Blood of Denebria (Star Sojourner Book 4) (14 page)

Wolfie stood up. His bony face and light, scraggly hair were rimmed in moonlight. He laid down his rifle and faced me.

“Hey, Bubba,” Bat said softly, “I've got a pill in my little black bag over there that'll take the edge off.”

“You got one that will give the lone wolf over there some compassion?” I said. “Do you people
know
what happened to the Denebs?”

Chancey got up, walked between me and Wolfie, and silently stood there, pushing sand with the toe of his boot.

I rubbed a trembling hand over my wet eyes. “There was a kid crying for his mother, and – “

“My Jules Terran friend.” Huff walked over to me.

“She…that monstrosity –“ I felt my throat tighten and couldn't finish.

Huff wrapped his massive forearms gently around me and I leaned my head against him. “Huff. She ripped him apart.” I began to sob.

He nodded and guided me to the wall and pulled me down to sit beside him.

“There was nothing I could do.” I leaned against his furry side. “Oh God!”

He stroked my hair with his big paw. “I know your liver aches with the stuff from the Deneb minds, my Jules friend, but you found the thing we came for. My people would say 'He is of worthy stock'.”

I curled against him as sobs shook my shoulders. He held me as though I were a child.

Wolfie sat down again and Chancey returned to sit by Joe.

The tears stopped and I felt drained. I looked up. “Wolfie?”

He turned from staring out of the hollow.

“I'm sorry.” I sighed out a breath. “It was uncalled for.”

“You reached your limit, tag,” Wolfie said quietly. “Nothing to be sorry for.” He turned back to stare outside.

How well was the Northwestern Denebrian village guarded by BEMs, I wondered, since those worthless Deneb traitors harbored our stolen SPS, and probably the BEM's SPS too.

I stared at the ragged parchment of scribbled stars through the entrance until I closed my eyes and fell asleep against Huff's warm, furry side.

* * *

“Jules.”

I opened my eyes. “What?”

Joe had my arm. “We have to travel by night. C'mon. You can sleep in the travois if you need to.”

“No. I'm all right. Give it to Huff.”

Huff helped me to my feet. The horses had been saddled, including Asil. The team waited for me.

“I didn't mean to fall asleep,” I said and rubbed my eyes. “The horses need water.” I peered outside. “Are the BEMs still searching for us?”

“Not around here,” Chancey said.

Huff limped to the travois, dragging his squeaky wheels, and laid down with a sigh.

I lifted my collar against the cold night air, led Asil out of the hollow, and mounted.

“Spread out,” Joe ordered. “We'll be harder to spot that way. Chancey, who had the compass, pointed us northwest.

“Jules,” Joe said. “Ride with me for a while.”

Uh oh,
I thought.
Catching
hell time because I didn't leave the BEM killing field when he ordered me to.
I rode up alongside him. “Yeah, boss?”

He was silent for a while as we rode together.

I kept looking for that tightness in his jaw and grim countenance that meant I was in deep shit. I didn't see it.

“What you did back there…,” he started.

“What'd I do?”

“Finding out where the BEMs are hiding the SPS from Deneb forays.”

I released a breath. “Oh. That.”

He nodded. “You might have prevented an invasion of Denebria by the BEMs.”

“I hope so, Joe. I really do. I hate war more than I can put into words.”

He nodded. “Most military men do. If and when we manage to contact Alpha, I'm putting you in for the Worlds Alliance Congressional Medal of Honor.”

“Wow,” I whispered.

“I know you'll probably throw the medal in with the rest of your stuff and never wear it. But there's a cash award too that you can use any way you want to.”

“I'm honored, Joe. One thing.”

“Now what?”

I bit my lip. “If I don't make it, I want Lisa to have the medal, and the cash award in a trust fund.”

Joe smiled. “I thought you might. You understand that the whole team is doing their damnedest to keep you alive? We need you when we hit the Northwestern Village and go looking for the SPS.”

I grinned. “I'll do my best to stay alive.”

“That'll be a refreshing turn of events. Come here.” He waved me closer.

I moved Asil close to his rangy chestnut and hoped he wasn't about to kiss me. “What?”

He slapped my left cheek hard. “That's for never taking orders seriously. Next time you disobey my orders, it'll be my fist.”

