The Pearl Savage (35 page)

“
Yes,
I see the dead. I wish to know why, dolt
.
”

Clara covered her mouth to stifle a
laugh. It was too somber by far to engage in a giggling fit when they
were knee deep in the presence of the dead.

She looked at the Band and Bracus
nodded once, as if giving permission.

She began recounting the whole of
it, leaving out why she had come to be in this place.

“
So,
let me rephrase this Princess,” Clarence paused, pacing a short
distance back and forth, tramping down the longish grass in the
field. “You found yourself here with these
savages,
then this
fragment
appeared and they sought to kill you. Why?”

Clara corrected Clarence quickly,
“They call themselves clan.”

“
Yes,
we are not savages, but we can
be
savage,” Bracus clarified, a look of vague humor sliding into place
on his face.

Charles looked around. “We see the
evidence of such here this day.”

Bracus narrowed his eyes tensely,
humor gone.

Clara
continued, “They are a faction of people….” she stumbled to
explain. She still felt that she knew so little about all of it: the
clan,
fragment
,
it was all so new.

Matthew began where she faltered,
stepping forward, “They take our women, our meat… anything that
we do not guard, they scavenge.”

James nodded, adding, “They speak
not as we do and war with one another, gaining nothing. They are
fools and cowards.”

“
They
are
more
than
that,” Jacob said, inclining his head in Clara’s direction,
bringing her torn clothes to light once again.

Charles face darkened, becoming
grim. “Why were you outside the clan then, unprotected? Why was
this young girl here abused?”

He looked at the Band with
accusation. Charles tore through his knapsack. Finally finding what
he was looking for and wrapped it in his large hand. Raising it above
his head he said loudly, “You have taken something that is most
precious to the people of our sphere, kept her from us then allowed
her in harm’s way with a people less sophisticated than even you. How
dare you!” his breathing sounded harsh while he leaned forward, the
veins of his temples pulsating with his anger.

All eyes swiveled to the crown that
glittered in his hand, pearls and Alexandrites winking in the
brilliant light of late afternoon. He slowly lowered it, looking in
each face. “This is not a game to us. We endeavor to escape
something that is beyond our control and the Princess has gone from
one untenable and dangerous circumstance into one which appears
worse,” he said, throwing a hand disdainfully toward Clara’s
blouse.

Clara
closed the loose cloth with one hand and turned to Charles. In a low,
ringing voice she said, “That is
enough
Charles.
They do not mean harm. They have done their best, hacking out an
existence in the belly of their enemies. I was simply caught in the
center of it.”

She searched his face and he looked
back at her. “We must go, Clara. Somewhere that is safe for all,
away from this,” Charles said, opening his arms wide.

“I do not think that is wise,”
Clarence said, looking at the loose group that was the Band, tense as
a cat in a room full of rockers is what he didn’t add. Clarence
sensed that any movement in the wrong direction would disrupt the
harmony he sensed hanging from the thinnest of threads.

Evelyn walked slowly to Clara,
slipping a hand in hers. Clara smiled at the young girl, almost the
same height as she. She squeezed her hand with encouragement,
thinking that there were some things that were precious. That the
sphere was only one thing of many, that there were things bigger than
she at work here and her sphere.

She looked back at the Band who were
glaring at Charles and said, “Their President…”

“Whose,” Charles and Clarence
said at the same time.

“Their leader, President Bowen…”

“They have no King?” Clarence
asked.

“Quiet, run-the-mouth, let her
finish!” Charles said, making Clarence huff and begin pacing again.

Clara smiled. “My taking was a
planned event.”

The men looked at her, mouths agape.
“They were not simply passerby, taking the opportunity that
presented itself?” Charles asked, looking at the Band from a
different perspective, yet again.

Clara shook her head.

Bracus said, “The Princess was a
longterm choice. We wished, we hoped, she would be a liaison of sorts
between our peoples. We needed to make peaceable contact and begin a
negotiation. She seemed a good choice.” he rolled his massive
shoulders into a shrug.

Clarence
said, “Peaceable, really? Is
this
peaceable.”

James laughed. “Perchance he makes
sense, Captain.”

Matthew grunted, “The best laid
plans…”

“Run amuck…” Jacob finished.

To which Philip bellowed from his
perch on the ground, “be a good nursemaid and fetch me another pull
of water!”

Jacob
raised his eyebrows. “Duty beckons,” and maneuvering around the
corpses went to Philip in short order. Where words such as “nag,”
and “simpleton” could be heard. Clara was sure had Philip been
well and standing, there would have been a great deal more
interchange of the physical variety
.

“Let us take care of the dead,”
Bracus said. “Afterward we will make a camp and speak more on this.

Charles’ temper seemed to have
cooled sufficiently enough to lend a hand. Clara and Evelyn walked to
the area that began to transition into forest. She found a mossy area
where they could sit and visit together. It was most obvious that
Evelyn was desperate for some feminine contact and certainly Clara
was. They sat down and began to chat in earnest.

Clarence
and Charles helped the rest of the Band, all but Philip and Jacob,
haul each member of the
fragment
as far away from the border of the forest from whence they needed to
return to their clan (Charles knew the exact location, having
followed two from there).

That got him thinking. “Where are
the two Band that I saw leave the clan?” Clarence said, depositing
a body on top of another. It had deep, slashing gouges, which allowed
intestines to protrude like glistening worms laying open and shining
in the glaring light of the day.

He used the back of his forearm to
wipe sweat off his brow, mindful not to touch himself with hands that
handled death.

