On the grease smeared flat was a pot filled with some dark green sludge that made him gag when he sniffed it. There was a bark cup half full of the stuff beside it. He picked it up and looked at it. Then for some reason, he sniffed it again. Under the foul odor was something else-something familiar. It was another faint whiff of Emily"s scent.
She held this cup-possibly drank from it! But what in the Seven h.e.l.ls is this stuff that she drank?
Tragar carried it into the main area where Xen"dex was still questioning the witch.
"What is this?" he demanded, thrusting the cup in front of her. "I can tell Emily held it-what did you give her? What did it do to her? Where is she?"
For the first time, the old female began to look really scared.
"That"s just my medicine, so it tis!" she protested, backing away.
Xen"dex took the cup, sniffed it, and made a face.
"A medicine made with dark-weed and lyer juice? I don"t think so. What have you done with her? What have you done with the Khalla?"
"Only helped her, like she asked!" the old woman who called herself Grandy See-er protested shrilly. "She didn"t want her nectar to flow, nor her honey neither. So Grandy See-er stopped them, so I did! Gave her my best star-silver nubbin pinchers! Twere most expensive but I gave them for free, from the goodness of my heart!"
"Star-silver!" Xen"dex looked so grim that Tragar demanded, "What? What is it?"
The other male looked troubled.
"So many Beast Kindred have settled here and bred with the Wulven in the past thirty cycles that several Khalla have been born. It was one reason I came here-to offer my expertise. Because the Wulven didn"t understand what was happening and some tried to stop the process-to halt the Tenrah in its tracks."
"Well, you can slow it down some, right?" Tragar asked. "That is what you taught us."
"Yes, but stopping it completely is incredibly dangerous. This metal-this star-silver she"s talking about-will do that. It"s a natural hormonal r.e.t.a.r.dant. But if it isn"t removed in time..."
Tragar felt sick. "What? What happens?" he made himself ask.
His old master sighed deeply.
"If it isn"t removed in time, the Khalla may die."
"She won"t die of the star-silver, so she won"t," Grandy See-er said. Her face broke into a crafty smile. "Though she might have a hard time surviving where she went."
"What? What are you talking about?" Tragar demanded.
"Why-I"m only talking about the direction she was headed when she and I parted ways," the old female protested. "Twas none of my doing-I tried to warn her. But she wouldn"t hear anything I said-so stubborn she was!"
"Where?" Tragar wanted to shake her. "Where did she go? Tell me, G.o.ddess d.a.m.n you!"
The witch gave him a wide-eyed innocent look.
"Why...to the Howlund, my Lord. Leastways, that"s where she was headed when last I saw her."
Chapter Seventeen.
"h.e.l.lo, little female-are you lost?"
The voice from behind her made Emily jump and gasp in surprise. She whirled around, putting an arm over her ridiculously capped nipples and stared up at a tall, muscular male with piercing blue eyes and a smirk on his face. She was lost actually-completely lost. But somehow she didn"t think asking him directions would be a good idea.
"Um...I"m fine." Slowly, she began to back away, only to b.u.mp into something hard and warm.
"What"s your hurry, little female?" another deep voice rumbled behind her.
"Leave me alone," she managed to say, though her mouth was so dry it was hard to talk. The bright blue sunlight beat down on her, making the whole scene seem horribly surreal but she knew she couldn"t afford to believe this was all just a really vivid nightmare. Thinking like that would get her killed...or worse.
"We would, but clearly you don"t want to be left alone." There was a third voice now-another male was closing in, cutting off her escape route.
"Jey"s right," said the first male. "If you wanted to be left alone, why would you come to the Howlund just at this time dressed like that and smelling so hot? I think you want to try love with a changed one-is that right, little female? You want to rut with a male in his fur-form?"
"Or maybe with the whole pack," rumbled one of the others and all of them exploded into coa.r.s.e, deep laughter that set Emily"s teeth on edge.
The Howlund-they said the Howland. Where have I heard that before? Suddenly she remembered-it was something Tragar had said. And hadn"t he said it was someplace dangerous? Someplace she shouldn"t go? If not, that was still the idea she had gotten.
So how did I get here all by myself with these weird things on my nipples? Emily asked herself desperately. And what in the world is inside me? Because she could feel something hard and cold and heavy in her channel-it shifted uncomfortably every time she moved.
Then a big, hot hand fell on her shoulder and she knew that it didn"t matter how she"d gotten there or what else was going on-right now she needed to concentrate on getting out.
