Authors: Jr H. Lee Morgan
She met up with Oliver who told her he
already received the first part of the five.
Two down. Three to go.
Chapter 11
“
Over here!” Oliver called
out five days later after spotting distant movement in the
midmorning sunlight. He got up and modified his armor back to
clothes then one large blanket he, Renee, Sparky and Rose were
comfortably resting on next to the new lake. The Pride had found
the party at dawn and led them over.
“
Now this is a hole!” Steven
laughed as they made it to an edge of the forest. Many of the
twenty experienced Hunters grimaced at the cavity in the ground
that had yet to show green life. Elder Scythe especially not being
happy, but he hid it well.
A quick sprint had everyone arrive. Jessica,
Stephanie and Andrea showing they were not used to Zerika’s gravity
and how much strain it put on the body to sap strength. “Any more
problems, Papa?” Renee asked.
“
Nay, Lass. The Ligers seem
to have scared off many of the local Beasts.”
“
More like ate them. They
like the variety of prey this planet has.” Oliver said and roughly
patted Nova’s thickly muscled shoulder. The cat butted him back and
purred.
“
So have you learned
anything new?” Andrea asked with a hand on her breast and sweat
pouring down her caramel brow.
“
Aside from an aesthetic
change of stile in their art, craftsmanship and clothing, no. But
then again, I’ve not spent my adult life as an archeologist like
you and my aunt. You might find something interesting I wouldn’t
give two shits about. And I’ve already checked the Queen’s chamber
top to bottom, she didn’t leave any notes behind. Speaking of,
where is my box of supplies?”
“
Here, Mrs. Void.” Stone
said and pulled it out of a pack slung over his back.
“
Thanks. So have you got a
place for us?”
“
Rold ron. Raren’t ru going
to show rus raround?” one black wolf asked as best it
could.
“
Nope. I’ve got other plans.
Olly got what he needed and we’re done. You all can have fun now.
Now about what I asked…?” She looked between her father and the
burly Hunter Elder.
Elder Scythe could tell she would not be
swayed and would go regardless if he said no. She was a driven
woman. Add to it her temperament and she was not unknown to
challenge authority. He remembered when she gathered enough power
that a bolt of lightning was attracted to her and didn’t do a thing
before overwhelming the greatest human Hunter ever known and the
oldest survivor. “Yes, Mrs. Void. Captain Dorgen made the request
and in my old records I found there to be an abandoned outpost deep
in Salamander territory. It was called Amethyst Outpost. But it
hasn’t been seen or in use for close to a century after those
stationed all perished.”
“
Salamanders!” Renee
brightened up and licked her lips. “How many? Just thinking about
them gets my stomach rumbling.”
“
Thermal imaging tells there
to be about two to two and a half thousand in those
mountains.”
“
Terrific!” She turned and
said “I’ll check in every couple days, Papa. You have fun. If you
need me, don’t call unless it is an emergency. I don’t know how
I’ll be personally around others so keep it in mind. I really don’t
want to kill anybody, but it seems I will if any bitches get near
my idiot.”
“
Ye just be safe, Lass.” He
dropped to a knee to give her a hug. Standing he added “Laddie,
keep her out of as much trouble as she can manage.”
“
Easier said than
done.”
“
True.” Jake chuckled like a
loose avalanche. “Young Elder Scythe, give them the coordinates to
Amethyst Outpost.”
The battleaxe wielding Elder lifted his
helmet and privately flashed both Oliver and Renee the location of
where it was.
Jessica came over and whispered. “Call me as
soon as you find out the good news. Love you, Sweetheart.”
“
Love you too, Auntie.”
Renee kissed her cheek and in a moment was on Sparky’s back.
“Bye.”
As the Drakes flew off dramatically, no one
saw Oliver and the Pride silently spirit across the terrain. Only
sharp eyes caught the barest flicker of movement in the trees
before nothing.
“
Get to work, Ye Dogs!”