James looked across the body at the
pair. “Who?”

“Two males, like you,” and
Charles pointed at his height, the gills on his throat.

A puzzled expression came over his
face. “Captain!” he called, never looking away from Charles.

Bracus strode over. “What say
you?”

“He said…” his eyebrows
raised.

“Charles,” Clarence said.

“
Charles
said…” he nodded, continuing, “that two of the Band left our
stronghold some hours past.”

Bracus’ eyebrows met as one. That
meant there was trouble and the clan was unprotected. He said as much
and the other man, Clarence, spoke, intuiting his expression.

“They were speaking with a short,
stout man, who said there were other Band’?” he said as a question.

Which got Bracus nodding. “It did
not sound as if they were alarmed.”

“Stephen and Joseph?” James
asked.

Bracus nodded. Why would they feel
compelled to leave the clan in the first place? They disobeyed a
direct order of protection? It did not make sense. Again Bracus
wondered why Matthew and Clara had come to be here. He would get to
the bottom of this puzzle just as soon as they were done with the
grisly clean up. The wildlife would smell the perfume of death and
come this night, scavenging all. He wished to be far from this place
before that occurred.

Bracus
glanced to where Evelyn and Clara huddled together and thought of the
reaction he had with her. He knew that somehow, rare as it
was,
she was a
select.
That greatly complicated things. His eyes sought and found Matthew,
throwing another body on a second pile of
fragment
.
Mayhap he had been overcome in some way.

“
Captain?”
Jacob broke into his thoughts. Then he heard it, horses
.

What
now?
So
deep in thought he had all but missed the upcoming threat.

He whipped his head around and saw
with satisfaction that Matthew was sprinting toward the females and
had reached them.

Charles wondered what all the fuss
was about, alarmed when he saw the huge male that appeared constantly
angry race toward Clara and the girl with golden hair. Not to harm.
But Charles squinted and there it was, movement through the forest.

He saw it first and heard Clarence
exclaim, “Dammit all to Hades.”

Yes, that was about perfect, he
thought.

As the deep purple of the royal flag
of the Kingdom of Ohio came into view, Charles heart sunk in his
chest. The Queen was here, she had followed them Outside.

Bracus stayed where he was, scanning
his men, their eyes sharp and ready. They looked at him for direction
and he made an elaborate circle with his finger. Philip rose
unsteadily to his feet. Hand at his side, he covered his dressings as
he walked slowly to where Bracus stood.

“Brother, who comes?”

Bracus shook his head, but Clarence
responded, “Our Queen.”

Philip and Bracus looked curiously
at him for his tone was not one of reverence, but one of weary
resignation.

Charles said, “She will wish
Clara’s return.”

“Of course. And she shall but not
without a space of time to negotiate. This is fortuitous that your
Queen is here. We can begin peaceable negotiations now and Clara can
assist in this,” Bracus said.

Clarence barked out a laugh and
Bracus frowned.

“
Why
do you laugh? What is funny here,
sphere-dweller
?”
Philip said with gravel in his voice, thinking he made a joke at
their expense.

“
He
does not think there will be
negotiations
with
Queen Ada,” Charles said.

“Why?” Bracus asked.

“Queen Ada negotiates with no
one,” Clarence said.

Bracus looked at the entourage break
into the meadow. An elegantly made copper staff with a deep violet
flag flew stoutly from its top, held by a male of stature, the
outline of the sphere etched into the rich material of the flag. His
excellent vision could just make out the symbol of one of their
strange sea creatures in the center. His frown deepened.

“Is she contrary in nature? Is
that what you imply? Speak quickly, as I must know how to proceed,”
Bracus commanded.

“She is our monarch. That is all
the explanation that we may give you,” Charles responded.

“Worry not, you will know much
inside the first five minutes spent in her company,” Clarence said,
spitting out the last word like spoiled fruit upon his tongue.

Philip and Bracus became uneasy. He
did not sense the easy loyalty that they shared with President Bowen.
It was confounding. He had found Clara to be pleasant and of amicable
disposition after she became aware of things, their purpose.

The Band spread out in the meadow
and Matthew returned to the group with Clara and Evelyn, while the
royal and her guard stood on the forest’s edge.

They formed a loose circle together
and watched as the Queen moved toward them. The Band unsheathing
their daggers as one, the smooth sound of metal releasing its casing
a single musical song note in the now-silent meadow.

*

Henry
saw the group of fierce warriors, numbering five, standing about
Princess Clara. Two of the sphere’s subjects he had known their
entire lives. The troublemaker
,
now
one of his guard, although only a tunnel sentry, Clarence and
Charles, companion to the Princess. This was going bad quickly, he
thought for the hundredth time. His eyes sharpened as he noticed the
daggers which came from their sheathing to stand naked in the hands
of these
savages.
The way they held them spoke of easy grace and much use. Henry
swallowed a nervous lump in his throat, forging ahead.

The
Queen spied Clara standing like the coward she was in the midst of
the strange
savages.
Ada
took them in,
drunk
them in
.
Now
these were
men,
real men, her mouth watering slightly. And there her daughter stood.
Ada narrowed her eyes on Clara, taking in the disheveled hair and her
gaze fixed on the torn bodice and blood which covered her upper body.
What had happened here? What had the stupid girl gotten herself
wrapped up in? No matter, the queen thought, she would return with
the wretched girl and after being cleaned and scoured, they would
determine if she had been defiled. Hmm, the Queen pondered, she had
better be pure. She wanted nothing to impact the treaty.