Emily shrugged off the hand and tried to bite back the frightened squeak that wanted to pa.s.s her lips as the three males got closer, forming a triangle around her. Oh G.o.d, this was horrible-she was being surrounded!
"What is that?" she gasped, pointing into the sky. "I"ve never seen anything like it!"
The trick might"ve been straight out of a silly, slapstick comedy but it worked-all three men looked at the same time.
Heart pounding, Emily turned and dived under the arm of the first man who had opened his arms as though to catch her or maybe keep her from running. He let out a curse that sounded more like a snarl and Emily was sure he was coming after her. In fact, she was sure all of them were but she understood instinctively that she didn"t dare to look back even for an instant-any delay might get her caught.
Not that she could outrun them for long-they all had incredibly long legs and she was running barefoot and didn"t know where she was going. But she had to try. Dodging around other shoppers and vendors alike, she tried to get to the edge of the crowded market place. She just had to get away. She had to- Suddenly someone was right in front of her and though she tried to dodge, Emily couldn"t miss them. She hit hard, nearly bowling the person over but somehow they stood their ground and didn"t go down. There was a brief, blurred confusion of limbs and then someone was grabbing her arm and hissing in her ear, "What are you doing out here like this, Sister? Has the madness taken you to behave so?"
Emily was prepared to fight but the feminine tones took her by surprise. She looked up and saw a girl with black hair and blue eyes looking at her with a frown on her face. Then the pert nose wrinkled and the blue eyes widened.
"Khalla!" breathed the girl. And without warning, she thrust Emily behind her back.
In front of them, the three males who had been chasing her came skidding to a stop. Emily stared at them fearfully but the girl who had grabbed her stood tall in front of her, glaring them down.
"Jey...Zeth...Tirn," she said, frowning up at them all in turn. "What are you doing, bothering this poor female?"
"We weren"t bothering her-she came to us," protested the first man.
"Stand aside, Saskia," growled the second. "She"s an unmated female out in the Howlund just before the change. You know the law-she"s fair game."
"Yes, if she came here of her own volition." The girl glared at them, not moving. "But she was running from you-I don"t think she meant to be here at all."
"She"s right," Emily spoke up, wishing her voice sounded stronger. "I don"t know how I got here but I certainly didn"t come looking for, uh, anything. I just want to go home."
"There, you see?" the girl demanded, frowning up at the huge males. "She"s not here a-purpose and she doesn"t want the likes of you three. So be off now and leave her alone!"
"But she smells hot," protested the third male. "She must be in heat!"
"That doesn"t mean she wants you to breed her, Tirn," the girl snapped. "Now get you gone! All of you!"
Grumbling and looking like a pack of scolded dogs with their tails between their legs, the three trudged off in the direction they"d come from.
The moment they were gone, the girl called Saskia grabbed Emily by the arm and started marching her to the edge of the market area.
"Thank you so much," Emily babbled. "I was in so much trouble-I don"t know how I got here or how to get back."
"Back to your chosen mate, you mean?" Saskia eyed her. "Why did he let you come to the Howlund at this time of month?"
"He didn"t-I told you, I don"t know how I got here. And I don"t really have a chosen mate anyway," Emily protested.
The girl"s dainty nose wrinkled again.
"Must be why I don"t scent a male on you. In fact, I care barely even smell your Khalla scent. How did you mute it? I mean, it"s a good thing you did or you"d have had the whole Howland after you instead of just three hungry Wulven but it"s still strange."
"I don"t know-I didn"t know it was, uh, muted." Emily was having to trot fast to keep up with her, the cold metal thing moving awkwardly inside her with each step. "I can"t smell it myself," she offered.
"Of course not-it"s your scent. It"s natural to you." Saskia shot her a glance. "Look, my mate is a Beast Kindred and an expert on your kind. I"ll bespeak him now and take you to him."
"But I have to get back to Tragar-back to the shuttle," Emily protested.
Saskia frowned. "I thought you said you had no mate."
"I don"t-Tragar"s not my mate. He"s just...helping me out until I can get this whole mess sorted out."
"The mess being your Tenrah, I take it?"
"Yes, exactly." Emily nodded. "So you know all about it too-the Tenrah, all the stages...?"
"Of course." Saskia nodded as though it was common knowledge. Well, maybe it was, here.
Emily had a sudden thought.
"You"re not a Khalla are you?"
"Me?" Saskia gave a short laugh. "No, but I"ve known one. My dearest friend, actually."
"Really?" Emily asked eagerly. "Does she live around here? Could I meet her?"
