Ki Book One (2 page)

He latched his hands on her shoulders,
bringing his face close enough to hers that she could see the
whites of his eyes.

Screaming, she tried to push him away, as
she did, she let go of the device.

With her hand no longer touching the smooth
surface of the stone, its effects ceased. With no warning, the blue
shimmer holding her aloft disappeared.

She was ready for it, he was not.

They fell to the ground roughly, but she was
the first to jump to her feet. Pushing her shoulder into him, she
scrabbled forward, latched onto the device, and darted away from
him.

“
Come back here,” he roared.

So he could drag her in front of the Ashkan
Guards and she could wait for her execution? That was not going to
happen.

The Others would probably find her first
anyway. And that would be a fate far worse than death.

Shivering, she forced her body to run,
commanding her legs to move as fast as they could. Though she was
still heavy with fatigue and that numb feeling still ate at her
bones, desperation pushed her forward.

She could hear him right behind her.

In unfamiliar territory she knew she had
little chance of escape, but her chances out there would be better
than staying with this man.

So she ran, up the incline she’d fallen
into, and out into the hay field. It took her less than a second to
assess her route, but she never stopped flinging herself
forward.

She could hear him behind her, she could
almost feel him. His anger terrified her; she could sense it with
the kind of acuity few of her kind possessed. It felt like a tidal
wave centimeters from her back, ready to drag her under.

Fright digging into her gut, she knew he was
about to pounce.

With the scrabbling sound of boots on dirt,
he slammed into her back, his arms wrapping around her middle and
pulling her to the ground.

She struggled, but in her state there was no
way she could fend him off.

He hauled her around by her shoulders, his
face close enough that she could see each of his bared teeth.
“You’re not getting away.”

“
Get off me,” she tried to lunge her knee
up and kick him, but he squeezed her shoulders so hard her body
crumpled against the pressure.

“
You Tarkans have finally broken the cease
fire. Well, you’re not getting my family first.”

She stared up into his face; there was
nowhere else to look. With his hands fast around her middle, she
could hardly move
. “We
haven’t broken the cease fire. This isn’t an attack. Now let me go
before they find me.”

She shouldn’t have added that last bit;
his expression crumpled like a screwed up piece of
paper
. “They are going
to find you; I’m going to tell them where you are. I’m going to
drag you back to my house and then I’m going to call the Army. You
Tarkans are all the same.”

He dug his fingers into her shoulders as
he yanked her to her feet
. “Tell your story to the Army.” He pushed her in the back,
still with one arm locked over her elbow.

She stumbled, but with his grip on her arm
she couldn’t fall. “Listen to me. You have no idea who’s after me.
Just let me tell my story.”

“
Shut up. You Tarkans all lie.”

“
And you Ashkans are brutish.”

He pushed her harder, his elbow pressing
viciously into the small of her back.

“
Thank you for proving my point,” she
controlled her voice, though the pain spreading down from his grip
felt like the stab of a blade.

“
Is this some kind of test drive? Are you
the pilot of some kind of prototype weapon?” he asked, voice too
loud considering he was right by her ear.

“
I’m not a weapon,” she turned to face him,
even though she had to put even more pressure against his grip. If
his fingers latched on any harder, they’d press through her flesh
like a knife through butter. “This wasn’t some kind of test
drive.”

“
Then how did you fall from the sky? I’ve
been around a long time, Tarkan, I’ve never seen anything but rain
and Tarkan bombs fall from the sky. You’re lying.” He had a thick,
nasal, accent, yet it still reverberated with a deep baritone. As
he pushed her forward, he had her arm locked against his chest, and
she could feel the vibrations from his voice shake through
it.

“
You have no idea what you are dealing
with. Let me go. You take me to your Army and it won’t do a thing.
They’ll still come for me. Just don’t get involved.”

“
I’m already involved. You fell in my
family field, and unluckily for you, I fought in the last war.
You’re not going anywhere.”

As he pushed her forward, she tripped with
every step. He might have been wearing thick boots, but her feet
were bare. She had nothing but the toe rings and anklets of the
priestess class, and they offered no protection against the scratch
of the dry hay and the dryer ground below.

“
Listen to me, please, we don’t have much
time,” she begged.

It was useless though; it elicited nothing
but a contemptuous laugh.

She was going to get nowhere reasoning with
this man. She was ready to tell him the truth, but he wasn’t ready
to listen.

Which meant he would have to face the
consequences.

Drawing quiet, submitting to the fact she
could not reach him, she stared around the field. She could see a
house in the distance, simple but large enough for a family. No
doubt he would take her there, as promised, tie her up and call the
authorities.

He would not be able to keep her for
long.

The Others would come.

Holding onto the device, her hand still
completely concealed by her long sleeve, she tried to transfer as
much heat from her palm into the crystal as she could, but she was
still far too cold. The fall had sapped what energy she had, and it
would take days to replenish what she needed to activate the
lattice-like machine.

She would not have days. She would have
hours. The Others would have seen the explosion and would have sent
their scouts after her by now.

“
Suddenly you’re silent. Before you
couldn’t stop talking. What are you hiding, Tarkan?”

She breathed hard through her nose,
frustration building. It was one thing to have this man attack her,
it was another to put up with his attitude. She’d had precious
little to do with the Ashkans up until today. She’d tried not to
buy into the propaganda. As a priestess, she’d kept an open mind.
But this Ashkan was proving all the stereotypes right. Rude and
arrogant, unwilling to negotiate, he embodied every story she’d
ever heard of his kind.

