Discovery (Hybrid Book 1) (9 page)

Once Roseanne was on her stomach, Chesara went through the procedure with her.

“I’m going to put my hands on your back. Gradually you’ll feel some tingling, and then maybe a little pain as the nerves link back up. Remember this has got to be a ‘miracle.’ You mustn’t tell anyone I did this or I’ll be in major trouble, agreed?”

“Hell, I’ll be ecstatic if it’s the worse pain I’ve ever had, anything’s better than numb.”

Closing her eyes, Chesara swiftly shut out the surrounding room, and the masculine groans from the bar, the loud crashing had ceased. Placing her hands on Roseanne’s spine, she quickly moved along it until she found the break. Two vertebrae had been dislocated, and the spinal nerve had been partially torn, the rest crushed. Firstly, she realigned the spine, muttering ‘sorry’ to her patient. Then she encouraged the ends of the severed portion to knit together, before healing the crushed elements. Sending her thoughts up and down the neural pathways, she made sure that the prolonged period of non-use wouldn’t affect function.

Once the injury was healed, Chesara swiftly checked the rest of Roseanne, and removed a minor tumour that had started to grow in her left lung.

A
s they had travelled along the track that was as familiar to Tenset as the back of his hand, he contemplated what the hell he was doing. At least she was going along with this willingly so far, and he had his fingers crossed that she would continue to do so. Even before he’d met her he’d been distinctly uneasy about this scheme.

Rather than being repulsed by the hybrid’s not quite human appearance, as he had feared he would be, her exotic beauty and the combination of naivety and boldness was particularly attractive. Chesara was a fascinating creature and it was becoming increasingly crucial to him that she agree to the plan of her own free will. Although she’d be staying whether she liked it or not, the thought of hurting or scaring her was making his gut churn faster by the second.

The other women he’d seduced on his Uncle’s orders had always been confident individuals, looking to use him as much as he was using them. He didn’t think Chesara had ever used anyone in her life, but they needed her, the whole planet needed her. She’d probably hate him for what he was going to do to her, but he vowed to himself that he’d make her stay as pleasant as possible. But it might all be a moot point if the rumours of her abilities had been exaggerated. Hence the stop at the Bull’s Head.

He certainly couldn’t think of anyone more deserving of a healing than poor Roseanne, and if it took him getting a battering to give the hybrid the time to do her thing, if she could actually do it, the price was well worth it.

After all, it wasn’t as if they were actually going to the palace tonight, it was at least two hours journey away on the other side of the shuttle port. Tongues would certainly have wagged if he’d turned up with a cut lip or a black eye.

He just hoped Tamas’ plan would work. Having an armed to the teeth federation cruiser in orbit above him while he messed with their prized asset made him distinctly nervous. He’d willingly sacrifice himself for the cause, but if it all went wrong, the Federation could take it out on the entire population. Ordinary Kalzirians were already suffering thanks to the ruling family’s obsession with courting politicians from light years away, who had probably never even heard of Kalzir.

Personally, Tenset didn’t give a shit about intergalactic politics. What he cared about was getting a better standard of living for his people, and those in charge at the moment didn’t give a shit about doing anything but lining their own pockets. The stories about what had happened to Teora haunted him, going up against a Federation backed government in outright rebellion was suicide, but subterfuge might well work.

His resolve re-established, Tenset watched Roseanne’s father ushered Chesara into the back, and he turned his attention back to the distinctly hostile room in front of him. Keeping them occupied while Chesara did her ‘thing,’ if she could, was a far pleasanter option than considering politics and his Uncles endless scheming.

“I suggest that anyone not wanting a piece of me should leave now,” he said with a smile.

Several men got up and left, some whispering ‘good luck’ or ‘give him one for me’ to the other men. A group of four off-duty members of his mansion staff sat in a corner, and he indicated with a flick of his head that they should leave too. None of them appeared particularly happy, but only one stopped by him instead of following his order.

“I don’t like leaving you like this; you could get a few splinters here.” Tenset grinned at his old friend Melton.

“Don’t worry. This lot only want a little fun, don’t you boys?” he called out to his gathering opponents.

The ‘boys’ didn’t answer, just waited to see if Tenset would be alone.

