Pursued (34 page)

She knew from experience that her fiancé wouldn’t push her to remember her past. Why would he, when he barely listened when she talked about her day? With sudden clarity, Elise realized that was one reason she’d agreed to marry him. James was safe. He didn’t pry, didn’t demand that she tell him about her past and trust him to still love her. He had never asked for the key to her heart.

We’ll be like two strangers living together,
Elise thought sadly, as she began to strip off her clothing in preparation for her dip in the stream.
Two very cordial, friendly strangers, but two strangers all the same.

Merrick would never allow that, she was certain. The big Kindred demanded a level of intimacy that Elise wasn’t sure she could give. He wanted to know all of her—not just the surface part she presented to the world at large. But that was frightening—after years of living inauthentically, Elise wasn’t sure she even knew herself.

She was stripped down to her crimson bra and panties when a softy whinny interrupted her train of thought. Surprised, Elise looked down to see the tiny pale blue pony nosing at her calf.
No, not a pony—a
billib
,
she reminded herself.
And I promised Merrick I wouldn’t have anything else to do with them.

She was about to shoo it away when the pony neighed and nudged her leg again… melting her heart. After all, she reasoned, the little fellow had followed her for miles through the jungle—a significant distance for such a small animal. And Merrick had said that she was safe by the water. So what harm could it do to just say goodbye to the tiny creature?

“Hey, little guy.” Elise put out her hand and the pony trotted onto her palm without hesitation. When she brought it close to her face, it nuzzled her cheek and snorted. Its breath smelled sweet, like honeysuckle and wedding cake frosting.

Unable to help herself, Elise cuddled the little animal for a minute. The pony whickered softly and nudged her, obviously loving the attention. Elise wished for a moment she could keep him but then she remembered her apartment didn’t even allow cats or dogs—let alone strange alien creatures that looked like a My Little Pony doll come to life.

Regretfully, she sat the little creature down on the blue-gray grass growing on the banks of the stream. “Sorry little guy, but this is goodbye. I’m really impressed that you followed me here but you’re going to have to go back to your family or herd or whatever you call them. So go on—go.” She made a gentle shooing motion but the pony just stood there staring at her, its head cocked to one side as though it was trying to understand.

“Look,” Elise told it. “Tomorrow I’m going in there.” She pointed to the Deep Blue, which looked even bluer now that Rageron’s sun was beginning to set. “I have to find a
skrillix—
a pain vine. Believe me, you don’t want to follow me,” she added. “It’s really dangerous and you’re such a little guy you might get hurt.”

The pony snorted and tossed its head.
Almost as though it’s nodding yes, that it understands,
Elise thought. And sure enough, the pony nuzzled her hand one more time and then trotted away.

Elise felt her heart drop but she told herself it was for the best. Her little friend needed to get back to the other ponies and she had to go into the Deep Blue and find the
skrillix
to break her bond with Merrick, even if it was the last thing she wanted to do. They had to—

Suddenly she realized that the pony wasn’t headed back into the blue-gray foliage of the normal jungle. Instead, it was trotting straight for the edge of the Deep Blue. Elise bit her lip as Merrick’s warnings all came back to her. It was dangerous in there, no doubt filled with poisonous plants and ravenous predators. And the little
billib
pony was headed straight into it.

“No!” she gasped, jumping to her feet. “No, come back, don’t go in there!”

The pony looked over its shoulder and made a snort, as though to acknowledge her, then kept right on going. It was almost to the edge of the deep indigo foliage now.

Elise began to panic. “No!” she exclaimed, running after the pony. “No, bad pony! Uh, I mean, bad
billib!
Do
not
go in there. Come back right now!”

The pony paid her not the least attention this time. It simply trotted happily right up into the edge of the Deep Blue…and disappeared from sight.

For a moment, Elise hesitated on the edge of the indigo foliage.
“Whatever you do, don’t go into the Deep Blue by yourself,”
Merrick had said. But after a lifetime of fighting for the rights of those helpless to defend themselves, she found it very hard to abandon the little creature who had followed her so far. Suddenly, a shrill whinny sounded just inside the dark blue jungle.
Oh no! He’s in trouble!