“
You Tarkans think you can take our
resources, steal our land, murder our people. It stops today.” He
pushed her in the back again. “I’m not going to let you kill my
family.”

“
I am a priestess. I think you know a lot
more about killing than I do,” she broke her silence, even gazed up
at him as she did. She wanted to see his reaction.

His lip twitched up. “Priestess. I know a
lie when I hear one.”

“
Do you think I am a soldier? Does that
make more sense? Is it easier to believe? Does it make you feel
better for attacking me and herding me like an animal?”

“
Shut up,” he hardened his grip once
more.

“
Thank you for proving my point
again
.” She
should not have been baiting the man. She should have stopped
speaking the second she’d realized he would never help her.
Aggravating him would achieve nothing but a badly bruised
arm.

“
You Tarkans are arrogant and brutal,” his
breath buffeted against her neck, pushing her loose hair over her
shoulder. It seemed he was incapable of speaking at a normal
volume; every word was a shout and rang in her ears.

Pulling her head to the side as far as she
could, she tried to concentrate on her footsteps through the uneven
field. “Arrogant and brutal? This is coming from the man who has me
by the arm so hard it’s clear he wants to break it. And as for
arrogance, you won’t listen to a word I say, does that fit with
your definition of the term?”

“
The Army will find out what you’re doing
here. They are going to stop your weapon.”

“
The Others will take me before your Army
arrives. And what do you think you will tell them anyway? That a
woman fell out of the sky and landed in your field? They’ll fire on
you for wasting their time.”

She could hear him grind his
teeth
. “They’ll believe
me. You’re wrong; I’m not some simple farmer. I’m a science officer
with the Royal Academy. They’ll trust me.”

“
I never said you were a simple farmer,”
her voice dipped low and petered out to a whisper.

“
Surprised? Do you think every Ashkan is a
dumb grunt?”

She tried to ignore his words. It was
clear he was
attempting
to goad her. She could not allow him to distract her
though.

Tipping her head up, she scanned the sky.
The Others would come in their ships. Flying ships.

“
What are you doing? Looking for a rescue?
Nothing’s coming. You’re in Ashkan territory now, and we aren’t
going to let you go without a fight.”

“
Then be prepared to fight the Zeneethians.
My people won’t come for me; they don’t care.” She rubbed at the
device in her hand, her thumb moving faster and faster as she said
their name.

The Zeneethians. The builders and true
owners of the device she held. A legendary race, she’d once
believed they were nothing more than a myth. Then she’d had the
misfortune to meet them.

A raiding party had kidnapped her from her
monastery. As long as she lived, she would never stop dreaming of
that day. The scent of their particle weapons and the hum of their
engines would haunt her forever.

“
They’re a story. Stop trying to lie to me,
Tarkan.”

“
My name is
Ki
,” she snapped. “Us Tarkans do have names. Remember that
when you condemn me back into slavery.” She tripped forward, but he
pulled her up before she could fall to the ground. She saw his face
as he did. That look of cold anger he had worn since he’d grabbed
her wavered.

“
You’re still a Tarkan,” his voice dipped
lower, and the punch of rage that usually filled it faltered. “And
you killed my fiancée.”

“
Really, the priestess clan killed your
fiancée? We often interrupt morning prayers for some light murder
before lunch.” She should not have said it; his face stiffened and
a hiss escaped his tightly pressed lips. Yet she could not help
herself. His violence and arrogance were undermining what little
control she’d managed to wield over her fatigued body and
mind.

“
You’re a priestess, ha? Where the hell is
your empathy? You Tarkans all take glee in another’s misfortune.
You obviously relish death. You are no priestess,” he moved closer
to her as he said that, his voice becoming darker.

“
And you are no scientist,” she spat back.
“Where’s your curiosity? I’ve just told you the Zeneethians exist,
and all you can do is twist my arm harder. Tell me, do you honestly
think the Tarkans have the technology to accomplish what you’ve
seen here today?”

His hand jolted, the fingers around her arm
suddenly loosening.

She took the opportunity. Yanking her arm
free, she tried to push into him and knock him off balance.

He reacted too quickly. Catching her
around her back, he locked her against his hip. “Stop
struggling.”

She brought up her hands to push him
away.

She shouldn’t have.

She revealed the device still clutched in
her left hand.

“
I said stop—” he began.

His eyes darted towards the device.

She tried to pull away. The fear she had so
successfully controlled until now burst its banks. Shuddering
forward, her throat closed up. Skin slicking with sweat, her
heartbeat shook through her.

“
What’s this?” suspicion rumpled his brow,
his dark brown eyes widening.

“
No, no, no,” she closed her fingers over
the device as tight as she could, but he managed to pry them
back.

“
You’ve been trying to keep this from me.
What is this?”

“
No! You can’t take it. It’s all I have. I
won’t be able to get away without it. Please, don’t let them take
me back,” her voice was little more than a croak.

The memories she had been holding back
resurfaced. Her escape. The fall. She’d pushed them back for now,
trying to control her emotions as the priestess clan taught. Now it
was impossible. If she lost the device, she would never escape the
Zeneethians again.

His expression vacillated. The fury he’d
been directing at her loosened along with the tension in his jaw
and shoulders. “What are you talking about?”

“
The Zeneethians...” as soon as she
mentioned their name again, her emotions soared. It was a mark of
every Tarkan priestess that they could control their feelings even
in situations of utmost stress. Yet all those years of meditation
and prayer could not save her now. That word alone was enough to
undermine her completely.