“If I’m not back in two hours old friend, come and find me. Take the driver with you.”

“You sure? Lord Tamas will have my guts for garters if you get badly hurt. I know you can hold your own boy, but if you’re all busted up, who’s going to charm the ladies at court?”

“Why Melton, I suppose you’ll have to fall into the breach. I’m sure the Palace floozies will appreciate a little variety, now get lost will you?” Tenset nodded towards the door. Melton made his way out with a shake of his head, and Tenset heard him call out to the carriage driver before going to the corral to get their saddle mounts.

Tenset grinned at the remaining four men in the room and made a ‘come on’ gesture. All of them looked happy to oblige. As they came towards him, he grabbed a cue from the rack behind him and whipped it around behind the man on the left’s legs, spilling him to the floor. Roseanne’s younger brother received the butt of the cue in his gut.

“Still want to play boys?” Tenset taunted the two who remained on their feet. Roseanne’s older brother was smaller than Tenset, but he knew him to be a tricky, dirty fighter. The last man, Ox, lived up to his nickname. Huge and slow, he wasn’t a threat as long as he didn’t connect with anything vital.

He taken out the biggest threat with the first sweep of his cue, the downed man who was now getting to his feet was a known brawler. He’d been kicked out of the military for putting several officers in hospital, single handed. It appeared that he didn’t like authority figures, and a ‘dressed to impress,’ Lord certainly fit that description. Hence him staying around even though he didn’t have a particular connection with Roseanne.

Big brother Ed nodded to Ox, and lunged towards Tenset with a small blade that’d been hidden in his palm. Tenset caught his wrist squeezing hard. Putting his right hand on his shoulder, he used the man’s own momentum to pull him forward. He hadn’t counted on weapons being involved. The blade ended up in Ox’s shoulder, and he just stared at it in disbelief. A punch to Ed’s nose caused a spurt of blood. That should keep those two occupied for a while, thought Tenset, but he didn’t get much respite.

Little brother Hef, back on his feet after the cue in the gut, charged from the other side, wrapping his hands around Tenset’s throat. He grabbed the man’s little finger and pulled, snapping it. The hands left his throat as Hef cradled his broken digit.

Tenset
oofed
as Ed’s foot landed in his gut. He went down, breaking the table behind him. His arm came up just in time to defend himself from the descending cue wielded by Ox. He hoped the cracking noise was just the cue breaking, but the pain in his arm said otherwise. It appeared that these guys were a little more pissed off with him than he’d assumed.

As Ox leaned down to pull him upright for more punishment, he grabbed a broken table leg and whacked the burly man across the temple. Tenset rolled to the side as the man fell to the floor beside him, completely out of it. One down, three to go.

Just as he rolled to his feet, he saw the blur of a heavy military style boot driving directly towards his crotch. He grabbed it with both hands, wincing at the pain in his forearm, and twisted the foot so hard that its owner flipped over. Tenset followed up with a kick of his own to the man’s temple, he immediately went limp.

Just the two brothers were now left. The younger was nursing a broken finger, and the older had a bloody nose. They both looked a hell of a lot better than Tenset felt. Ed attempted a side kick which Tenset dodged, but he missed the vicious backhand from Hef. It whipped his head sideways on impact. The second kick from Ed connected with his gut. He doubled over, and Hef caught him with a cue behind the knees.

Ended up on his back in the remains of the table hadn’t been part of the plan, nor had being beaten this badly. With significant surprise, Tenset started to consider the fact that he might not get out of this one. All the scheming in the world, the plans of planetary domination, and he was going die in a bar room brawl at the hands of the family of a girl he’d wronged. If he didn’t hurt so much, he’d laugh at the poetic justice.

Hef raised the cue again as Ed thoughtfully place another hard kick in Tenset’s side. His vison started to fade as the pain exploded and he lost the ability to breathe.

“That’s enough,” came a calm voice from the direction of the bar. “I’ll not risk losing my other children to prison for the sake of the scum who crippled my daughter.” The brothers looked down at him as gasped like a dying fish on the floor, and Hef put the cue down.

