A Warrior's Return (10 page)

It was raining; actually it was pouring
rivers down out of the sky. We sat parked in the shelter of some
trees waiting for the storm to pass by. Talaric was gripping the
steering wheel tightly and I could tell that he was wrestling with
something inside. I reached out a hand and laid it on top of one of
his and he abruptly relaxed his death grip on the wheel. He glanced
at me and I let him see I was open for whatever he wanted to talk
about.

He looked back out through the windshield,
“How far are you willing to go along with me?” He asked
tensely.

“However far you want to take us with you.”
I responded softly.

I watched a muscle in his jaw tick with
tension as he continued staring ahead.

“What if it means that you and Rafael will
both be placed in danger, even possibly killed?”

I continued to study him. He still didn’t
get it.

“We’ve always lived under such threats. Why
should it change now? The difference now is that I don’t have to
fear death and if there’s life instead of death I want to
experience it with you!”

I finished somewhat breathlessly wondering
what he would think of my words.

He took my hand in his and kissed it softly
and then looked at me again his expression serious, “If you come
with me you’ll have to fight and possibly get yourself killed.”

I swallowed noting the seriousness of his
statement.

“What will I be fighting for?” I asked
softly, but resolutely wanting to let him know that I would do my
part.

“The continued freedom of my homeworld.” He
said softly.

I blinked and then blinked again. Had he
said homeworld?

“You’re an alien?” I managed to choke
out.

He grimaced slightly at my question, “Yes I
guess so, but if you have some sci-fi movie image going through
your head right now please stop! I assure you that I am not part
bug or anything else.”

“Who will we be fighting?” I asked.

“Anyone from Earth trying to get through to
my world and destroy it.”

My mouth was dry, “Why would people from
Earth want to destroy your world?”

“Because they have been led to believe
falsely that we pose a risk to them somehow.”

“What will we do after this fighting is
over?”

He appeared speculative, “If we survive than
we can make a place for ourselves here in hiding or if the
opportunity presents itself we can go back to my homeworld.” He
paused and then continued, “Or I could drop you off in a safer
place with Rafael and you too can make your own way.”

That wasn’t happening!

“Were going with you wherever that is!” I
said with passion.

He looked away from the windshield to me and
I saw a lot of tension drain out of his features, “All right then.
Your training starts now.”

He opened his door and got out. I stared at
him in consternation, as he walked around the hood of the SUV
toward my door.

Training?

He opened my door and with a grin he said,
“Scoot over your driving.”

I stared at him in shock and then stuttered
out, “But I….I’ve never driven a car before!”

“High time you learned then. Take it from
me; it’s entirely possible to master the art of driving, even if
you haven’t been exposed to it until later in life. Come on; move
over, time is wasting.”

Reluctantly I crawled over the stick thingy
that moved and settled into the driver’s seat. All the dials and
readings glared up at me from the dash. I had no idea of what they
were supposed to mean.

“Don’t worry about any of that for now
unless you see a new one pop up, especially if it’s flashing.”

I gave him a look that said it all.

“What? It’s simple really. Adjust your seat
and put it in drive, which would be that D right here on the gear
shifter. The left pedal is the break and the right one is the
gas.”

I did as he said. My nerves were completely
shot already and I hadn’t even started moving yet. The vehicle
started forward and I moaned out, “We’re moving!”

“Congratulations.” Came his chipper
reply.

“Now give it a little gas.” The vehicle gave
an abrupt jerk forward as Talaric finished saying, “Gently!”

Fifteen minutes later we were on our way.
The speed thing in front of me said forty miles per hour. It felt
more like forty thousand miles per hour. I clenched the wheel with
a white knuckled grip, as I responded to every slight movement of
the SUV off of the desired track on the road.

I could feel the tension that gripped my
face. Beads of sweat popped out on my forehead. Rafael’s voice was
a surprise, as I thought he had been sleeping.

“After she’s done can I drive?”

In unison both I and Talaric said, “No!”

Rafael’s sigh was loud in the silence of the
SUV.

