1.5 - Destiny Unchosen (2 page)

“This is... the place?” she asked.

“It is suitable.” Eleriss hopped off the Harley without so much as brushing her and landed lightly in the dirt.

Temi climbed off less gracefully. She supposed it was a little late to worry that she had gone off into the woods with strangers who planned to murder her and bury her body where nobody would ever find it. She had seen them fight before; it wasn’t as if they would have had to take her all the way out here to kill her.

“I will camouflage the conveyance,” Eleriss said, waving Temi toward the road.

Jakatra was already there, and with her first step toward him, Temi nearly tripped. Not because the earth was rough, but because his eyes were glowing faintly. She swallowed. No mistaking it this time. Eerie.

Eleriss joined them on the road, his eyes, too, glowing slightly. The motorcycles were gone. Temi stared at the spot. She had assumed camouflaging them had meant throwing some branches and leaves over them. But whatever they had done, there was no sign of the Harleys now.

Eleriss slipped his hand into the pocket of his black leather jacket. A large, rectangular blue light formed above the road a few paces away. The color and the glow reminded Temi of bioluminescent plankton she had seen on a beach in San Diego when she had been there for a tournament. But there was no water here, and the air smelled of pine and juniper, not fish and seaweed.

Without hesitating, Jakatra strode through the pale blue field and disappeared. Temi gawked. She was tempted to walk around to the other side and make sure he wasn’t hiding over there somewhere. She didn’t. Apparently it was time to accept that the universe was stranger than she had ever believed.

“You may go now,” Eleriss said. His eyes had stopped glowing, maybe because the blue rectangle was lighting up their surroundings.

Though a dozen questions perched on the tip of Temi’s tongue, she walked after Jakatra without asking them. Now that she had witnessed this promise of another world, she was impatient to see if her knee could be healed.

As she crossed through the barrier—the portal, they had called it—she met mild resistance, almost like pushing one’s hand into gelatin, but it wasn’t enough to make her stop or turn around, and the sensation only lasted for a moment. Then she was standing in a very different forest, one comprised of lush greens rather than the dry dusty browns of Arizona. Sunlight filtered through a canopy of branches and leaves high overhead, the coloring off, as if she were wearing sunglasses with yellow-tinted lenses. Thick, tall trees towered all around her, rising from plants that reminded her of ferns but were much larger, more like what one might find in a jungle. A rich, loamy smell hung in air more humid than what she had left. She couldn’t see any birds or animals, but heard their chirps and activities in the branches.

Eleriss stepped out of the barrier and spread his arms. “Home.”

“If you say so,” Temi said, though the place wasn’t so exotic—so alien—as to make her feel uncomfortable. She might have believed they were still on Earth, though the strange hue of the sunlight
was
noticeable.

She spotted Jakatra ahead of them, striding along a path through the trees, already a hundred meters away. “He’s not a very good guide,” Temi remarked.

“He is not from this continent.” Eleriss started walking, gesturing for her to come as well. “He would make a poor guide.”

“So you’ll be showing me around?”

“No, that is not permitted. You will be healed and trained and returned to your world as soon as possible.”

“What happens if someone notices I’m here?” Temi asked. And how did she get home if these two were called away and she was left on her own?

The way Eleriss hesitated before answering wasn’t inspiring. “I will have to explain the situation.”

Not sure she wanted to push for more details, Temi walked after him in silence. Delia would probably be running around, taking samples of the trees and plants. Maybe Temi would bring her back a few leaves.

After fifteen minutes of walking, she and Eleriss caught up with Jakatra who was leaning against a tree next to a blanket laid over low green vegetation. He was thumbing something flat and circular in his palm. It reminded her of someone playing word games on a smartphone.

“He comes,” Jakatra said without looking up.

“Good.” Eleriss pointed to the blanket. “You may sit there, Artemis.”

“Are we having a picnic?” Because that couldn’t be what passed for an operating table here...

Eleriss did his quirky head tilt. “An... outdoor gathering in which food is consumed? Are you hungry?”

“No, I’m fine.”

