brothers, right?”

“Nope,
fourteen sisters though.”

“Had
it been fourteen brothers the very fabric of the cosmos might have collapsed…”

“My
brother-in-law, Gavin, he’s a High Silver!” interjected Heather.

“Too
much information…” sighed Raymond as he looked at his two charges.  “Okay,
we’ll pull up to that next ridge and lay low, take a break for a few
hours.  If,
if
, they show themselves, we’ll work out
something.  Otherwise, we pack up and continue as we were.”

“Sounds
like a plan!” beamed Heather.

“Sounds
like fun!” chimed Chloë.

“
Now
I know why you two needed an escort,” grunted Raymond with resignation.

Two
hours of waiting produced no signs of the pair, if they were even still out
there.  It did, however, produce a bit of rain.  It wasn’t a bitterly
cold rain at least, just cold enough to be glad for the ponchos and an extra
blanket… It was going to be a long day, but at least the odds of being followed
plummeted as the rain wore on.

Night
came none too early; they were all quite tired.  Raymond made a quite
functional lean-to, slightly below the local horizon but on a large enough berm
to not be in any suddenly developing streams.  The thunder picked up but
most of the strikes were cloud-to-cloud.  Most.  Chloë found herself
snuggling up to Heather as an occasional strike hit closer to home. 
Heather cringed in time with the blasts, less nervous than Chloë, but still not
comfortable with the night’s light show.

“When
I was scared by storms, I used to always go and snuggle up with Second Mother,”
offered Heather blankly.

“How
long did that last?” asked Chloë.

“Up
until about a month ago,” replied Heather sheepishly.

“A
thunderstorm is worthy of respect from everyone,” offered Raymond.

“First
Mother has stories of meeting Father… him standing on the roof during a
thunderstorm, daring it to strike him… he… he was scared… scared of living…
scared of ever losing a loved one again.  First Mother knew she had won
him over when he would come down off from tall buildings for her.” 
Heather smiled as she read the confusion on Raymond’s face, “Father and his
childhood sweetheart were ripped apart by family and unfortunate circumstances. 
He spent most of his time with the Shukurae running from the heartache, running
from life.  It was the Shukurae who finally set about trying to find
someone special for him again.  They were the ones that introduced Father and
First Mother.  Father never wanted to kill all those people on the Bervik
lands…”

“But
when you think you’ve lost everything, you will fight that way too,” finished
Raymond with a smile.  “I look forward to meeting your father.  I
honestly do.”

“I
think you will find he likes you,” grinned Heather.

“Okay,
if you two want to kiss, I promise not to look,” laughed Chloë.

“We
have trouble,” whispered Heather as she gently shook Chloë.

It
was still dark and the rain had not let up.  Chloë peered out into the gloom
but could see nothing.  “Um, is it the the two guys Raymond spotted from
before?”

Heather
shook her head, “Don’t know… ask again in ten minutes!  Go with him and
loop around.  I’ll stay here as bait.”

“I
don’t like that idea,” murmured Chloë.

“When
I teach you Live Steel armor, I’ll let you be bait.”

Chloë
mustered a small grin,  “Fair enough!”  She grabbed her poncho and
carefully snuck off with Raymond into the blowing rain.  Well, at least
the lightning had mostly abated, it would make their departure more secure.

Raymond
crouched by a tree with his pulse rifle at the ready.  It was only a
carbine, but it still had the two stage system that made pulse rifles so
effective.  A chemical energy first stage that accelerated the bullet to
around three and a half times the speed of sound, before it fed into the second
stage; a carefully tuned electromagnetic rail gun that brought the speed up to
well over mach five.   The sights on the rifle had their zero at five
hundred meters, anything short of that was considered “point blank.”  No
concerns about a shot at longer than five hundred meters, the early morning
gloom wouldn’t permit it.  Chloë stayed low next to Raymond as he
carefully surveyed the surroundings.  Suddenly she too heard the source of
concern: hoof beats. 

Raymond
expertly threaded his way over the rough terrain with Chloë carefully following
close behind.  They started a wide arc, with the obvious plan being to be
able to cover Heather in the lean-to from a distance and the safety of cover.

The
world exploded in a blinding light and a thunderous roar that would have made a
lightning strike seem pale and calm in comparison!  She couldn’t see,
couldn’t hear and could barely maintain her balance.  Suddenly she felt
hands grabbing her from behind and lifting her off the ground.  She had
been caught!

Sixteen
years.  Sixteen long years of playing the dainty princess, the pampered
princess, the
helpless
princess.  All those years of trained
placidity came crawling back up to her as panic consumed her to her very
soul.  But somewhere, deep inside, was a spark.  The spark had always
been there, she just had never known or appreciated it before.  But she
had
learned
what the spark was: Heather had taught her that much! 
Panic gave way to anger and anger gave way to rage.  She was no helpless
princess!  She was not going back to that way of life, not now, not ever!

