Alien Chronicles 2 - The Crimson Claw (26 page)

Across the empire, his enemies and critics alike would see the strength and harshness of the Kaa. He would be feared, as was proper.

No matter how much Temondahl might moan, the Kaa knew he had done the right thing. Malraaket, city of old history, city of merchants with provincial ways, was indeed doomed—as it deserved to be for allowing Israi to get hurt. And as the citizens of Malraaket fell tonight into the hands of the army, which would loot, burn, and destroy anything it wanted, let them be thankful, he thought, that they had been spared at all.

CHAPTER
•ELEVEN

Ampris awakened in a strange place of sterile gray, a place of indistinct light and muted sounds. A steady humming from equipment surrounded her. She tried to lift her head, but it weighed too much. Weakly she let it fall back.

Someone came to her, a shadowy figure draped in a gray smock. Not until it leaned over her to adjust placement of the monitor clip in her ear did Ampris see that her attendant was a female Aaroun with pale beige-colored fur and a V of dark brown shading her throat.

“Awake?” the female whispered, her voice so low and soft Ampris could barely hear it. “Any pain?”

Ampris stirred, restless and groggy. “Not much.”

“You are healing quickly,” the Aaroun told her with a gentle smile. She rubbed Ampris between her ears, and the caress was comforting. “The medics are pleased with your progress.”

Ampris tried to remember what had happened, but couldn’t. “What is this place? Who—”

“Hush. You must stay quiet and rest. You will heal better if you allow the machines to do their work. If you cause trouble, the guards will return and you will have to wear your restraint collar.”

Ampris tilted her head just enough to look at the rectangular block of metal fastened across her midsection. It was the source of the humming she’d heard. And now she could feel a strange sensation crawling through her stomach, not unpleasant but odd.

“What happened?”

The Aaroun nurse smiled. “You won a great victory,” she said. “In the season finale of the gladiatorial games. People have been yelling your name in the streets. Many made fortunes on you.”

Ampris smiled back drowsily. “Did you?”

The Aaroun’s long-lashed eyes dropped modestly. “I am of the abiru. I am not permitted to place bets.”

“But you did,” Ampris said astutely.

The Aaroun’s eyes flashed up, gleaming, then lowered again. She said nothing, but satisfaction radiated from her while she retucked the blankets over Ampris’s feet. “I have three cubs,” she said with pride, her gaze flicking to the far side of the ward where a cluster of medics stood talking. “Now all will have enough food this winter. All will have warm clothing. My mate will not have to work the dangerous third shift the rest of this year.”

Memory returned to Ampris. She backed her ears in sudden distress, making something beep above her head.

“Hush,” the nurse said soothingly, bending over her again. “Hush. You are safe. You are healing well.”

“I killed my teammate,” Ampris said. Tears filled her eyes, blurring her vision, but she could not lift her hands to wipe them away. Puzzled, she tugged harder, and this time saw the restraint cables fastening her wrists to the sides of her bed.

She growled.

“Hush,” the nurse said, again glancing over at the medics. “They’ll sedate and collar you if you cause trouble. That’s why you’re so groggy now. They’ve pumped you full of chemicals to keep you unconscious.”

Ampris had her emotions back under control now. She met the concerned eyes of the nurse and saw no hostility there, only kind concern and decency.

“Thank you,” she whispered. “I’m thirsty.”

The nurse nodded and vanished for a time. When she returned, the medics had left the ward. All was quiet and still except for the moaning of another patient several beds away.

“Here,” the nurse said, lifting her head so that she could drink. “Very small sips.”

The water was tepid, with a harsh chemical taste, but Ampris drank all she was allowed. When the nurse eased her down, Ampris gazed up at her and forced her voice to stay steady.

“Have I been sold?”

The nurse’s eyes widened. “No, of course not. You’re famous now. You should see the tributes that have been sent here for you. Packages of all kinds, torn-up wager tickets, fruit offerings, flowers, and oh, I cannot remember half of it. None of those things are allowed in here, but your servant comes every day to collect them.”

“Am I back on Fariance?” Ampris asked in confusion.

“No. You haven’t been cleared for travel yet. When you are dismissed from this facility, you will be collected by your trainer and taken back to where you belong.”

“I want to see Elrabin,” Ampris said. She was beginning to feel better, more alert. “Is he here?”