Commanded the proud captain who led the way to another discovered
city.
It took two full weeks to reach the Blue
Mountains of Zerika’s northernmost range. They were huge,
snowcapped and a dark blue from far away. Sometimes going purple if
the light hits just right. Most of it was done running on foot for
fun, but sometimes they flew together when coming in contact with
foul swamps that irritated Oliver’s nose to no end.
But upon seeing it they were greeted by a
lone Salamander, but before anyone could stop her, Renee killed it
laughing “Looks like I got dinner, Olly!” he chuckled and ran
on.
A lavender sparkle caught the corner of
Renee’s eye and turning on it made the chip integrated in her mind
to pulse that the target was found. “Twelve kilometers ahead! In
the saddle of the mountain.” She pointed to the curve between two
great peaks. Oliver signaled from the sparsely treed ground he
found it. She then watched as suddenly Nova billowed and the others
shot across the ground like projectiles to hit the mountain and
scale it to search for danger. They were hard to see once their fur
was camouflaged in the snowy area.
There was no recent sign of danger when
Sparky landed and one of the females came walking casually out of
the outpost encircled by a meter high onyx barrier. Much like what
protects the Hunter villages, only smaller. Snow crunched under
their weight and Renee dropped the three ton carcass inside the
ring and patted the female’s soft and furry neck. “Tell the others
you all can eat your fill, but leave the head and neck for me and
Olly. I know it’s been a few days since you all dug up that Mole
nest.” The female purred and gave Renee a grateful lick on the hand
before going over to the spiky legs of the Beast and sated her
hunger.
Renee walked right inside the musty and moldy
two story square gemstone tower. There were old signs of battle
from how shards of amethyst were chipped and gouged. Even having
old scorch marks on the walls. It was bitterly cold inside. “Home
sweet home, eh Olly?” she asked as she heard his weight compress
the snow with a loud crunch.
“
Definitely needs to be
cleaned, but I’m going to check and see if anything is still
operational.”
“
Okay. I’ll cut up some wood
and start us a fire to knock the chill out of here.” She said as
frost left each breath like smoke. Renee sat her supplies down and
walked briskly out past the fence and down the mountain some.
Needing to or her weight would suck her down the loose snow. About
two hundred meters away she spotted an evergreen, detonated a
kinetic blast at the base to also knock off heavy snow on the
branches before levitating it over. On the walk back she made the
tree spin and made a thin kinetic stream to remove all the
unnecessary branches.
Physically she carried in large armfuls and
stacked them by a hearth located in the common room. With a thought
of desire, out scooped was dirt, debris and snow. She knelt and
carefully placed the logs inside the cold hearth made of amethyst
that was grown into shape of a building. When she was satisfied
with the stacking she created a bolt of lightning at the tip of her
finger and shoved it into the middle as far as possible and though
the wood was frozen, it could not withstand the kinetic energy
speeding up its molecules to the point it caught afire.
She sat on her heels for a few minutes,
dragging her finger to other areas to make the logs thaw and remain
aflame. Ten minutes later she was positive it would continue
without her aid and walked through the open door to the maintenance
room to find cleaning supplies as well as Oliver wedged underneath
a control panel. “How’s it looking?”
“
Seriously doubt if I didn’t
have my Valek I’d need to replace the entire relay system and
command crystals. Whatever happened here cracked nearly all of
them. The panel didn’t even flicker and the stored power has gone
empty from the crack.” His legs bent and pushed himself up under
the tight space even further. Her hearing picked up a chilling
crack she wholly remembered when his vambrace first grabbed her
injector, removed a communication crystal implant and destroyed it
to make it better. He moved and said “Try activating the panel
now.”
She reached out and placed her hand on a
round node that was clear. “Nope. No sign of life.”
“
Damn… where is the… ah ha!
There you are, little fucker.” There was a sizzling sound and a
blue spark. “Try it now.”
“
We got power.” She was
impressed by how far he had come and did something she hadn’t a
clue how to repair.