Dressed only in her crimson bra and panties, and with no further thought for either Merrick’s warning or her own safety, Elise plunged into the Deep Blue.

* * * * *

Merrick had a bad feeling. Something wasn’t quite right—he could feel it through the bond. Elise was troubled about something…indecisive…worried.
Probably just trying to decide if she’s really going to let me hold her or not tonight,
he told himself uneasily. But he began making his way back toward their campsite anyway. He had an armful of the huge, blanket-sized
yanyan
leaves, which should be more than adequate to keep them comfortable that night. The leaves were smooth and silky on one side and furry on the other, making them ideal bedding material, no matter what the weather.

As he walked swiftly through the dense vegetation, Merrick felt Elise’s worry turn to anxiety and then to outright fear. What the hell was going on with her? “Elise?” he shouted, but he got no answering reply. “Goddess-damn it,” he growled to himself.
“Elise!”
he bellowed, putting everything he had into it.

But there was still no reply.

With a curse, Merrick dropped the
yanyan
leaves and began to run.

* * * * *

Elise thought she heard someone shouting something far off in another part of the jungle, but she wasn’t sure. Following the sound of the little
billib
pony’s whinnies, she had somehow gone much further into the Deep Blue than she’d ever meant to.

“Little guy?” she called, trying to keep her voice low, so as not to attract predators. “Hey, where are you? We need to get out of here
now!”

She heard a whinny again and this time, to her relief, it was much closer. Scrambling over a fallen tree trunk, she found the little blue pony pawing at the base of a vast tree.

“Wow,” Elise murmured, looking up at the towering giant. It reminded her of the redwood forest back home on Earth—only even larger. The trunk was so thick it would have made a decent-sized house, if someone had hollowed it out, and its branches stretched so high into the jungle canopy that she couldn’t even see the leaves. “Okay, I admit that’s truly amazing,” she told the pony. “But we really have to be getting back now. I’m going to be in trouble if Merrick finds out I came in here without him—a
lot
of trouble.”

She bent down to scoop up the pony but to her surprise, he evaded her grasp and trotted to the foot of the massive tree. Snorting and shaking his mane, he pawed with one miniature hoof at a part of the tree trunk.

“What is it?” Elise asked, kneeling carefully in the indigo foliage. “What… are you trying to show me something?”

The pony snorted again and shook his head up and down, for all the world as though he was saying “yes!”

“All right, I’ll look,” Elise told him. “But I don’t know if I’ll see what you do. It’s getting dark in here and my eyes probably aren’t as good as yo—” She broke off suddenly, staring in amazement at what the pony had been pawing at.

It was a thick vine—as thick as her wrist—snaking its way up the side of the vast trunk. Long, thin branches sprouted off from the central vine. Branches with wickedly curved thorns and…

“Berries,” Elise breathed. “Red berries, just like Merrick said!” She looked at the pony in wonder. “I can’t believe it, little guy—you found me a
skrillix.
You’re such a smart boy!”

Elise selected one long, thin branch that seemed to have more berries than the others. Then, being very,
very
careful to avoid the thorns, she broke it off and held it up. “There! Now Merrick and I can head back tomorrow. You’re such a good boy,” she told the pony, patting it affectionately with her free hand. “Such a good b—”

“You dare!”
The low, snarling voice behind her nearly made Elise drop the branch. Slowly, her heart pounding in her chest, she turned to face whoever had spoken.

It was a normal-looking man—well, if you considered a half-naked, muscular savage in a loincloth normal, Elise thought faintly. The point was, he seemed completely humanoid—all except for his long, blue-black hair and his indigo eyes, which glowed faintly in the dusk. “You dare!” he said again and Elise felt the words as well as hearing them—it was as though his voice was thrumming through her bones, playing her skeleton like a xylophone. It was a strange and unpleasant sensation, not to mention frightening.

“I…I’m sorry,” she said uncertainly. “I know I shouldn’t be here and I didn’t mean to trespass. It’s just that I followed my little pony—er,
billib
in here to keep him from getting hurt.”

The man glared at her, his blue eyes glowing even brighter. “A likely story. I can plainly see you came to steal, defile and blaspheme. And now you lie about it as well—I will not even test you. Truly, you are an outsider worthy of nothing but anger and swift retribution.”

