Defiance (Rise of the Iliri Book 3) (30 page)

Chapter 33

"Ilija Vayu, Colonel, sir," came the reply, "and I brought the rest of your pack." 

They all muttered a welcome, but none climbed to their feet.  Ilija entered the firelight, carrying a bundle of white fur in his arms, and Hwa trotted along beside him. 

"Mry pups?"  Roo asked from Ilija's chest.

"They're doing great, Roo," Sal told her.  "Razor and Zep have them, and they're sleeping.  How are you, little one?"

Ilija set her down, gently holding her as she found her balance.  "Alive," she whuffed, sounding exhausted.

Arctic peeled himself from the ground.  "Here," he said, squatting beside her to offer his hand.  "I heard this is easier."

Roo's tongue lolled from her mouth as she smiled at her new packmate.  Reaching up with her paw, she grasped his hand for a moment.  Their eyes went out of focus, and the Black Blades felt something warm caress their minds. 

I need to feed the pups,
Roo said, her voice clear to them all. 

"C'mere, Roo," Zep called over, patting the blankets he sat on.  "The ground isn't as cold."

She staggered over, and Shift quietly followed.  When the little bitch lay gently on the blankets, Zep handed her the pup.  Roo held it to her chest, the quiet growls telling Sal it was Rhyx that nursed first.

"Roo," Shift said.  "You're better, but you're not all the way better.  Can I finish the job?"

She looked up, her eyes wide.
Was that you before?

He shook his head. "Nah, that was Risk.  He does some amazing things, but we all know what it's like.  I heal like a grauori.  Will you let me?"

Roo nodded, and Shift held out his hand, waiting for her to take it.  Zep shifted closer, bracing Roo while the pup nursed and Shift put her back together.

"So, you all do it?" Ilija asked, moving beside Sal and Jase.

She looked up at him.  "The healing or the mental conversations?"

The large man just sighed and sank to the ground beside her.  "Tell me if I'm out of line, Kaisae, but you aren't really hiding it.  I mean all of it.  I figure this is something I should probably know about."

Jase agreed.  "Yeh, prolly so."

Before Sal could answer, Arctic moved to stand before him, making Ilija look up.  Arctic's icy eyes bore into Ilija's brown for a long moment.  "LT?"

Sal, do you trust this man?
Blaec asked.

She nodded.  Ilija looked between them, well aware that a conversation was going on that he couldn't hear.  With the decision made, Arctic reached out his hand toward Ilija as if offering to shake.  The Colonel didn't hesitate to accept.

"Relax," Arctic said, "and whatever you do, don't fight me.  That's me you feel in there, just let it happen."

Ilija's eyes had gone wide, and his mouth hung open.  He nodded, looking at something only he could see.  Many of the Blades smiled in sympathy.

"Can you feel that, Ilija?" Arctic asked.

"Yeah..." the soldier whispered.

"Can you grab it?  With your mind, grab it, and hold it.  Hold it tight.  Tell me when you have it."

"It's slippery," Ilija said.

"You can hold it, though," Zep called from across the small camp.  "Dig your teeth and nails into it, man.  You won't hurt it.  Hold it like a grauori would."

Sal had never seen this before.  Arctic stood calmly, his posture non-threatening, but he refused to move until Ilija took whatever it was he offered.  She watched the human's face snarl like an iliri's as he struggled until, with a whimpered groan, he nodded.

"You sure?" Arctic asked.  "Hold it tightly.  You sure you have it?"

Ilija nodded again, and Arctic smiled.  Like sandpaper against the back of her eyes, Sal felt it.  Around the camp, men rubbed at their faces, a few of them cringing.  Audgan leaned his head between his knees, and Jase took a deep breath – and then the feeling was gone.

Welcome to the link, Ilija,
Arctic said, grinning.

You can pull humans into a link?
Hwa thought.

Yeah,
Zep said,
that's how I got in here.

"Wha?" Ilija looked around, confused.  "Uh, is... am I?"

Sal giggled.  "You can't be completely shocked, man.  Yes, that's the link.  Both Arctic and Roo can hold it, although I'm not sure exactly how.  Shift heals, as does Risk, although in different ways.  Trust me, if you aren't dying, go for Shift."

The Blades all laughed, and Roo nodded.

"So do you all have a trick like that?"

"Yeh," Jase told him.  "It is na something all powerful, but it can be useful at times."

"And the grauori do this?"

Yes,
Hwa replied. 

Ilija looked at the male strangely.  "It's somewhat strange to not hear the accent, but I know that's Hwa."

"Yeah," Sal told him.  "It's a lot easier for us to talk like that."

"I put you in the link for a reason, though," Arctic told him.  "I'm not sure if the grauori have enough experience with human minds to do it, and it looks like we'll be fighting with them.  In your position, you'll need to hear them and understand them.   You'll need to touch the linkers – we need direct contact to establish a link with a human, or those without enough of the right breeding."

Sal chuckled a bit at that.  "You even had to touch me, Arctic."

"Yeh, well that's because of me and not you, demon.  I've learned, but I don't have near the power of Roo."

"So," Ilija asked, "how do I use it?"

Sal pointed across the camp.  "Zep?  That's probably easiest for you to answer?"

"Yeh.  Man, it's easy.  Just think like you wish I could hear it, and I will.  You can hit either the full group – although that takes a bit of practice to get right – or a single person."

LIKE THIS?
Ilija screamed into their heads, and the outfit all winced.

"Yeh, but na so much," Jase told him. 

Ok?  So like this?
Ilija tried again.