The nurse smiled and shook her head. “That one. He’s a sly fellow, isn’t he? The things he will say. He isn’t allowed to visit you, but he hangs around the nurses’ station and flirts with everyone. He comes only in the mornings. Of course, the medics won’t let him stay here long. They send him away as soon as they know he’s in the facility, but he comes back again the next day.”

Ampris felt confused. “He’s allowed to come by himself? Where are the guards? Where is Master Halehl?”

“You’re getting tired. You’d better rest,” the nurse said.

“Is it morning now? Will he come soon?”

“It’s late afternoon. The medic on call will be making his rounds soon. If you pretend to be asleep, I’ll reset your vital signs on the scanner to match. Then he won’t order another sedative for you that you don’t really need. As long as you’re not in pain, there’s no need for you to be kept unconscious.”

Gratefully, Ampris said, “You’re very kind. Why are you helping me?”

“Told you. You helped me by winning in a big way. It’s the least I can do. Besides . . .” The nurse paused, staring down at Ampris. “We Aarouns should help each other. You’re of the Heva clan, aren’t you?”

“I—” Ampris hesitated, not sure what to say. Embarrassment flooded her, but at last she spoke the truth. “I don’t know. I was taken too young from my mother.”

“I think you are,” the nurse said with sympathy, tilting her head as she scrutinized Ampris. “It’s in the shape of your eyes and that golden tint to your fur. And of course you’re beautifully proportioned. All the Heva are quite handsome.”

Modesty made Ampris unsure of what to say to such compliments, but at the same time she smiled eagerly at the nurse. “Are you of the Heva clan?”

“No. I have the blood in me, from my father’s side, but I am descended from the Firze clan. We carry our ancestry through our mothers, we Aarouns do.”

Ampris could not believe her luck. At long last, after a lifetime of searching, she had found someone who could answer her questions. “What is your name?”

“Fula.”

Ampris’s smile widened. “I am pleased to make friends with you, Fula. Your kindness means a great deal to me.”

“Kindness is our responsibility toward all strangers,” Fula said softly, but she looked pleased. “It is the Aaroun way.”

Ampris didn’t explain that Fula was the first Aaroun she’d ever met who’d said so. Dozens of questions crowded her brain. “There is so much about our race that I want to know.”

Fula chuckled. “Why, all Aarouns know—”

“I don’t. I don’t know anything except a few names of our legendary leaders and—”

“We can’t talk about them,” Fula said, flattening her ears warily. She looked around the ward to make sure no one was listening. “That is forbidden.”

“But you know them,” Ampris said, refusing in her delight to heed caution. “You know their names.”

“Of course. But you have to rest now. You’re getting too excited, and the medic will know.”

“Zimbarl,” Ampris whispered, her voice very soft.

Fula nodded, pretending to look exasperated. “And Nithlived,” she said, equally softly. “Satisfied?”

“Will you tell me the old stories?” Ampris asked eagerly. “Will you teach me the songs that mothers are supposed to teach their daughters?”

Fula’s eyes softened. For a moment Ampris thought she saw pity glisten in them. Again Fula’s hand rubbed her between her ears.

“You poor
erizana,”
she whispered.

“
Erizana?”
Ampris asked eagerly. “What does that mean?”

“It means beloved girl-cub and last of litter.” Fula backed her ears, struggling for a clear translation. “The last born. When a female Aaroun knows she will bear no more cubs, she turns a special affection on the one born to her last of all. It is not the same affection shown to the firstborn of all her cubs. We have different words for all these things.”

“How do you know so much?” Ampris asked her, drinking in every word. “Who taught you? Your mother?”

“Yes. She lives here still, in the same tenement as my mate and I. She has the healing arts, which she taught me. Now she teaches them to my
erizana,
my last-born daughter.”

“I wish I could meet her,” Ampris said wistfully, feeling a longing for all that she had lost when she was taken from her mother at birth. “I wish I could meet all your family.”

“So do I, Ampris,” Fula said with kindness. “But that is impossible. You belong to the Blues. You are not permitted the freedom we common workers know. Even your Elrabin comes and goes wearing a surveillance strap on his arm. It is a shame for you to live this way.”

Ampris backed her ears. She did not want to be pitied. “Someday, all the abiru folk will be able to come and go as we please,” she said.