“What?” Elise asked, her heart pounding. “Okay, I can see why you think I’m a thief, but I didn’t know this plant belonged to you. Look, I’ll just put it down here, all right?” She placed the small branch with its red berries carefully at the base of the tree and stood, her hands held out in a gesture of peace. “I’m not from around here,” she explained. “So please forgive me if I unknowingly broke any of your rules. I just…”

But the words died on her lips—the muscular savage was changing.

First his mouth and jaw seemed to lengthen, almost as though the bones inside them were deforming somehow. Then his eyes grew larger and the pupils turned to slits.
Cat’s eyes,
Elise thought numbly.
My God, he’s got cat’s eyes. But how…what’s happening? How is he doing that?

But the change wasn’t done yet. As she watched him, the man’s ear grew more pointed and migrated up to the top of his head. His face lengthened even more until his mouth and nose formed a muzzle. His broad shoulders became broader and his blue-black hair seemed to spread down his body, changing his dusky skin into a furry pelt. Elise watched, speechless with horror, as his fingers lengthened into claws, each one needle sharp and obviously lethal. There was a swishing sound and suddenly the man had a tail—a long black one which waved from side to side, the same way a cat’s tail waves when it’s watching a mouse it wants to eat.

“Oh my God,” she gasped. “What—”

And then the strangely mutated cat-man pounced.

Merrick followed Elise’s scent, his heart sinking when it mixed with that of a
billib
and then jumping in fear when it led him directly into the Deep Blue—the exact place he’d warned her not to go. Goddess damn it, couldn’t she stay out of trouble for one fucking minute? But under the anger he was mostly worried—scared to death that something might happen to her.

He gave up calling her name, not wanting to alert the Ancient Ones or any predators that might be around. Instead he followed her scent, weaving around trees and dodging through the indigo underbrush as quickly and quietly as he could.

He had come within sight of one of the massive grandfather trees, which he knew the Ancient Ones revered, when he heard voices. First it was just Elise, talking to either herself, or possibly the
billib.
Then a new voice joined the conversation—a deep, growling, somehow feline voice that seemed to echo through his bones.

The voice of an Ancient One.

Merrick felt a surge of fear from Elise. He tried to run faster but a
partokk
vine curled around his ankle, slowing him down. He had to waste precious seconds cutting himself free, and by then the growling, feline voice had risen to a crescendo.

He heard Elise scream just as he burst into the small, open space around the grandfather tree. He saw the Ancient One, already in its second form, launching itself toward her, no doubt intending to rip her to shreds with its claws.

“No!” Merrick bellowed. Throwing himself between the two of them, he grabbed the Ancient One’s wrists, stopping it just as it was about to tear into Elise. It was surprisingly strong, snarling and shifting in his grip, its mutated muzzle snapping inches from his face.
I’m staring my fucking death in the face,
he thought, dismay rippling through him. He didn’t know what Elise had done, but somehow she’d incited this guardian of the Deep Blue to a homicidal rage. And once the Ancient Ones set out to extract a toll, they never stopped until they got their pound of flesh.

“Trespasser,” the Ancient One snarled in a voice that echoed painfully in Merrick’s bones. “Blasphemer. Violator.
Thief
!”

“Wait a minute,” he grunted, using everything he had to grapple with the thing and keep it away from Elise. “My female meant you no harm, she just came into the Deep Blue following a
billib
, and I came following her to protect her. We are innocent of your charges.”

“Liar!” the Ancient One growled. “She came wearing the sacred color, which is forbidden to all. And then she stole a branch of the holy pain-vine. She must be punished!”

Merrick whipped his head to the side to look at Elise. She was crouched back against the trunk of the grandfather tree, wearing nothing but some red lace underwear that barely covered her breasts and pussy. Inwardly he groaned. So
that
was what the Ancient One meant when he said she was a blasphemer. Wearing the sacred color, red, within the Deep Blue, was sacrilege. Wearing it in the provocative, sexual way Elise was, was like going into a temple of the Goddess and pissing on the altar—
unforgivable
. Not only that, but he could see a broken branch of
skrillix
lying at her feet—clearly she’d taken it off the vine that grew up the side of the grandfather tree.