A little while passed and Talaric abruptly
said, “Well it looks like you’ve got the hang of it. Just stay on
this road for the next hundred miles.”

He reclined his seat all the way down and
put his hands under his head. I darted alarmed glances at him and
then back to the road repeatedly.

“What…… What are you doing?”

“I thought that would have been obvious. I’m
going to get some sleep.”

I glanced at his reclining form truly
alarmed now.

“But you can’t do that! I might need
you!”

“You’re doing just fine. See you in a bit.”
He said setting his hat over top of his face.

Hours later I was beginning to feel more
comfortable about driving. I had even felt relaxed enough to loosen
my grip on the wheel some. I tried using just one hand like Talaric
did, but that wasn’t for me quite yet.

I had even kept from waking my snoring
companion on several occasions, but I was going to wake him soon.
The little mile marker thing showed that the hundred miles was
almost up and I had seen some road junction signs a while back. As
if seeming to read my mind Talaric sat up.

He didn’t say anything and I was just about
to ask him if he could resume driving, when he exclaimed loudly
pointing into one of the rear view mirrors, “Didn’t you see that
kid! I think you flattened him!”

“What!!!” I screamed as I slammed both feet
down onto the brake pedal.

The vehicle swerved right and then left
before it came to an abrupt seat belt jarring stop. My eyes
frantically searched the rear view mirror, but I couldn’t see
anything behind us. And then of all things I heard laughing.

I glanced at Talaric. He was literally
shaking with suppressed laughter and then he broke out into loud
guffaws and I realized the dirty trick he’d just played on me.

My temper boiled over and I swatted him hard
on the arm. I might as well have been a house cat swatting away at
a lion for all the effect I had, which only frustrated me further.
I jammed the gear thing into park and got out of the vehicle.
Slamming the door hard behind me I stormed off a few feet breathing
hard in a mixture of remembered fright and the heat of my own
anger.

Talaric’s arms came around me and I
struggled halfheartedly for a moment and then stopped.

“That was uncalled for! You should be
ashamed of yourself!” I huffed out.

“Uncalled for huh?” Came his words from
somewhere near my right ear.

“Yes!” I affirmed strongly.

“Well since we’re on the subject of things
that were uncalled for how about we review over some of the pranks
of the past few days. Let me start with yesterday morning. I dumped
most of my uneaten bowl of oatmeal on the ground, because you said
you’d seen a green tree snake slither into it. Further study
revealed it to be a green bean with a lima bean stuck to the one
end of it. It was artfully placed in the bowl too I might add. And
then there was this morning when I shoved my foot into my boot,
only to find that it had been filled up with water. Whether that
one was you or Rafael I’m not sure yet.”

I gave a small spurt of laughter, “That was
Rafael.”

“But you watched him do it didn’t you?” I
nodded my head in confession to my complicity.

There was a pause and then he said, “I do
apologize for scaring you like that, but I’m still glad that I did
it.”

“That doesn’t sound like an apology to me!
Why are you still glad?” I asked curiously.

He turned me in his arms and in the evening
shadows I saw his eyes were lit up like blue fire.

“Because I got to see how beautiful you are
when you’re mad and all riled up.”

Then he kissed me hard and passionately. I
melted against him loving the passion and desire that I knew he
felt for me.

Abruptly he stepped back out of arms reach
and somewhat dazed I heard him say, “Last one to the car is the
driver!”

He was gone in a flash headed back toward
the passenger side of the SUV.

The rat!

He would pay for this big time! I relaxed
and had to smile realizing how nice it was to have someone to kid
and play around with. Someone that I could be myself with. Talaric
was a blessing that I thanked God for every day.

I opened my eyes, as a repetitive noise
penetrated the foggy realm of sleep that I had been enjoying. What
was that noise?

I blinked, as the morning sun brought the
waves crashing to shore directly in front of me into sharp focus.
Talaric had said that we would reach our destination in the
morning.

We were sitting on a beach!