“Is that your dream?” Fula asked. “It is a good dream, Ampris. Freedom is something to be cherished. But it will not come for you and me.”

Ampris didn’t want to hear such pessimism in Fula’s voice. “It might,” she said stubbornly.

“Perhaps. My dream is for my daughter to become a medic. Such aspirations are not allowed now. But perhaps by the time she is grown, the regulations will be loosened. That is my dream,” Fula said. “Small steps taken over long years.”

She bent down and briefly allowed her fingers to skim across the surface of Ampris’s Eye of Clarity. “I have told my mother of this necklace you wear. She says you are blessed to have it.”

“Yes,” Ampris said quietly. “I think I am.”

“Now you will rest. I can hear the medic coming.”

Because of the restraint cables, Ampris could not reach out to grip Fula’s hand. She lifted her head instead. “Will you come again tomorrow? Will you talk to me some more about the ways of our people?”

“Better than that,” Fula said. Again she glanced about warily, then stepped closer. “If you promise to be very, very careful with it, I will record a data crystal for you. With the old tellings and perhaps with some of the prayer songs of my clan.”

Gratitude swelled inside Ampris. Her eyes widened, and she thought she might burst with joy. “Oh, Fula—”

“Hush now. Hush. Say no more of it, for it is forbidden.”

“I understand,” Ampris said quickly, knowing the risks involved.

“You will not betray us, for you are one of the good in this life,” Fula said. “But take care.”

“I will. I promise no one will ever trace it back to you.”

“Then it will be arranged,” Fula said. “If your servant is trustworthy, I will give it to him. Here in the ward, you have no place of concealment.”

“Perfect,” Ampris said. She could not believe her luck.

Fula gave her a brisk nod and turned away.

“Thank you,” Ampris called after her.

But the medic was coming in, a tall Viis male in a smock embroidered with his family crest. Following him came an abiru attendant who would do the actual procedures on any abiru patients who needed them.

Fula flicked her ears, showing that she heard, but she hurried away from Ampris without looking back.

In the following days, Ampris rarely saw Fula. Or if she did, there never seemed to be an opportunity to speak privately. When Ampris was released from the clinic, one of the subtrainers came to collect her, along with several burly Toth bodyguards and Elrabin. Bustled swiftly into the closed cargo hold of a transport to avoid the hovering news-cams, Ampris had no chance to tell the Aaroun nurse goodbye.

They went straight to the spaceport, shuttled up to a ship, and departed for Fariance.

Ampris was shut away in a cargo cabin under tight security, with the smelly, brutish Toths on constant guard for her protection. She noticed that the ship’s crew came by frequently on various pretexts. Sometimes other passengers wandered past her cabin. All were sent away, but Ampris could hear their voices outside her door.

“A big celebrity you be now,” Elrabin told her proudly. Grinning, he used his hands to slick back his ears, then blew on his fingers in admiration.

“Stop it,” Ampris said, uncomfortable with her new status. “I ruined our team—”

“No, you stop it,” he broke in sharply. “None of that, Goldie. Ylea went rogue, and you did what you had to do. Master Halehl ain’t blaming you. No one’s blaming you. So don’t waste time blaming yourself.”

She told herself he was right, but she still felt guilty. “Ylea was driven to it,” she said. “Will I go mad, like her, eventually?”

Elrabin rubbed his muzzle. “Don’t think so. It was all the conditioning they did on her that got to her. You know, the collar—”

“I know,” Ampris said, fingering her own.

“Hey,” Elrabin said, tugging at one of her ears. “You’re wearing Lord Galard’s cartouche now. Pretty, ain’t it?”

She backed her ears. “I’m team leader.”

“It’s a sweet spot to be,” he said eagerly. “Wait till you see your new quarters. Word is, they’re being redone just for you. Ylea’s tastes were bizarre, see? Nothing you’d like.”

Ampris was glad the quarters were being changed. She wanted no reminders of her dead teammate.

“Hey,” he said again, to get her attention. “I’ll tell you something about old Ylea that you don’t know. She wouldn’t fight when she first became a Blue. They bought her for her size, see? But she didn’t have it in her. Omtat says she’d been brought up free—”

“Free!” Ampris said in astonishment. “Impossible. All Aarouns are born slaves.”