I held my hand to my cheek. “Dammit, Joe. You could've at least hit my
right
cheek.”

“This'll make more of an impression. Now move your horse away. We have to spread out.”

“Yeah. Thanks much!”

We rode through the night, and encountered no BEM ground or air craft. I think they were too busy rounding up Denebs who had fled the death camp to bother with the seven of us.

I watched fingers of morning light spread across the dunes and was grateful for the early sun that brought some warmth.

Reika found a small pool that flowed from a fountain of water through a fissure in boulders. With Bat on first watch on a high dune, we watered the horses, then filled our canteens and the sous chef's storage compartment. The water had a slightly bitter taste. We didn't know what plant life it had picked up, so we took digestall pills.

“Huff,” I said and uncapped a pain-healing pill from Doc's container. “Time for our pills.” I swallowed mine.

Huff stopped searching for insects under rocks. “Thank you.” He sat back, fished around in his pouch and took out the container.

Yellow desert birds circled and cawed overhead as we ate a breakfast of ham, eggs, muffins and hot coffee.

I felt sandy and grimy. With warming air, I stripped down, tied my towel around my waist, and washed in the pool. I even shaved and brushed my teeth in cold, running water. Then I scrubbed my clothes with some more of the precious liquid soap, squeezed them out tight, and laid them on boulders. In the desert air, it would only be a matter of hours before they were bone dry.

The others decided it was a good idea and followed suit.

I used my sweater to wash down Asil and hobbled him by a grassy knoll, then scrubbed my sweater and flattened it on a rock.

Reika had two towels wrapped around her body. Sexy, that. The tags, except for Huff, and Joe, who was firmly committed to his wife, Abby, kept glancing her way. I was a bit irritated by all the attention she was getting, especially Chancey, who had turned on the charm like an open faucet. His bulging biceps glistened with water, so black there was a sheen of blue in the highlights. The tight wet towel around his loins did little to hide the shape of his butt. And Reika seemed interested.

Damn him!

I tied the towel tighter around my waist and splashed cold water on my chest and arms for effect, but I shivered as I strolled toward them. Reika was leaning back against the curve of a boulder, her breasts high under the towel.

As I approached, Chancey put an arm out on the boulder in a protective gesture.

“Your clothes are dry, Chancey,” I said. “You must be cold. Why don't you go climb into them like a good tag?”

Reika raked my body with her gaze and smiled demurely.

“Why don't you go pick fleas off the fur ball?” Chancey said.

Reika chuckled.

“Reika,” I said, “how about we go for a stroll in this nice cool morning air?”

She lifted away from the boulder. Chancey backed a step.

“OK, babes,” she said.

Chancey glared at me. As he walked by, he grabbed my chin and shook it hard. “Because you're just so fucking adorable!” he said between teeth.

I was about to knock his hand aside, especially since it hurt my left cheek, but I hesitated. The gesture could have provoked a fight. “That's right,” I said instead. “And don't forget it.”

He mumbled something about white bread as he walked by.

I took Reika's hand and smiled. I knew she liked it when I smiled.

We found a secluded grove where the stream from the overflowing pool was surrounded by weedy grass. I untied my towel and laid it on dry ground, then folded my arms around Reika's back. She lifted to tiptoe as I pulled her closer and kissed her. Her hands moving across my back were arousing. I untied the towel from her breasts and let it drop. I am always surprised at the curves of a woman's naked body. It draws a man in a siren call.

“Did I ever tell you you're beautiful?” I whispered in her ear and nibbled on it. I felt her shiver as I ran my hands across her breasts and over her hips.

“Not enough times,” she said.

“Maybe not. Well, you're beautiful.” I kissed her neck, her shoulders, her breasts.

“Oh, babes. I've had men before, but what you do to me with just a look and a smile is sinful.” She took a handful of my hair and drew my head down to her and kissed my lips hard. “I want to climb inside you.”

I undid the towel around her waist and let it fall. “That's nice, because I'm thinking the same thing.”

She laid down on the spread towels, smiled and lifted her arms to me. Her dark, slanted eyes and full, round cherry lips held the promise of a flight to heaven.

I eased myself down on top of her, my body ready to fill her. “Reika,” I whispered, “I want to lose myself inside you.”

