Lovers in the Woods (4 page)

Rayenne pushed off leaves and loose moss from
her jacket and pants with short, harsh movements.

“It was Felberi’s idea to cross the wood. He
said it would be a shortcut. I wasn’t so certain it was doable.”
She looked up. “Are you?”

“I wouldn’t
dare ride straight east,” Sajitar declared when they got their
B-horses into a slow trot again. He looked back over his shoulder
once more. Even the faintest sounds from the streets were gone. In
a few hours there would be no telling where they had gone and no
Sanjongy member would find them. “We’ll stay at the edge and hope
to avoid people. If that’s okay with you, Officer Whiteclaw.”

She frowned. “My idea exactly.”

He caught his tongue before a brassy reply
came out.

“Do you still have your fabulous
equipment?”

“Parts of them, yes.” She patted the
saddlebags. “My B-horse couldn’t carry all of the things Felberi
had.” Again she turned to scrutinize the way they had come, but
they were alone as they could be with a living wood around them.
“It will be only for a short while. I need to reach the
transmission station.” She looked at him curiously. “What?”

“Does your B-horse have a name?”

“Bunty.”

Sajitar leant forward over the withers.

“Well, Bunty, may I introduce Tessla to you?
Tessla, this is Bunty at your side.”

The mare shook her mane, uninterested in her
master’s speech.

“Okay, play indifferent. But you’ll be with
him for some time. So be nice. You hear me?”

This time, the mare did not even twitch her
ears.

Rayenne patted the gelding’s neck, smiling.
He liked her smile, but looked away when she lifted her gaze.

“He took me lots of miles since I got here.
He’s really in good shape.”

Obviously. He even outran my mare.

“For how long
have you been on Belthraine? Oh, don’t gimme that look. You were
out of breath from the short run.”

Rayenne flinched, but conceded.

“I got here a while ago.”

“A moon phase.”

“Two, in fact. They invited policemen from
other settlements, especially from Helan-Sek II, and some other
forces, too.”

“
Like your family, hmm?” When she did not
reply, he knew he was right. “Some say Belthraine’s such a bad
place it begged for a police force like yours, right? To catch the
bad guys even if they dare leave populated places. Which is, of
course, a crime in itself.”

“
The police division was necessary so the
town wouldn’t be impaired every time a crook left it.”

“
As you please, Ms Officer.” He made a mock
bow, earning a hard look. “But I tell you, some people enjoy making
this area around Belson Park a bad place. I remember different
times. My father and grandfather remember different times, that is.
I was too little to know.”

“
You accuse the large corporations of
bringing in crime.” She nodded, familiar with the subject. “I heard
that before and from other planets and regions, too. But there's a
difference between what the corporations offer and what people are
willing to do. They don’t have to turn into burglars, thieves, or
even murderers.” She looked him in the eye. “How come you ride such
a pretty mare? She’s quite expensive.”

Sajitar pushed away her implied accusation
with a smile.

“It’s a pity
you can’t use one of your pretty gliders around here, hmm? It would
be easier to fly from one place to the other and search crooks from
above, yet in all these years, no scientist has found a way to get
the drives work in this oxygen-laden atmosphere. Quite strange, if
you ask me. The only thing they managed building was that vertical
tube at the spaceport and that, I remember, caused trouble enough
to keep it working.”

“
As far as I know there
are other gases included that cause explosions. And the tube works
excellent
ly. But that’s not the point. Where did you get this
B-horse?”

“My ancestors bought several B-horses once
the cross-breeding had been successful.” He patted the mare’s neck.
“I’m glad they did.”

“Pardon my rudeness, but yours is a
Negov-B-horse, not one of the usual simple country mares farmers
would breed.”

He hid his astonishment about her
knowledge the best he could. “Yes, she’s one of the best. Did you
know that in the beginning the settlers tried to breed pure horses?
They had to change that fast because the horses suffered and died.
Now all of these animals look like horses, but they are a mix of
two to three species, give or take. I think it’s a pity that the
villagers gave up contests of who could tame a true Yali. They were
fun, said my pa. He had some on his ranch.”

Rayenne
remained unruffled. “How can a thief afford such an expensive
Negov?”

Sajitar frowned
and tightened his
hands on the reins. “I’m no thief, and to answer your question, I
won it fair and square.”

“Won it.” Rayenne snorted. “Yeah, I’ll
believe that when it starts snowing on Belthraine.”

He held her in his stare. “It might
happen. And as long as my guilt’s not proven, shouldn’t you assume
I’m innocent?” He urged the mare south, forcing her to follow
him.

“Where are you going? That’s not our
direction.”

“We entered the woods without permission.
That’s not a good idea.”

“
But we’re already in. What are you doing
now?”

He dismounted, feeling her gaze
on his back.
“Put some fruits on the
path.”

“And if the animals of the woods or whoever
take it, it means it’s okay we are here?”

“
More so than not.” Sajitar laid a couple
of small fruits and two hard cookies close to the wide roots of a
tree, then, after a critical look around, mounted again. They rode
on. He felt the presence of a wild, but nevertheless intelligent
being close by. An image consisting of various colors blurring in
the center of trees came to his mind. He gasped from its intensity,
glad to be on horseback. A heartbeat later he had to press his
knees against the saddle to keep from swaying. Closing his eyes, he
tried to make sense of the swirl of colors. He saw wings of orange
and blue, pervaded by light pulsing through it. There were large
bodies with antennae, summoned by a great happening. More beasts
without wings got closer, pressing their bodies against others,
enhancing the lights around them. Their meeting was more important
than any previous meetings and the weight of seriousness stretched
to Sajitar as if he were a part of it. There was tweeting and
chirping and some deep growling, too. Yet, to his chagrin, he did
not understand an iota of its meaning.

“Did you do that before?”