Saskia"s face was suddenly closed.
"No, you can"t." she said shortly.
"Oh..." Emily was crestfallen. "It just...this is all so new to me. And I thought if I could meet someone who"s already gone through it-"
"You can"t meet her because she"s dead." Saskia looked away and for a moment Emily had the idea she might be fighting tears. But when she looked back, her face was smooth and calm again. "I"m sorry. I still miss her."
"Of course." Emily nodded, feeling miserable. She felt bad for Saskia but she also felt bad for herself. Now she felt like she couldn"t ask any more questions about Khalla or Tenrah or the stages or any of it. And she so would have liked to talk to another woman about what she was going through-especially one who knew about it first hand!
She sighed. How was it that everyone she met seemed to know more about the mysterious process that was overtaking her body than she did herself? Even the old woman...Emily frowned. Wait, what old woman? In her mind"s eye a vision swam into view for an instant-a sweet old lady holding something in her hand, something silver.
Something to help with my Tenrah-something to stop the nectar from flowing from my b.r.e.a.s.t.s...right?
As soon as the vision appeared, it was gone but it gave Emily at least some idea of why she was wearing the weird metal pasties on her nipples and the strange, heavy thing inside her. Thinking of that made her aware that her b.r.e.a.s.t.s felt full and very heavy-almost painfully so. What was going on with her? Well, other than her body trying its level best to turn her into someone completely different that was...
"Here-this should be safe." Saskia had pulled her to the edge of the market place area and around the back side of a cloth tent. She paused for a moment and closed her eyes, a look of deep concentration coming over her face.
Emily tried not to stare, though she wondered what was going on. The other girl almost looked as though she was talking to someone-but talking with her mind? She"d heard rumors that such things were possible with Kindred but she"d never actually seen it happen.
She also had a moment to realize how completely strange and out of place she looked next to her new friend. Saskia was wearing a pretty blue dress with an empire waistline that fell modestly to the ground. It had a tight, pencil-type skirt but a slit in the middle allowed her to move freely. The neckline was a deep V which showed a hint of creamy cleavage and framed a lovely greenish-blue stone pendant shaped like some kind of flower. Neat little blue slippers completed her outfit, making her look fashionable and pretty.
Emily couldn"t help contrasting her own appearance. She was barefoot and still wearing her old blue nighty which by now was dirty and stained. Plus, her nipples in their obscene silver caps with the gold ta.s.sels were still sticking out of the ragged holes in the front. Emily would have tried to take them off if she wasn"t still in public. As bizarre as they were, they were still better than poking her bare b.r.e.a.s.t.s out for anyone and everyone to see.
G.o.d, I just want to get someplace private and get all this weird stuff off of me-and out of me! Then I want a really hot shower and a change of clothes-something nice and pretty or at least something decent that doesn"t look like it came straight out of a p.o.r.no!
But more than anything else, she wanted all of this to be over so she could just go home. If she could just get her stupid body to cooperate- Just then Saskia opened her eyes and looked up, breaking her train of thought.
"It"s all right-my mate is already on his way here with your male." She raised one dark eyebrow. "Apparently they know each other."
"Is your husband...er mate...Tragar"s old teacher?" Emily asked.
"I think so. Though I didn"t think to meet the likes of your male." Saskia looked troubled. "Xen"dex sent me away so I wouldn"t."
"Why?" Emily shifted uncomfortably, wishing the thing inside her wasn"t so heavy and that her b.r.e.a.s.t.s didn"t ache so. She plucked at the ragged nightgown, trying to shift it around to hide the silver nipple covers she was wearing.
"Well, because..." Saskia looked uncomfortable. "I do not wish to speak ill of your male but my mate said he was, well...one of the Verrak."
"He is an a.s.sa.s.sin if that"s what you mean," Emily said.
Saskia looked at her in obvious shock.
"Can you speak so lightly of it then? Do you not know what the Verrak are capable of? They are the most ruthless, deadly killers in this galaxy or any other! Tis said they take a vow to either kill their target or kill themselves if they fail."
"What?" Emily frowned at her. "You can"t be serious-that"s crazy."
Saskia shrugged her slim shoulders.
"That"s their way. It ensures that they never fail to kill their intended victim. They are bound by an oath and by the markings on their arm."
Emily began to feel really uneasy. Now that Saskia mentioned it, she remembered the elaborate tattoo that covered Tragar"s right arm from shoulder to wrist. What had he called it? A nash? A narch? Something like that, anyway.