Forced Handfasting (13 page)

“Sam and I were just taking a walk,” Keena stated matter of fact.

“Where’s Daneel?” Now it was Marco’s turn to ask the questions.

Keena pulled her husband’s arm down until he bent far enough over for her to plant a kiss on his plump lips. “One of the girls has him. He’s in good hands don’t worry. Sam looked as if she needed a little girl time.”

All eyes turned her again. Sam blushed as she felt the heat of all the gawks bearing down on her.

“Is something wrong?” Jahan asked her.

She was going to kill Keena when she got her alone again. She didn’t want to lie to Jahan, but she didn’t want to tell him the truth either. She was going to have to wiggle her way out of this one without setting off Jahan’s alarm bells.

“No, I’m okay.” She gave him her best fake smile, but it didn’t seem to be working. “I’m fine. We were just talking and decided to take a walk.” She gave Keena a look that could have shot out daggers, which only made Keena laugh. “What are you guys up to?”

“We are about to go out, and check out the damage to the area where the generators are kept beneath. We might need to move some material in case there is a chance of a cave-in.” Jahan nodded to the vehicle the men had been loading up prior to their arrival in the garage.

“You’re going too?” Sam didn’t like the sound of that.

“Yes, I don’t want Marco going out there alone,” Jahan replied.

“How long will you be out there?”

“For as long as it takes. Why? Are you worried about me, my love?”

Sam could tell Jahan was being sarcastic with her. Their time together so far might be short, but she felt as if she had known him forever. He had gotten underneath her skin so quickly it even amazed her. It was close to a month now that she had been with Jahan, and she didn’t want to lose him now. It was bad enough she felt responsible for this stupid war, but she would never be able to live with herself if something happened to Jahan.

“Of course I am worried about you! If something happens to you, I get put back up on the auction block.” She tried to suppress the giggle that surfaced, but failed miserably. Jahan must have caught on to her joke because he thought it would be even funnier if he chimed in on to her joke.

“Oh no, my love! No more auction block for you. If something happens to me, I have already decided to give you to Niko!”

Jahan’s comment wiped the smile right off her face. “That’s not funny, Jahan.”

Jahan held his hands out as he tried to act innocent. “What?”

Sam playfully punched him in the stomach. His stomach was rock hard but gave a slight jump when she touched him. There was nothing more she would love to do at that moment than take him back to their room, strip him naked then run her hands up, and down his nude flesh.

Jahan grabbed her hand, and covered it with both of his. He leaned down until he was directly whispering into her ear so that no one else could hear his words. “So, you want to play dirty, my little earthling? When I get back, I plan on making you pay for that little punch to the gut.” He quickly bit the lobe of her ear, which made her jump and squeal, before he released her again. “Let’s go, brother. I would like to get back as soon as we can. My wife seems to need a little discipline.” He winked at her.

Sam was mortified with Jahan’s comment. She knew her face had turned beet red because of the heat she felt coming off it. The thought of Jahan disciplining her made her heart flutter, and blood boil.

She stood to the side as Jahan, and Marco finished loading up the supplies they might need to remove debris from the roof of the generators’ room. Once they were sure they had everything they needed Jahan gave her one last quick kiss then boarded the ship. Marco did the same with Keena then they were standing off to the side watching as the ship departed.

The doors to the garage opened up wide enough for the ship to make a quick exit before sliding closed again. Jahan had given the command as soon as the war had started that the doors to the garage were not to be left open for any extended period. Each and every time a ship needed to land or depart, the doors were to be opened then closed immediately after departure. That would ensure that none of Rahman’s men, weapons, or vehicles would be able to gain entry to the command center. If, by some chance, Rahman managed to gain admission to their underground safety net, it wouldn’t take long for them to fall into the enemy’s hands.

Sam and Keena watched until the doors were closed completely before they turned, and headed back to the living area of the center. Even though her fears had not alleviated, she did feel somewhat better after seeing Jahan safely off. The walk back to her room was uneventful. She and Keena had chatted a bit more, most about Earth, on the way back, and promised each other they would go for a walk every day, even if it were only for a few minutes.

Once she was back in their room, Sam thought a warm shower would ease her nerves some, and maybe make the nausea she was experiencing at the moment go away. Afterwards she might take a short nap then get up, and go wait for Jahan to return to the garage. First, a shower was in store.

Chapter 12

“Let’s make a complete fly over, and see what damage the mountain has sustained so far,” Jahan told Marco, who was piloting the ship they were flying in.

“Sure thing, bro.”

The ship dipped then banked left. Jahan scanned the mountain as the ship skimmed across its charred, and ruined surface. The food fields were smoldering along with every house, and building that once sat proudly on the mountainside. The green grass was now black, and the tree trunks that once lined the curving mountain road were nothing more that short nubs protruding out of the ground. Part of the road on the east side of the mountain had completely blown away as it circled a narrow stretch of the mountain.