Sajitar shook out of his unbidden trance,
lifted his head and swallowed. Automatically, he reached for his
flagon to drink. The beginning of a headache formed behind his
brow.

Rayenne repeated her question.

“I prefer to be cautious,” he said, catching
his breath.

“But how do you know what you have to do to
soothe them?”

“Let’s say, I got the memo in time.”

“You know much
for a man who’s said to be the right hand of an assassin.”

Sajitar preferred not to answer.

* * * *

Rayenne
surveyed the
surrounding woods carefully, as if the Horlyns were about to attack
them by the hundreds. Conversation had stopped, since they both
relied on their ears to be warned about the dangers around. The
deeper they got into the woods the darker it became, though it was
not even noon. And in this semi-darkness she could make out neither
a route nor animals lurking beneath the large bushes and branches.
She had heard of predators larger than their B-horses. There was no
way to stay on alert throughout the day. She had to nourish the
hope that any beast would prefer evading them over searching them
out.
Unless
they need prey.
Rayenne took a deep breath and tried to think of something
else.

Based on the information police HQ had
provided, Sajitar had spent more than a moon phase in Emerald
Green, though there was no exact time available. From her point of
view, he appeared to be less frightened by the permanent dusk than
she was. The fact made her calmer and, yet, more alert. Whenever
she glanced at him, he was studying the trunks and tree-tops for
reasons she did not understand and dared not ask. It felt odd and
oppressing to ride through a wood that was more alien than any
other she had crossed. In her younger years, when she had still
worked for her father, she had ventured everywhere a space cruiser
had taken her, polishing her family’s reputation and living happily
in the wilderness. Yet that wide-ranging experience had not
prepared her for Belthraine and the thick woods that seemed to tell
visitors to stay away. She got the impression of being watched
permanently. Fear constricted her throat and she wished her partner
were with her.

When at first Felberi had come
up with the idea of a shortcut through the woods she had been
skeptical, but he had sounded so experienced and had described the
trip as easy and their equipment sufficient. She wondered how much
of his talk had been bragging.
Had he wanted to impress me? Had he thought that
being with one of the Whiteclaw family members would make him look
small if he did not dare ride through Emerald Green?
She could not ask
him anymore, and suddenly sadness overflowed her.

I wish I had had a choice.

Chapter
Two

They rode slowly to find the
best path between low hanging branches that tried to claim and pull
them down. Not for the first time, Sajitar thought that all parts
of the woods were living beings that communicated with each other
and told every next standing tree about the strangers, like Chinese
whispers. He would not have been astonished if the branches had
linked like hands to hamper their progress. He wondered where he
got the idea. There were few men he knew who considered all parts
of the woods
sentient. Most of them only saw trees, branches and leaves
that changed color with the season. They looked for money to be
made, but never for the beauty and the vivacity of their
surroundings.

The further they moved, the harder it was
to ride, and finally they had to lead the horses through dense
vegetation. Here, four hours into the heart of Emerald Green, men
rarely ventured, and if they did they came in search of promising
trees to cut. But if men had once been here, all signs of them had
vanished. He did not even see stumps or splintered wood. However,
Sajitar did not feel like a pioneer, but more like an invader in a
domain the beasts would have prohibited entry, if they
could.

“
Let’s head back closer to the road,” he
proposed, urged by sudden unease. “You have to contact HQ, you
said.”

She frowned. “That was before the second
attack. I’m not so sure anymore that there were only four men
around.” She looked down at her gloved hands. “Sanjongy will know
about the stations that possess overhead transmission lines to
Belson Park. If I can avoid running into them again, I will.” And
when he did not answer, she added, “I’m not afraid, just cautious.
My job’s to bring you safely to court to hear your testimony.
There’s only one way to bring Wang down, and that's with as many
witnesses as we can get. Do you understand that?”

“
The choices aren’t great, then. We could
get killed here.”

Rayenne put out her chin, bravery in her
voice. “Or not. After all, it’s just woodland.”

He grinned. “I admit you’re one
tough policeman
—ah, woman. But these woods are not like any other you’ve
ever crossed. I didn’t exaggerate when I said it’s
dangerous.”

“
Still, you’re not riding away
screaming.”

“I tried, but you caught me.”

He watched her beautiful face and wanted
to kiss her. The emotion was like an assault and he denied himself
any reaction. She was afraid, she relied on him, and she pleaded
with her eyes that he would not leave her. The sum of those
feelings made his innards cringe. He had been alone for a long time
and yearned to be with a woman again. Rayenne had only been able to
seduce him at the town’s bar because he was sick of being alone. If
she had not turned out to be a police officer, she would have been
a fine choice. Though he now knew her profession, he wanted to hold
and protect her and tell her that she would be okay with him. At
the same time he wanted to get rid of her and the threat she
posed.

He turned away from her, heart
pounding.
What’s wrong with me? I should have left her and been on my
way!

“I’ve been in the woods sometimes.” He
shrugged, pretending listlessness. “The Horlyns don’t show up in
great numbers and other predators are shyer still. I believe in the
theory that they won’t harm you if you don’t come with the purpose
of harming them.”

“But if people cut down trees—”

“
The lumberjacks were no threat to them in
the beginning. The few trees at the wood’s edge could be put up
with, but now, as they enter deeper regions from the north and
west, there’ll be more losses of men and machines. It has already
happened and will happen again.”

“You sound like one of the green activists
who want to call off any cutting.”

Again, Sajitar shrugged. He’d
had this conversation with many people, even if he had helped them
find trees.
“Wouldn’t it be better? There’s
no need for any rich man to have furniture made of Belthraine’s
famous trees. They look marvellous, yes, but furniture can be made
of so many different kinds of wood and other
material
—it’s just arrogance and bragging
to have such specialties in your living room.”