The Swords of Gregara - Jenala, a sci-fi romance (4 page)

“Your home is large enough to accommodate me?”

“Yes.
 
I’ve never had guests, but there are two bedrooms.
 
You would have my old room.
 
I have moved into my father’s room.”

“I will take you up on your offer.
 
At least for the winter.”

“Good.”
 
She’d finished her breakfast, every last morsel and was sipping her aeta.
 
She held her cup with two hands and looked down into it.
 
“You also need to come meet someone after we eat.”

“Who is that?” Santro said between mouthfuls.

“Lottie…my…uh…snarlot.”

“Snarlot?”
 
He choked on his coffee.
 
“You have a snarlot?”

“Yes, she can easily carry two and makes incredible time through the mountains,” Jenala said quickly.

“You
ride
a snarlot.
 
They can tear a zogamac limb from limb with that beak of theirs. They are ten feet of snarling, chirping beast.
 
Do you have any idea how dangerous that is or how dangerous a snarlot is?
 
”

“Of course, I do.
 
I’m not an idiot.
 
But Lottie is a big softy where I’m concerned.
 
She’s saved my hide from Zlaten more than once.
  
We’ll have to see how she feels about you.”

“Great,” groaned Santro.

“It’ll be fine.
 
You’ll see.
 
You’ll need supplies.
 
I’m afraid I didn’t lay in enough for two.
 
I can’t pay you before the ore is dug and we sell the kalcion at the annual market.”

“No problem.
 
I’ll get my supplies.
 
I have enough beras from my former work as a malitin hunter.
 
Though this time it is personal.”

“My mine is a one man operation up until now.
 
Of course when Father was alive we both worked the mine.”

“Woman.”

“What?”

“A one woman operation.
 
Even I, with one eye, can see that you, with your fiery hair and sapphire blue eyes, are not a man.”
 
His one eyed gaze raked over her body.
 
Jenala felt her nipples tighten at the heat she saw there.

Jenala laughed, covering her nervousness at her body’s response to just a glance from Santro.
 
“I’m glad to see you have a sense of humor.
 
It will make the time pass much more quickly.”
 
Suddenly she was serious.
 
“You intend to kill him, do you not?
 
Because if you don’t, I will.”
 
She wasn’t boasting or threatening.
 
She meant it.
 
She would kill him, not for what he did to her, that was secondary.
 
No, she would kill him for murdering her father.

“I will kill him or die trying.
 
I can’t sleep if I let him go unpunished.”

“Agreed.
 
You will get your chance, I promise you.”

Chapter 2

The next morning, Santro met Lottie.
 

She was eleven feet of snarling, chirping beast.
 
Perhaps the biggest snarlot he’d ever seen and certainly the only one he’d seen this close up.

Dark brown fur covered her from her pointy, tiny eared, beaked head to her hoofed feet.
 
She had a whip of a tail covered with hair interspersed with quills.
 
Get too close and she’d shoot one at you, closer still and she could snap her tail and take your hand off without letting loose a single quill.
 

If her tail wasn’t dangerous enough, her beak was filled with razor sharp teeth that could rip your arm off with one bite.
  
To top this all off, the damn thing purred.

Santro stood next to Jenala and stared.
 
There were few things that put the fear of the divine into him.
 
Lottie was one of them.
 
Lottie didn’t like him.
 
He knew it.
 
Could feel the hostility.

“Come on, I’ll introduce you,” Jenala said as she walked up to the beast.

“I think I’ll stay right here.
 
I can meet her from a distance.”

“Don’t be silly.
 
You have to ride her, in order to do that you need to meet her.
 
Just follow my lead.”
   
Jenala when up to Lottie and hugged her.
 
“Lottie my sweet girl, this is Santro.”
 
She motioned for Santro to step forward and as he did she took his hand.
 
Electricity shot up his arm.
 
Suddenly his fear of the snarlot was nothing.
 
He’d ride the snarlot or a zogamac or any other wild beast just to be near to her.
 
He’d never felt this kind of immediate all consuming attraction for anyone before.
 
It took him by surprise and left him breathless for a moment.
 

“He’s going to be with us for a while, so I want you to be nice.” Jenala said to the snarlot, petting her neck.
 
Lottie’s purr was so loud it almost resonated through him.

He approached Lottie slowly.
 
She bent down and first, smelled him.
 
He held his breath and his heart thundered in his chest.
 
Then she looked him in the eye.
 
He held completely still, afraid that if he moved she’d think it was aggression and attack.
 