The lapping water of the waves was nearly up
to the SUVs front tires!

I got out of the SUV and stepped onto the
wet sand in search of Talaric. He was rummaging through a bag on
the sand. He pulled out a rubbery object and a small cylinder that
probably contained a gas of some kind.

“Good morning Evangelina.” He said not even
bothering to look up, as his fingers remained busy sorting through
a maze of steel cable and other tackle.

“Good morning.” I responded somewhat
absently in return.

What was he doing?

“Talaric why are we sitting on a beach?”

He looked up smiling mysteriously, “It’s a
good spot.”

“A good spot for what?” I pressed.

“A pick up.” He said mysteriously and then
he started inflating the rubbery objects, which turned out to be
huge balloons.

The balloons immediately started lifting up
off the ground taking the slim cable along with them. They floated
at least eighty feet above the beach in the slight sea breeze.

They were fastened by a series of slim
cables to all four sides of the top rack of the SUV. I didn’t know
what to make of it. Talaric looked highly pleased with himself and
I wasn’t quite sure why.

“What do you think?”

“What’s it all for?”

He winked and said, “You’ll see!”

I didn’t like the sound of that.

“Get back in.” He said motioning to my door
and I obeyed.

When we were both seated he leaned across
and buckled me in with another suggestive wink. He turned to Rafael
in the backseat and shook him awake. Rafael sat up sleepy eyed and
Talaric directed him to put his seatbelt on too. Satisfied, Talaric
turned back around and put his own on.

Looking in the rearview mirror he glanced at
Rafael and said, “Wouldn’t have wanted you to miss this buddy.”

Talaric glanced at his watch and turned to
face forward gripping the steering wheel. I looked at the ocean in
front of us.

The Apostle Peter had walked on water. Was
Talaric going to attempt to drive over it?

My head slammed into the back of my seat and
we were suddenly hurtling up into the air. I shut my eyes and
screamed dimly aware of Rafael screaming and once again of Talaric
laughing.

I had been in an elevator a couple of times
in my life, which was the closest feeling to describing what I was
experiencing, only this was a thousand times worse.

Talaric was patting my hand and saying
something, “It’s okay. Calm down honey.”

Calm down!

How?

“What’s happening?” I screamed back.

He pulled the sunroof cover open and
motioned for me to look upward and I did. My mouth fell open, as I
saw the rusty fuselage of an old crate of a plane above us. The
cables suspended between the balloons were hooked on the nose of
the plane.

I glanced back to Talaric, “Are you
crazy!”

“Sometimes.” He acknowledged grinning.

“Like now!” He said reaching up with both
hands and slamming the sunroof glass so hard that the whole window
popped out of the SUV and was gone in an instant.

Undoing his seatbelt he waited for a moment.
Something that looked like a small harpoon shot through the open
sunroof and lodged itself into the dash. I pressed back into my
seat in fear. What was happening?

Talaric pulled something from the backseat
and then shouting to be heard over the sound of rushing wind asked,
“Do you trust me?”

I nodded.

“Put this on.”

He gave me a harness contraption and
awkwardly I wiggled into it in the confined room of my seat space,
as Talaric did the same. Talaric reached out and snapped several
clips on my harness to the thin cable attached to the harpoon
lodged in the dash. He pulled me out of my seat.

“I’ll bring Rafael with me.”

Before I had a chance to say anything he
lifted me up and pushed me out of the top of the SUV. The wind
caught me and blew me upwards and back along the line that led to
the back of the plane.

My hair whipped around my face and the deep
blue of the ocean glinted beneath me. I was scared, actually I was
petrified, but I could still appreciate the beauty of the ocean and
the crisp clean sky I was rocketing through somehow. Suddenly the
back of the plane loomed alarmingly close and I feared that I would
smash off of it at any second.

A huge black hand flashed out and grabbed a
hold of my harness and dragged me into the back of the plane. Hands
unhooked me from the cable and I was led to a bench, which I
gratefully sank down upon. The bench felt solid. I needed solid
right now.