Bloodbreeders: Seeking Others (28 page)

“This you could have given me when I sent our men back to her house with a few of the supplies from their list. I will toss this overboard.”

“Maybe I’ll go when we take back the rest of what they wanted when we go back that way…
maybe
.”

It was a hard concept to understand for the most part. The weak not surviving, when even the weak were extremely evil themselves and lost because the other guy was bigger. I didn’t think any of us would be feeling sorry for any of the beings that would be having disagreements, or whatever it was that they had. I wasn’t very comfortable taking the two moon clan men with us in their beast form, but Jacob said it would be more convincing and would serve us well if things took a turn for the worse.

Garvin and Sydney brought up two of the men and the first thing that they did was drop to their knees and elbows when they saw Shyanna. She walked a few steps then hopped up to them. She looked back at me, then reached down and touched one of the men’s long, black hair and started purring up a storm. She squatted down as he came up to his hands. Her long, black hair fell forward and draped the ground by his fingertips. She lifted it up and handed it to the man, who took it and placed it on his bowing forehead. She grabbed a handful of his, pulling him forward and rubbed his hair all over her face.

“Me’s papa, yes?”

“She thinks he’s her father,” Sydney laughed.

“She is from our blood line,” the man said lowering his head back to the floor.

“Get to your feet,” Jacob ordered and both men stood without hesitation.

“Would you ever harm her people?” I asked stepping up behind Shyanna. They didn’t answer me, they just looked at Jacob.

“You may answer her as if she were speaking for me.”

“We would die for her and we are her people,” the one said that she was playing with.

“I’m her mother, are you my people as well?”

Both men looked down at Shyanna, then back at me. I called her to me and when she got to me I kissed her on the forehead. She smiled up at me and said, “Loves, Me’om.”  I told her that I loved her too, and then she hopped over and started playing with the fringe on the Indian man’s pants. He put his hand on the top of her head then looked back at me, then went down on his knees with the other man following. They stood again and the one stepped up.

“You are the wind on her wings and mother to all.”

“Then you are free, but I ask a great service of you,” I said glancing over at Jacob, then right back at the men. “Would you honor us with keeping her, as well as the rest of us, safe?”

“We have feared the pale ones, until she took to the sky,” he replied. “It would be the greatest of honors to be the ones to protect the prophecy.”

“What about your word as men? If we are attacked will you fight with us?” Jacob asked, walking around me and Shyanna to look them in the eye.

“You have a great power. I feel your pull even from the bottom of this ship. I think you would know if my words were not true. I…Koi, am proud to become clansmen with your tribe.” Then he held out his hand.

“Then you are welcome,” Jacob replied taking his hand.

“I am, Fala. I too give you my hand, as well as my life.” Then he held out his hand also, and the moment Jacob took it he went to his knee.

Jacob had Garvin bring the other two men up and they felt the same way. It seemed that Shyanna had gained us four fur covered allies. With most of our normals gone they would be a big help in our hours of rest, helping once they learned a few things about the ship. Mongwau and Nita, the other two men from below, were taken to the three normals that worked the ship when we slept so that they could learn as much about the functions as they could, while Fala and Koi, showed us how they changed from one form then back to the other. It was the one time that Derek came out on the deck and stood with the rest of us. The sight was nothing new, but the sound of their bones popping and sliding
around was something I didn’t think I could ever get used to. Shyanna took to the sky, while Johnny ran behind Derek’s legs. I saw Derek rub his head then move his hand as soon as he saw me looking. I would have sworn he would have refused their coming anywhere with us after what happened to our Brandon.

The night was coming to an end and most of the group went inside, all but the four that we had made an arrangement with. They chose to sleep in the very cells that we took them out of. The two that were going to be leaving
with us the following night were told to get some rest, while the other two stayed up with the ships small crew. Jacob and I waited as we always did for the day to pull us under. He in his chair, and me curled on the bed with Johnny in my arms.

“You really must be careful with your eyes and ears once we reach the land that is run by Annanothra,” Jacob said, leaning back.

“If there’s no one there worth saving, then you have no worries.”

“I fear you will not think, and step up before you realize that the one being hurt is just as bad as the one hurting him.”