She closed her eyes and nudged him with her head, asking for a scratch.
 
Santro obliged.
 
He let out his breath.
 
Much his relief he’d passed the test.

Jenala gave him a brilliant smile.
 
“See, I told you it would be okay.
 
Lottie doesn’t let anyone near her that she doesn’t like.
 
As a matter of fact, you’re the first.”

“I’m honored.”
 
And thankful he amended to himself.
 
He wasn’t sure what he’d done if Lottie hadn’t accepted him.

“You should be.
 
If she hadn’t like you we’d have to find another mode of transport for you and then wouldn’t make it through the pass before the first snow of the season.
 
As it is we will be in the valley a good week before Zlaten and his thugs.”

“Good.
 
We’ll need the time to prepare.”

“What do you have in mind?”

Santro had given this a bit of thought last night between trying to sleep and picturing the beautiful woman he’d just partnered with gloriously naked.
 
The real reason he was doing this was the woman.
 
She was magnificent.
 
Fighting toe to toe with Zlaten and holding her own, even winning.
 
If he hadn’t shouted at Zlaten and distracted her, she would have won.
 
He recognized her skill and was impressed.
 
Her wound was his fault.
 
He should have just charged forward and engaged Zlaten.
  

“We need to protect the perimeter and set up an alarm system in not only the house but the mine as well.
 
The warning systems need to be set so we have enough time to get back to the house from the mine.”

“That won’t be a problem.”

“You already have alarms set up?”

“No.
 
That’s a good idea though.
 
I was talking about getting from the mine to the house.
 
That won’t be a problem.
 
The entrance to the mine is in the house.”

“Clever.
 
No one can find it and pilfer your ore that way.”

“True.
 
Not that there’s much to pilfer.

*****

The trip to the valley was long and arduous, even on Lottie it took ten hours.
 
It would take Zlaten on his tankipa three days to cover the same amount of ground.
 
They would arrive way before Zlaten.

Jenala thought they’d miss the first snow but it was early and caught them as they reached the top of pass.
 
They took the saddle off of Lottie and headed inside of the shelter shack to wait for the storm to pass.
 
Lottie had thick fur that helped keep her warm and there was a lean-to that kept the bulk of the wind and snow off of her.
 
But Jenala and Santro had to find another way to keep warm.
 

The attack came just as they entered the shack.
 
Three men waited for them.
 
Santro took on two of them and Jenala one.
 
The attack happened so fast they didn’t have time to do anything but unsheathe their swords and block the first blows.
 
The sound of metal ringing on metal was deafening.
 
Jenala felt herself weakening.
 
She had to get outside, Lottie would help her.
 
She backed up parrying each of the blows as they came.
 
Finally she was at the door.
 
She reached around and pulled open the door, backing out of it as she continued to block the blows.

“Lottie,” she yelled.
 

She didn’t have to wait; the noise had brought Lottie to the shack.
 
She waited outside howling with the wind.
 
As soon as Jenala saw her she slashed back at her opponent, forcing him back long enough for her to turn and run behind Lottie.
 

The snarlot charged forward, her beak closing on the man’s head.
 
She lifted him and shook her head.
 
Even over the howling of the storm, Jenala heard his neck break, then with a final shake, his body separated from his head falling to the blood covered ground.
 

Jenala ran back to the shack.
 
She had to help Santro.
 
Pulling open the door she ran inside only to see Santro pull his sword from the gut of one of the assailants.
 
The second one had fallen in a corner of the room and though not dead his arm was severed and he was screaming, holding his hand over the wound.
 
He was bleeding out, quickly.
 
He would be dead within minutes.

Santro turned quickly toward her, sword up, ready for the next opponent.
 
When he saw her, he sheathed his sword and walked to her, taking her in his arms.
 
She fell into them, wrapped her arms around his neck and held on for dear life.

“Lottie saved me.
 
I couldn’t fight.
 
My back wound, I’m too weak.”

“It’s all right.
 
Everything’s all right.”

They stood there for a few minutes, just holding each other, both breathing hard, neither saying a word.

Santro was the first one to pull back.
 
“We have to get these bodies out of here.
 
The storm is not going to let up for who knows how long and I refuse to share our lodgings with this vermin.”

The man in the corner was no longer making any noise.
 
He leaned against the wall, his eyes still open, not moving.
 
He was dead.

Santro grabbed the man’s shoulders, Jenala his feet and they dragged him out into the storm, throwing his body next to the shack.
 
They did the same with the other man.
 
Lottie had taken care of the third man, hauling his body into the surrounding forest.