Chloë’s
Live Steel blade burst into being in her hand.  She could see it; she
could see nothing else around her, the brilliant flash had taken care of
that.  But she could
see
the blade… she could
feel
the
blade.  It was warm in her hand, warm in her heart… it was no simple
blade, sliding dimensions or otherwise, it was alive.  It wasn’t some
alien symbiont, it was an extension of herself.  She now understood why it
was called
Live Steel
! 

She
spun her blade around her in the imagined path of where her would-be captor was
certain to be.  As she made contact, she could see the man, a tall and
rough looking Taik with a pistol at his hip.  Her eyes had failed her, but
the image that the Live Steel blade projected into her mind was as clear as a
summer’s day.  She didn’t dwell on the image: she used it.  The first
stroke was into the hip, the second and third were to the man’s arms.  Just
as quickly as the third stroke finished she felt his grip give away and she
fell to the ground.  But she fell with her feet under her, and she was
ready for more!

As
her feet touched the ground, the world around her seemed to appear
clearly:  Raymond laying on the ground, recoiling from a savage blow from
a second aggressor, while a third turned to bring his attention to Chloë. 
Off in the distance was a warm and friendly glow: Heather charging their
direction in high form!   Chloë turned to face the third, her eyes
were a painful blur, but the vision her blade offered was remarkably clear and
she exploited it to her best!  She screamed as she charged the third, she
knew not how she sounded on the outside, but from within it was a mighty
roar.  The man brought his weapon to bear and she fired a wide shot into
it.  The weapon sheared under the blow and she was certain she had taken
part of the man’s arm with it.  She didn’t care, if they didn’t want to
get hurt, they shouldn’t have tried to snatch her!  Her memory flashed back
to that of Heather the night of the dance and Chloë followed that example and
fired a pair of shots into each shoulder and then a pair of shallow cuts to
each of his thighs.  He wasn’t going to be a further problem!

Raymond! 
Someone was still attacking Raymond!  Chloë turned to face the second man
and watched with amazement as Raymond managed to pull his sidearm and gut shoot
the man.  The attacker fell to the ground, unlikely to move again.

Chloë
sighed with relief as Heather joined them.  She could feel her touch and
warm embrace and did her best to hug her back.  As the threats vanished so
too did the visions around her and Chloë soon found herself half blind and deaf
standing in the rain, but at least Heather was there with her!

It
was easily five minutes before Chloë could see well again and another ten
before her ears stopped ringing enough that she could hear.  Raymond was
sore, but not too worse for wear.  Their three attackers, however… 
Chloë cringed at the carnage as her sight returned: most of it had been caused
by her!

“Well,
we fell right into that trap,” murmured Raymond as his hearing returned. 
“They were waiting where the best cover was to still see the camp.  It was
the perfect spot, and that is right where I went…”

“Hey! 
We got out of it!” grinned Heather.   “That was an awesome shot you
did!  Flashbang caught you flat, but you still managed to get a perfect
shot off!”

Raymond
sighed, “My biggest fear was hitting Chloë.  Three really solid kicks to
my head and I was pretty sure I had bought enough time that she was clear so I
took the shot.  We
actually
practiced crap like that at the
academy.  Practice grenades, however, don’t hurt nearly as much as the
real stun grenades…  Chloë… You held your own… I mean, you
really
held your own!  Would someone explain why I am even around?”

“Um,
you’re actually
responsible…
good with horses, long distant shots,
lean-tos, radios, directions…” began Heather.  “Oh yeah, you kiss really
good too!”

“So
Chloë’s known how to do Live Steel all this time?”

“Actually
I learned when we were stuck on the cargo container… Heather is a really good
teacher!”  Chloë suddenly bubbled over, “Heather!  I could
see
them!  The blade showed me those around me!  It was fantastic!”

Heather
laughed as she hugged Chloë, “Father spent two years trying to teach Gavin to
do that… let go and let the weapon speak back to you.  That was
awesome
girl!  Dad always said girls were faster learners!”

“It
may have also been desperation on my part!” laughed Chloë.  “Whatever the
case, I honestly hope I don’t have to do that ever again!”

“Fair
enough!” hugged Heather.  “That does mean one thing… we need to teach
Raymond!”

“First
things first… we need to take care of the bodies…” replied Raymond.

“You
mean
people
?” asked Chloë squeamishly.

“Um,
no…”

Chloë’s
head spun as the gravity and thoroughness of her actions finally caught up with
her.  She felt light headed and dizzy.   There was one easy way
to handle that: she threw up.

Heather
cradled Chloë as she tried to clean her up, “Raymond,
that
is why you
are here.  We are just kids…”

“Young
ladies, both of you… but ladies shouldn’t have to do that either…”