Tenset heard footsteps, and then he was wrenched upright by his upper arms. He found himself staring into the face of Roseanne’s father as he was held in place by her brothers.

“Go get your fancy woman, and leave. Never. Bother. My family. Again.” He punctuated each word with a hard poke in Tenset’s chest.

Tenset nodded and half staggered towards the back of the bar when Hef and Ed released him. Finding Rosanne’s room, he turned the key and let himself in. Roseanne was lying on her back and Chesara was standing behind her, her eyes closed hands on her back.

Then Roseanne’s foot twitched. She looked at her limb in amazement, then she glance at him. “I can feel it, I can really feel it.”

As both shifted slightly, all of the strength seemed to leave his, and he collapsed to his knees beside Roseanne. Tears started to fall from the pretty blue eyes he knew so well.

Tenset looked up at Chesara, not quite believing what he was seeing. Yes, his uncle had told him she had the ability to heal, but this... his own eyes filled as the reality of what she had done hit him. Roseanne had a life again.

“Pull your knees up, Roseanne.” Chesara instructed firmly.

Tenset was about to protest at the way Chesara was pushing Roseanne, but his childhood friend gasped as her legs obeyed her.

C
hesara had nearly gasped when she’d opened her eyes when she heard a body fall in the room. Tenset looked as if twenty men had used him as a punching bag, but the hope shining in his eyes meant that seeing Roseanne fully healed was probably what he needed far more than attention to his own injuries at the moment. This was why he’d endured what looked like a severe beating.

“Now we’re going to sit you up, ready?” Both Roseanne and Tenset nodded, and after Tenset had staggered to his feet, and they pulled her into a sitting position, swinging her legs of the side of the bed. Tenset was definitely favouring one arm. She made a note to make it a priority.

“Now stand up, come on you can do it,” she encouraged, her patient let out a shocked laugh as her  legs held her for the first time in what seemed like forever.

More for Tenset’s benefit than Roseanne’s Chesara reinforced the ‘miracle’ explanation.

“Praise be to the Gods and Goddesses, they heard you Rosanne, they healed you, look Tenset her legs work again.”

“Prayer did this?” Tenset raised his eyebrows. At a sharp nudge from Chesara, Roseanne remembered the deal.

“Yes, it did, she persuaded me to give it one more go, and it worked, Praise be!” Roseanne announced and took a step. Chesara steadied her on one side and Tenset was on the other, but he looked in far more need than Roseanne did at the moment.

As they helped Roseanne out into the bar area, and into the arms of her amazed family, Chesara hissed at Tenset.

“What the hell happened? It looks as a tornado came through here.”

Tenset started to shrug, winced and stopped the movement.

“Just clearing up a few differences, no big deal.”

Chesara blessed him with a ‘men’ look.

She moved to the two bodies on the floor and made sure the concussions were healed. The big man’s stab wound was only a deep scratch by the time she’d finished.

“I think they’re ok, they just need to sleep it off.” She took a step back as two more men enfolded her between them.

“Thank you so much. Whatever you did, it brought our sister’s life back to her. If there’s anything, anything we can ever do.”

Every member of the family had tears rolling down their faces, and a quick glance showed Tenset also wiping at his face. As they hugged her, she started the healing process on some of their injuries, including the broken finger of the youngest man. The wounds weren’t gone, that’d be too suspicious, but she’d reduced the healing time by about two thirds.

After Tenset finally managed to extract her from their embrace, they started to profusely apologise for their violent behaviour to him. After he’d promised to visit again soon, he finally managed to extract her from the building.

“You Kalzirians are a passionate bunch.” Her comment produce a wide grin on his bruised and bloody face.

“You have no idea sweetheart. Hang on a minute I forgot my waistcoat. Hop in and I’ll be right back.”

He opened the carriage door for her, and headed back towards the inn.

“Witch!”  An enraged male voice roared. The carriage jerked forward as a horse screamed. Chesara flung the door open trying to see what was happening.

“I told you to stay put,” rasped Tenset from where he was leaning up against the inn door.

She was about to tell him not to talk to her like that, when she saw the body at his feet, and a large, rapidly growing, dark stain on his white shirt. She was out of the carriage and beside him in a moment as healer mode took over.