Temi was debating whether she wanted to explain her confusion when the elves’ heads turned toward the trees behind the blanket. Between the vines dangling from the branches and the tall undergrowth covering the forest floor, it took her a moment to see what they were looking at. A figure was riding—swooping?—between the trees on a floating version of the Harleys. It had wheels and looked like a ground vehicle, but at the moment, it was gliding above the giant ferns as it veered toward them. Delia, with her interest in science fiction, would doubtlessly have a name for it, but Temi could only gape as the flying craft came to a stop near the blanket.

It settled to the ground, and its rider hopped off, a tall dark-skinned man. He was
male
, anyway; Temi wasn’t sure whether these elves/aliens/whatevers could be called men and women. He wore simple green and brown clothing that flowed loosely about him, not quite hiding the easy grace he shared with Eleriss and Jakatra. Was this the healer? If so, maybe this
was
the operating room. The new elf carried a small leather bag, reminding Temi of some traveling doctor from the
Little House on the Prairie
days, though the long black hair that fell to his waist in slender elaborate braids probably wouldn’t have been common in Walnut Grove.

Eleriss spoke to the new elf in his language, then handed him a small brown pouch, which quickly disappeared into a pocket with a nod. The doctor sat down cross-legged on the corner of the blanket and opened his leather bag. Temi tried to tell herself this wasn’t ludicrous. A blanket in the woods... after she had been in state-of-the-art hospitals with the best doctors and medical equipment money could buy. This couldn’t possibly be an improvement; God, what if it made her worse?

“He is ready for you,” Eleriss said.

“Was that a payment or a bribe?” Temi asked, more to stall for time than because it mattered. She had broken out in a sweat at her last thought and groped for a way to say she had changed her mind. “Because if he doesn’t want to work on humans, I’ll understand.” And they could go back through that portal and forget about this entire situation.

“He is a healer. He will heal anyone. The gift is to encourage his silence.”

Gift. Right.

“Your kind isn’t allowed here,” Jakatra said bluntly, as if she hadn’t figured that out yet.

“That is not entirely true,” Eleriss said. “She has our blood.”

“Because some randy ranger impregnated her ancestor a few centuries ago doesn’t make her one of us.”

Eleriss frowned at him, at Temi, then drew his comrade off, speaking rapidly in his own language.

Temi closed her eyes. She wanted to go home. As uncomfortable as home was these days, it was less strange than this place.

The doctor—healer, Eleriss had said—waved for her to approach. He had a handsome face, like the others, but it was forbidding, too, like he might be someone who would grow impatient quickly if crossed. Temi walked over, her gait more awkward than usual in the low undergrowth, and was conscious of him watching her leg. He pointed to the center of the blanket. She sat. What would she do if he pulled the equivalent of a hospital gown out of that bag and demanded she undress? Comply? Here? In the middle of the woods, with three strange guys watching her? Delia would probably punch him in the nose.

The healer pointed at her knee and said something in his language. Uh oh, did this one not speak English? Her translators were still arguing a few meters away.

Guessing at the meaning of the words, Temi pulled up the leg of her track pants. She had intentionally picked something loose enough that she could tug the hem up over her knee. He made a clucking noise. It sounded disapproving. With the exception of Eleriss’s cheery words, most of the things that came out of these people’s mouths did. He waved at her knee brace and said something that might have been, “Take it off.”

Temi did so, though the thought that he might do something to make her injury worse came to mind again. She licked her lips, trying to see into his bag. She couldn’t tell what anything was but was moderately reassured by the fact that the tools looked... gadgety. Technological rather than magical, not that she knew what “magical” instruments might look like. She just knew she would sprint back to that portal if he took out a jar of leeches.

The healer lifted her sweaty brace, gave it a sneer, and tossed it off to the side. Temi’s fingers twitched toward it. She didn’t want to lose it when she didn’t know what the end result here would be. She could walk without it, but its support meant less pain, especially when she made sideways movements.

The healer held a palm-sized device over her knee for a minute, scrutinizing it; though if there was some readout, she couldn’t see it from her angle. He poked and prodded in a couple of places. She was glad she had shaved. Next, he withdrew two brown—wooden?—disks with fuzzy undersides that reminded her of velcro. He stuck them to the skin on either side of her knee, and they remained when he removed his hands. He tapped the side of one, then sat back, looking toward Eleriss and Jakatra. They had stopped arguing and had come over to watch. Not exactly a representation of the supportive friends and family one usually had during a surgery. Of course, she hadn’t had anyone supportive around during her numerous trips in and out of the hospital after the accident, either.