"Oh yeah," Shift said, "That's better.  You could wake the dead the first time.  This one's pretty good.  Sal, how'd you find him, anyways?"

She chuckled and looked over to Ilija.  "He tried to stand up to me.  Once."

The men all laughed.  "What'd ya do, demon, threaten to cut his balls off?" Shift asked.

Jase and Sal shared a look, and Ilija's dark skin paled.  "How'd you know?" he asked.

Shift just winked at the big man.  "She's predictable."

He let that go.  "Ok, so you heal, you can talk in your heads, and Jase, I know you did something to that border guard.  Is that the limit of the tricks?"

"No," Arctic said, sitting beside Jase and Sal.  "Let's see, we have shape changing, item location, touch reading, limited future knowledge, irrational fear, and whatever it is that Geo does."

"You still don't know?" Sal asked, glancing over at the new Blade.

"They haven't been able to figure it out yet, Lieutenant," Geo said.

I can help,
Hwa offered, standing up and weaving between the seated men to reach Geo's side. 
Here, touch. 
He held out his paw.

Without flinching, Geo clasped it, completely at ease with the grauori.

"Ya know," Ilija said while the pair was silently staring at each other, "my men try, but they aren't completely comfortable with them.  They either treat them like monsters or pets.  But, all of you just seem to, I dunno, accept them, I guess.  I thought you'd never seen grauori back in the Conglomerate?"

"It's the smell," the pale guy, Audgan, said.

"What?" Ilija sounded lost.

Audgan just shrugged, so Razor explained.  "I'm more human than most of them, so it's not as strong to me.  Imagine something that looked like you walking right up and smelling like it was made of candy.  Sweet, sticky, and unnatural.  Then imagine a beast that walked up and smelled like a pretty girl.  Which one would you feel safer around?"

"Candy?  Yeah, that'd probably creep me out."

"Well, that's what humans smell like to us, kinda."  Razor shrugged.  "Seems to be worse for some than others."  He nodded at Sal.

"I don't think humans sense smell as well as we do?" Sal asked Zep across the fire. 

"Nah, nothing like you.  Sight, sound, smell, even hearing, it's all pretty different."

"How do you know this?" Ilija asked.

Zep chuckled.  "It's another trick of the link."

Hwa's broke in. 
Kaisae, you got a rare gift in this one.

"Not me, Hwa, that's Blaec."

Blaec waved it away.  "You have them well trained at least.  So you can tell what it is, Hwa?"

Yeah.  He's a friender.

"Maast, really?" Jase asked, impressed.  "LT, that means Geo can convince people they've allus known him.  Ya thought Sal was useful?  Once Geo learns ta use this, there's yer spy."

Ya, he can be the officer or the best friend, and people will remember knowing him for years, making him safe to talk to.  We don't see this much in the grauori, and it's not very well trusted.  Often seen in loners.

"Yeah, but which comes first?" Sal asked, gesturing to Roo and the pups.  "The loner, or the distrust.  From what I've seen, the grauori have some strange ideas of proper."

Good point.

"So how do I use it?" Geo sounded thrilled.

"Can he turn it off?" Blaec asked.  "Or is it that once he's made a friend, they always believe they know him?"

He should be able to release it.  Just like with the form shift, it'll take concentration to maintain the idea.

"Try it," Jase said.  "Sal and I have been gone long 'nough.  See if ya can convince one a us."

Geo nodded, staring at them.  Hwa sat beside him, gesturing and nodding as if talking, and Sal knew he was directing the man in the use of his talent.  The two of them kept their discussion private, though.  Sal caught Geo's eye, aware of the embarrassed look on his face.  She figured it was because they didn't know each other well yet.  She'd left shortly after the new recruits had been chosen, but she remembered his trials.  He'd gone out of his way to be noticed, and while Audgan had been shy, Geo had always been a bit flamboyant.  She remembered how he'd stumbled upon her one night and gone out of his way to introduce himself.  Ever since they'd been close friends, Sal respecting him for his tenacity.  Even back then, she'd thought he was so attractive, and as he went through the training, she found herself secretly wishing they were more than just friends.  She knew that she'd chosen Jase as her Ahnor, but maybe she should make Geo her Dernor, and not Blaec.  Geo was strong, he was charming, and he was cunning.  She was the Kaisae.  All she needed to do was claim him, and none of them would stop her.

Across the fire, Geo smiled at her, and Sal smiled back.  Why hadn't she done this before?  She stood and crossed the campsite to claim her new mate.  With a strange smile, Geo waited.  He said nothing, his teal eyes meeting hers as his hand rose to her cheek.  Behind her, Jase growled as her lips met his, but this wasn't Jase's choice. 

Geo's kiss was clumsy but passionate.  If he pleased her well enough, she would...

Suddenly, with her mouth pressed to his, she remembered that she barely knew this man.  Sal bit – hard – her teeth slicing into his tongue and lip.  He tried to pull away, but not before Sal's hand grabbed his throat.  With a push, she dropped him onto the ground.

"That's a very dangerous way to get a kiss," she snarled, her knee in his chest.

"Yes, Kaisae," he said, his head turned to the side submissively, "Sae umso, Kaisae.  But I figured if I could do that then it would be proof it worked.  Sae umso," he gasped under her.

"Let him up, kitten," Jase told her.

She snarled at Geo again.  He flinched, expecting the worst.  The blood trickling from his lip proved why.

"Lieutenant," Blaec commanded, "let him up.  He was under orders."

Sal released her hold begrudgingly.  With her lips pulled back, she snarled, "Nas gern suma!"