“Am I really that bad?” I asked, bringing my head up off the pillow.

“You are,” he replied, raising his head to see me better.

“Well, if you see me stepping out of line just pop me in the back of the head,” I laughed then laid my head back down and closed my eyes.

Jacob made a grunting sound then fell silent.

The next thing I knew I was opening my eyes to the following evening, and two Indians standing at the foot of my bed. Koi got down on one knee then stood back up. “She has taken to the sky and will not come back down.” I put my hand on my forehead and smiled, then rolled Johnny’s stiff, little body off of my arm and sat up.

“Shya loves fruit. Just grab an apple and some grapes and she’ll come to ya,” I said as I slid off the side of the bed. “Really glad you boys knew how to get in here without frying us.”

“Your workers have taught us well, but they were not in agreement with us coming
to you,” Koi said, glancing back at the closed door.

“Then how’d you get in?”

“He growled,” Fala answered looking down, moving his foot.

“They ran and we closed the outer door and came in,” Koi said now looking down as well.

“We’ll explain things to them,” I snickered. “I don’t think they’ve been around your kind too often.”

“We will tend to the winged one now.”

“I call her, Shya,” I called out as they were about to close the door to our sleeping area. “It may help if you use her name and stop calling her, the winged one.”

They looked at each other and then bowed toward me as they closed the door. Seconds later I heard the main door close. They were now dressed in a pair of the black pants that we all wore, but no one could get them to wear the shirts, even with it being as cold as it was. I knew the cold was nothing to us and it seemed not to bother them, why I couldn’t say, but getting them into anything other than the pants was next to impossible. I heard them call out her name a few minutes later, and then heard her cries for the fruit. It wasn’t long until I heard them laughing and yelling out in their native language, at what I was guessing was Shyanna shooting back up into the sky.

“She is having a good time with them,” Jacob said causing me to jump, which made him laugh.

“They were standing at the foot of this bed when I woke up.”

“How did they get in?”

“They growled at the other workers,” I said, then burst out laughing.

“I think maybe we should explain the rules a bit more,” he replied, laughing right along with me. “Good we still have our workers.”

“They do have a mean sound. If he would have growled at me, I may have jumped ship.”

Everyone moved with a great amount of speed as the ship moved closer to the shores
of Gardiners Island. Jacob, Cates, Garvin, and Sydney, took the small boat in while the rest of us stayed on the ship. Derek kept watch for their return as the girls and I got our weapons in order, and went over the plans of what they were going to be doing while we made our way to Water’s Mill. The girls and remaining crew were going to take the ship back out, making their way around the cove that we came around and move back south, picking us up close to the bays opening that went into Water’s Mill, giving us a closer escape.

Tammy and Jessie were upset about staying on the ship, but Jacob and Cates, were too worried about them being sought out by other male breeders that would be seeking a mate. Where I was concerned, Jacob explained that it was easier for five or more to claim one female and back others away, but if a group had more than one, a trade would be offered followed by a fight usually held to the death. Tanda had become accustomed to staying with Johnny and Shyanna when she wasn’t with us, and gladly had nothing to say about staying on the ship again. I was braiding Shyanna a collar when Derek stepped through the door.

“They’re coming back and there’s another boat following them.”

“Have Koi, and Fala, change. I’ll be out with Shya in a minute,” I said tying the ends in a knot.

Derek left and I called Shyanna to me. As soon as I placed the makeshift collar around her neck she started pulling at it shaking her head, looking at me with her eyes twice their normal size. “It’s pretty. Look, me’om is going to wear one to.” Then I picked up two pieces of material and twisted them together and wrapped them around my throat.

“That is gorgeous, Renee,” Tammy said smiling at me.

“Want one? Here let me make you one,” I replied, making her one just like mine.

Shyanna watched as I wrapped it around Tammy’s neck, and her labored breathing calmed. She hopped over to the table and stroked her black talon finger tips over the braided collar, then turned her head up at me and smiled, as she began to purr. I placed my hand on the top of her head and picked up the collar. I lifted her hair and slid it around her neck tying a double knot, in hopes that she wouldn’t pull it off again.

“Oh, aren’t you just beautiful,” Tammy said, clapping her hands together.