A faint heat emanated from the disks, warming her knee as if it were wrapped in a hot towel as part of a massage. Temi stared off into the trees. She didn’t want to get her hopes up that this would do anything, yet that spark of hope kept reappearing in the back of her mind.

The healer spoke to Eleriss, who nodded and told Temi, “He believes you will be ready for full physical activity by this evening.” Eleriss looked at Jakatra. “It is likely gentle training can begin.” There was emphasis on the word gentle.

Jakatra said nothing. What was his reputation among his own people? Was he a jerk here too? Temi had certainly had coaches who were. Most cared, but some subscribed to that tough love method of teaching. Some resented young students with the talent to one day surpass them. At least she shouldn’t have to worry about that here. The way Jakatra had moved during the fight with that monster, he would make any human look clumsy in comparison.

“Is there any chance these monsters I’m supposed to fight can be dealt with quickly?” Temi asked.

“I do not know,” Eleriss said. “We have not identified who is responsible for creating them.”

That would be the smart thing to do, not simply react when they showed up.

The heat had grown warmer. It wasn’t painful yet, but would it become so soon? The healer was merely sitting and waiting.

“What’s it doing?” Temi pointed at the disks.

Eleriss considered the question before answering. Searching for a way to say it in English? “Instructing your cells on how to heal the injury and giving them the energy to do so, so your body won’t be overly drained by the process.” He looked at Jakatra, as if to ask his opinion on the translation. Jakatra gave him an indifferent glance and didn’t comment. “I have seen some of your scientific equipment,” Eleriss said to Temi, “and it is very fascinating, but it is also very different.”

“Fascinating,” Jakatra said. “Right.”

“Why is he helping if he hates humans so much?” Temi jerked a thumb at Jakatra, probably not as afraid of him as she should be.

“As your people would say,—” Eleriss gave his buddy another long look, “—it is a long story.”

“Coercion,” Jakatra said.

“Perhaps not so long a story,” Eleriss said, but didn’t elaborate further.

The healer removed the disks from Temi’s leg. Fortunately, they peeled off without sticking to her skin. He brought back the first device, a diagnostic tool or monitor, presumably. He made a clucking noise again, this one sounding more self-congratulatory than disapproving, then returned his equipment to his bag and stood. He spoke to Temi and lifted his hand.

“You want me to get up?” She flexed her knee experimentally. It felt fine, but bending it while sitting down didn’t usually hurt, so she didn’t assume anything yet.

“Yes,” Eleriss said. “He wishes you to stand and move before he leaves. Test it.”

From habit, Temi kept her leg straight as she rose, putting most of her weight on the good one. After she was standing, she tried a knee bend. Nothing hurt. She bent deeper. Her ankle cracked, which brought an eyebrow raise from Jatakra—what, elves had perfect synovial fluid?—but the knee didn’t protest the movement. She shifted her weight from side to side. Nothing.

“There is no pain?” Eleriss asked. He didn’t sound surprised.

“Not at the moment.” Temi felt that spark of hope growing, threatening to become a flame, but she forced herself not to assume anything yet. She could take away the pain with enough drugs, at least for a time. For all she knew, the guy had pumped morphine into her knee. But no, his gadgets hadn’t broken her skin, not as far as she could tell.

“It should remain free of pain,” Eleriss said. “Until Jakatra’s training begins.”

Coming from someone else, that might have been a joke, but Temi hadn’t seen these two display much that could be considered a sense of humor.

“Then everything will be in pain,” Eleriss added. “But you will learn much.”

“Goodie.”

“We can start the lecture immediately,” Jakatra said, “with physical activities beginning this evening.”

While he spoke, Temi kept flexing her knee, putting weight on it from different angles. Despite her sarcasm and her determination not to get her hopes up too soon, she had to hide a grin that threatened as she jogged experimentally around the blanket. If her knee returned to 100 percent, she could play tennis again. She could train, compete, and
win
doing the one thing that she had always loved.