She lifted a leg and rubbed it against my hip. “I'm yours for the taking, babes.”

I cupped her buttock and pressed her against me. I was hard now, and very ready. I pressed my penis between her legs.

She rubbed her hands over my wet biceps and I tightened them. I felt her shiver as I entered her. I lifted on elbows and licked her breast. She held my head there, cupped between her palms, and I sucked her right breast. She cried out and lifted her legs around my hips.

I moaned and began to thrust into her.

“Oh, God, Jules!” She arched her back and pushed against me.

“Reika.” I breathed her name and rolled her on top of me. “You're sweeter than honey juice.” The curve of her hips, her full buttocks under my hands, brought on an orgasm that I couldn't hold back. I rolled her under me and moved hard into her. “Reika,” I gasped. “I can't wait!”

“Neither can I.” She clung to me and responded with spasming muscles of her vagina that held me tight as I slammed into her. The world around me disappeared as those waves of ecstasy lifted me to another sphere. I hung there for an endless moment, then dropped back down to Earth.

Reika was breathing hard beneath me, her nails sharp in my back. “Jesus and Vishnu,” I whispered. “We're going to kill each other one of these days.”

“Oh, Jules!”

“What?”

“I'm coming again.”

“Oh. OK.” I let her roll on top of me and I responded to her thrusts. She cried out, lifted off my chest and arched her back. I fondled her breasts as she came. She fell across me and I held her and kissed her cheek, her eyes. She sighed and relaxed against me.

“Are you through with me, woman?” I asked.

She gasped in a breath. “For now.”

We washed in the layer of water that spread across the sand and grass and tied on our towels again.

I draped my arm across her shoulders as we walked back to camp. “You going to make me a cup of coffee, girl?” I asked.

She pinched my buttock through the towel and put her arm around my waist. “Be nice to Chancey, OK? I think he's really annoyed at both of us.”

“Yeah, well, tough cookies.”

The team was breaking camp. The horses were already saddled and the remnants of breakfast were gone. Hidden somewhere, I thought, in case a BEM craft happened by. Chancey slid down on his butt from his watch at the crest of a dune, with the graphoculars around his neck, as Reika and I dressed. We washed the towels and spread them across our horses' hindquarters to dry.”

“That's some clothesline,” Bat said and grinned.

“I hope you tags were having fun,” Chancey said as he strode by, “while the rest of us were working!”

I strolled over to him. “Truce, Chance?”

“Easy for you to say.”

“OK.” I started back toward Asil.

“Jules.”

I turned.

He smirked and put out his hand.

I took it and grinned.

“You know what I had to
do
up there besides keeping watch?”

“Whoa!” I pulled my hand away, turned and tiptoed back to Asil. “That's OK, Chance,” I called back. “What happens on the crest stays on the crest.”

We passed a small native community of perhaps twenty Denebs. A family? Their shelters were wide tents. Women cooked on smoking spits directly over fires. Naked children ran and played in the hot sand. Born to it, I guess. The men were erecting another tent, lashing material to poles. Others tended the horses.

Bat rode up beside me. “Desert nomads,” he said and grinned. “Not a bad way to live. Probably travel from one oasis to anther and gather up the roots and berries that grow there.”

“Not a bad way of life, Bat, unless these small nomadic family groups are the source of the slaves the Villagers gather for the BEMs.”

“Been thinking the same thing. The sooner we find that SPS an' call up Alpha, the sooner this misery's gonna end.”

* * *

I was riding point when I saw a caravan approaching from the west. I lifted the graphoculars and focused. A line of perhaps twenty mounted Denebrians, their horses dragging covered travois, snaked between two hills of ochre sand. I couldn't make out the details of the riders' faces, but they were Denebrians, dressed in long, white tunics, sleeveless cloaks, and headcloths that flowed to their shoulders. I trained the graphoculars on a group of thirty or so Denebs, wearing coveralls and straw hats, who walked behind the horses. Roothe's soldiers disguised as slaves? Or captured Denebs being taken to the BEM butcher shop by Northwestern villagers?

“Joe,” I said as I cantered up to him and reined in. “There's a caravan approaching.” I pointed west. “Could be General Roothe and his men. Could be the traitors with new slaves from other villages.”

Joe shifted in the saddle and squinted west.