He slid out and stood. “Now let’s see how
bad… Well, damn.”
“
What?”
“
I have to manually rewrite
the sensors, barrier erection and fix the nanite
controls.”
“
You can just flash it with
your chip…”
“
Can’t. The wireless relay
is completely missing and I don’t have lithium to make an adequate
quantity, even if I alter matter… it’ll be less taxing to just
write the code again.”
“
Then I’ll fix dinner and
check out the second floor to settle in.” he nodded.
Renee removed the meat they would need and
the brain for herself while the others ate up. She put it away for
later and scouted the rooms. One was untouched and still had a soft
bed though it needed a wash. A gel mattress was firm and adequate.
There were four other rooms. One was claimed by her partner and his
mate. Two were for the Pride and the emptiest wasn’t too big, but
would serve as her lab later.
Hating to clean with a passion, Renee sucked
it up, grabbed a shovel and started scooping out debris after
rolling up the bed sheets and throwing them in a cleaner for twenty
minutes. With power restored, the cleaner operated properly.
“
Done.” Oliver said as he
came out and found Renee cursing colorfully under her breath
scrubbing the blackened walls and lent a hand by mopping the floor
she had swept. She offered a grateful smile and went back to it,
still not happy. The other good thing was the hearth had slowly
warmed the lower room. Other logs were stacked near it for
later.
“
So are we safe?”
Rose asked, close to the warm fire.
“
Near everything is up and
running. The barrier is up and blocking the wind even though you
already shut the front door.” The felines were out playing in the
snowstorm and also scouting at the same time. “All that is left is
for me to fix the ventilation system so the hearth can warm the
bedrooms too. It’ll be a cold night up there, but we can all stay
down here together.” Renee gave him a look that told him ‘fat
chance’ and he continued cleaning. Not needing to hear
why.
“
We can survive. We are all
exhausted anyway.”
During dinner Nova established a patrol in
shifts. Three running at any given time on the lookout for danger.
The remaining were resting inside.
But as soon as Renee wiped her purple smeared
lips she said “Goodnight everyone. See you in the morning.”
She put dishes in the sink and Oliver was
locked on the sway of her enticing hips as she walked up the
stairs, throwing a glance over her shoulder to find him gawking and
disappeared around a corner.
Renee made it to the bedroom and into the
bathroom to run the water nice and hot. As she found it right she
closed her eyes and accessed the part of her mind that gives her
complete control over her reproductive cycle. When she found it she
let her instincts guide her and in doing so she figuratively felt a
single ovum separate from her ovaries and glide along the fallopian
tubes. When it reached its destination in mere seconds a warmth
spread from the womb and simmer the heat beneath the skin. Renee
blinked and saw her freckled arm become a little paler and then
flushed almost with mild embarrassment.
So caught up in looking at how her body
changed she didn’t hear him come up.
He deeply sniffed her neck and made a deep
masculine sound in his throat she never heard before. “You are
already for me. Your smell it better than ever. I scent your
fertility.”
She smirked and stepped naked into the
steaming shower. Hot droplets sprayed on the side of her neck and
caressed streams down her full breasts. He was beyond words again,
but already naked as well. Instinct guided him too. He stepped in
and closed the door to keep it hot.
Oliver was ready as his cock poked her belly,
but she reached up and ran her fingers through his hair to get a
fistful. He leaned down and met her rosebud lips and caressed her
skin being beaten on by the streams. He tasted her and made gentle
war with her tongue as she moaned in his mouth, telling him to keep
going. Hot steam and water cleaned their bodies and Oliver could
smell her fertility was almost ready. Since it wasn’t just yet he
began kissing her silken neck and knelt to pay attention to her
breasts she willingly let him have. He gently pushed her back
against the cool wall that had yet to warm by water. Her hands
brushing his hair as the water cleansed him as well. Her breathing
changed as he left the luscious mounds to get his favorite
treat.