“You are precious,” I smiled. “This is so you can go with me’om. Want to go with
me’s?”

“Me’s go’s, yes. Flap...” she began.

“No flap. You have to stay by me’om. I put a rope to me’s and you put the rope to you’s. No one gets us’s,” I said trying to speak like she did. I tied the rope around my waist, and then looped it through her collar. “Now, we can go.” For good measure I hopped twice.

She giggled, grabbing the rope and swinging it as she started hopping behind me. Tammy, Jessie and Tanda, started laughing as we made our way out the door. I heard the heavy lock slide across the inside and knew the girls were already taking precautions. Shyanna and I went out onto the deck where my smile was cut short by the look of the men, and possibly one woman, climbing up on our deck. I looked over to the side immediately to see if Derek was there. He was cloaked in his black cape standing in the middle of two huge, dark fur covered creatures that towered him by two feet. Shyanna jumped out in front of me and the three that were already on the deck rushed back to the side where Jacob was helping the one that I felt was the female.

Cates came up behind her holding his hand out. Shyanna became excited and her wings shot out, causing two of the men to jump overboard. The female clapped her hands together and laughed out loud. Jacob turned around and crossed his arms, shaking his head watching with as much amazement as me as Shyanna hopped to woman as she stepped, sliding her back foot out in her direction. I took the few steps leaving room in the rope to see what they were going to do with me staying back. Shyanna tilted her head and allowed the woman to touch her face. Her wings griped her little body showing she was completely comfortable. “Teekie,” the woman said and a smile spread across my face, it was the same thing that her mother had called her. Shyanna started purring and went down in a crouch, taking small hops as the woman pulled her into her arms.

She looked up at me, as Cates pulled the lantern torch off the entrance on the deck that went to the main area. It was in between the steps that went up to the upper deck, where the other two beasts stood in our guard. The female’s forehead was covered in the same greenish purple scales that coated Shyanna’s entire body. One eye was missing to the disease of leprosy, as well as one half of her nose and part of her cheek. The other side of her face was taken by a deformity that I didn’t have a name for. The skin hung so
bad that it draped past her jaw line. She could barely see with the skin stretched over the top of her eye, and she stood with her body leaning the opposite way that she dragged the leg. She was a sight, but with her arms around the child creature that I loved, she was beautiful.

“We need to make way,” Cates said after a few minutes.

“Yeah,” I replied trying not to look at anyone. “Come on babe, we need to go’s.”

The woman leaned Shyanna back, holding her little head in her hands and kissed her on her mouth. “You are so beautiful,” she said with very little slurring, then stepped back and smiled up at me. “You are not so pretty, but it is no fault of your own. We have brought things to make your journey into the world of those who look like me, not so apparent. You would stick out like a sore thumb. The men need only make themselves filthy to look the part, but none would have a mate…well,” she slurred the last word looking me up and down.

“I understand,” I replied pretending to smile at her comment, and then thinking that I probably did look like some horrid creature to her kind. “You have a lot of work.”

“I know,” she said as she moved to the pile of things that her men left on board before they jumped, and I and several others burst out laughing.

Shyanna and I followed her and within thirty minutes we all looked very similar to the ones that came to help us, excluding the missing limbs, fingers, and facial features. The two men had climbed back on board but rarely took their eyes off of Shyanna. Every time she hopped around they backed up. Derek, Fala, and Koi, went up on the upper deck. It was strange seeing Fala and Koi as animals that I wouldn’t actually call,
animals
. They claimed to be wolves, but they looked like a monster out of a nightmare, one that had been had by the most warped of minds. Minds that I would think might come from a hospital for the mentally insane.

One wolf would look at the other and nod, raising one shoulder, doing things like their other forms would naturally do. It was incomprehensible, yet there they stood on hind legs that had little bend. Their feet were much like a dog’s foot, black nails, covered in thick fur. There was little fur on their stomachs. Their hands were different than that of a paw. The claws were much bigger and they were able to make a grip. Other than that, it looked very much the same with thick hair and shaped for running on all fours if needed.
Their heads were the most unbelievable of all and what I caught myself staring at the most. The elongated snout that was filled with teeth just like a canine, only three times the size. When they weren’t angry, like at Chin’s, they were soft looking and you could see little of their teeth unless they yawned. Then you got the whole show which put shivers up your spine.

Derek stood with his hands in his pockets, the hood over his head with the wind blowing the bottom of his cloak around his feet. He looked down at us in that same statuesque way until we were ready to leave the ship. The only color showing on his form was the white of his face. The woman, whose name was Kedel, said he needed no work at all and continued to inspect me. I had a fairly large hump of material on my back and a heavy coat made out of several different layers of cloth that draped over my shoulders. My hair had been taken down and greased, then rolled into a bun at the back of my head. My face was first coated in wax, heavy in some places and lightly in others. Then Kedel plunged both of her hands down into the bucket of dark tar and smeared it all over my face, neck, and as far down my shirt as her arms could reach. I was instructed to walk bent over when we reached the place that she called, Blad Alley. Jacob later explained that ‘blad’ meant
blood
in London’s slang where her people were originally from. I found that to be rather interesting.

I tied Shyanna back around my waist and we were ready, that’s when everyone finished having a good laugh. Tammy and the girls included. They had unlocked the doors and come out to wish us well. I had to admit from what I could tell I had to look pretty silly. I bent over and put on a little show with my side kick chirping it up. It was Johnny who started the laughter back up after everyone had calmed down; asking who the funny lady was with Shyanna. It took everything I had to talk him into believing that I was who I said I was, but he wasn’t having any of it. The gunk on my face gave him his doubt and it was a good sign that Kedel had done a good job. We said our goodbyes and waited our turn to go down the ladder. Tammy took the others back inside and locked the door. It was something that we had decided to do from now on. The guards would have plenty of time to get to the sleeping area if someone or something broke through the first door.

It was mine and Shyanna’s turn to go down the rope and get into the boat. I made her go down first so I wouldn’t have to pull down on the rope and get her excited. About half way down the ship she must have moved, because I felt the ladder swing away from the wall then slammed me back against it. I turned around in time to feel the rope pull taut and Garvin yell, “Hold on!” I ran my arm through the rung and gripped the ladder tight while Shyanna flapped her wings and grabbed at the rope with her hands.

“Shya, stop pulling on the rope and I’ll go to the boat,” I yelled up.

She gave one hard yank and we were both airborne. I screamed until there was no more air in my lungs. I was hanging looking down at everyone that was getting smaller the higher she took me. I was so scared that I couldn’t find the will to flip myself over and grab hold of the rope, and yet too afraid not to. My body dropped and she dove back toward the earth. My stomach ended up in my throat as I found the air to scream again as my arms and legs tried to fly. The rope yanked and my head collided with my knees, knocking me wobbly for a few seconds; long enough to see the others waving their arms and yelling at her to bring me back down. My body started making small bouncing movements as her wings moved up and down, lowering me closer to the two small boats that were dizzily moving around a few yards from the ship.

Shyanna flapped her wings and the rope snapped. I think I made a few sounds, maybe more like whimpers, then grabbed a breath as I hit the water sideways. I went under spinning, wrapping the rope around me. I let myself sink and began untangling myself enough to pull my blade and cut the thing off my waist. I slid my blade back in place and went to push myself up to the surface, when a dark figure crashed in on top of me and yanked me clean out of the water. I had to be ten feet down. Shyanna had me chest to chest with her arm locked tightly around my back. “Me’om’s okay, me’s got’s you’s.”

“Thank you, sweetie. Can you please put me’s in the boat now?”

“Thought I was going to have to get wet for a minute there,” Jacob called out.

“I’m ready to call it a night,” I said looking back…and down. Derek was being pulled back into the boat; it seemed he had gone in after me.

Shyanna lowered us and then gently set me in Cates’ arms. He had taken Tammy’s place and began checking me from head to toe to make sure I wasn’t broken up in places that couldn’t be seen. I got in my own seat, touching my face and cringing at the feel of
the stuff that stayed put and was now slimy.  “No need to worry, you’ll still be wanted by all the men where we’re going.” I’m more than sure that everyone on the ship could hear Cates’ grunt as I planted my elbow firmly in his ribcage.