Anger rose up in Jahan. The home his great-grandfather, and grandfather had painstakingly built for his family as well as their people was nothing more a pile of rubble. The sky even appeared different with the smoke, and smell of death floating on its winds.

Movement down on the ground caught Jahan’s eye. “What’s that?” He pointed down to an area that was still partially hidden by a building’s roof. “Do a slow flyby.”

Marco directed the ship to the area he pointed out. Sure enough, there was movement down on the ground but he couldn’t be sure what it was.

“Do you want me to set her down, and take a quick look?” Marco asked as the ship made a second pass over the crumbling building.

“Yes, sit her down over there, but I want you to stay in the ship. If any sign of trouble appears you are to evacuate immediately, understood?”

“Gotcha bro,” Marco said.

The ship slowly descended until it touched down on the muddy surface. Jahan wasted no time in exiting the ship, and heading to the area where the movement came from. Behind him, the door to the ship slid shut again as Marco waited for either his return or his command to takeoff.

For safety’s sake, he drew his laser gun and held it out in front of him, just in case the movement came from one of Rahman’s men who might be spying. The ground crunched beneath his feet as he tread over the burned ruins of grass, plants, and rocks. He walked slowly and cautiously as he neared the building that he wanted to investigate.

The sound of running feet had him swinging around to find the source. Nothing moved. “Who’s there?” He figured it was worth a shot to call out to whoever was hiding in the area. It could be one of his people in need of help.

To his left he heard another sound, but this time it sounded more like a cry. He crept forward to the spot where he thought the cry came from. As he moved he set his gun to stun because he no longer felt as if there was a threat. Another small whimper gave him the advantage of locating the exact spot to whoever was hiding.

The whimper grew louder as he neared two stones that had landed almost on top of each other forming a small hiding area underneath.

“Who’s there? Come out, I won’t hurt you,” he said slowly. He squatted down in front of the stones and waited. He could hear the continued whimpers of whatever was hiding from his view. Well, if whatever was hiding wasn’t willing to show itself then he would have to force it out into the open.

He acted as if he was leaving then at the last second he stooped down and reached under the stones. His hand landed on a small, thin limb which he in turn pulled out in one strong yank.

A loud squeal of fear emanated from a tiny girl lying at his feet. He stared down at the small child as she was lying covered in mud, dirt, and soot at his feet.

“By the gods and goddesses! What the hell…,” he quickly scooped the child up into his arms then rushed back to the ship. “Open the door, Marco.”

The door to the ship was open as he approached. Once inside, he placed the crying girl in one of the passenger seats then retrieved the medical kit. “Get us out of here!” He yelled to Marco as he moved about the small cabin.

“What did you find?” Marco asked as he took the ship back up into the air.

Jahan opened the medical kit and took out the cleaning wipes. He carefully, but thoroughly, wiped away the dirt, and grime that covered the child’s face. “It’s one of the farmers’ children, a little girl.” He pressed the cleaning cloth to the deep cut that sliced open the girl’s forehead.

“What? Are you kidding me? How in the fuck did she survive on her own?”

“The hell if I know.” He worked as he spoke back, and forth with his brother. “But, she is one tough cookie!” He smiled down at the clean face that was looking back up at him with awe. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

“Bankee,” the girl whispered up to him.

“Well, Bankee, I am going to fix you all up then take you back to my home. Is that okay?” He gently prodded at the cut to remove the dirt.

Bankee nodded. He couldn’t help but smile down at the tiny form. Where were her parents?

“Bankee, do you know where your mother, and father are,” he asked.

“Yes,” came the quiet reply.

“Do they need help?”

Bankee shook her head, “No, they are dead.”

It didn’t shock him, but it still caught him off guard. This small little girl had survived a direct attack from one of Rahman’s fighters while the rest of her family hadn’t. How the child was holding it altogether shocked the hell out of him.

“I’m sorry, Bankee.” He didn’t know what else to say.

“What’s going to happen to me?” Bankee asked.

She asked a valid question. What was he going to do with her? He knew she would be looked after while she was in the command center with everyone else but what about after the war ended?

“Why don’t we just get you back to the center, and figure that all out later. Are you hungry?” A distraction like food might help to take her mind off the loss of her family for the time being.

Once he had Bankee semi-cleaned up, and sitting upright with a protein bar, he returned to his chair next to Marco.

“Let’s finish the sweep then take care of the debris over the generators.” He strapped himself in then looked back at Bankee. “Let’s move!”

The ship lifted off and speed through the air once again. Everything looked pretty much the same no matter what they flew over. Barely anything remain of the once thriving city on the mountain, and the surrounding area. Rahman had made sure that nearly everything was destroyed or beyond salvaging. Even the once grand council building was reduced to a pile of rocks.

It made him sick to his stomach to think about the countless lives that were lost all for the sake of one man’s power hungry ways. It was a gigantic setback for his people and would take decades to overcome. In a matter of days, Rahman had succeeded in destroying everything that had taken over seventy years to build. His father, grandfather, and great-grandfather must be turning over in their graves at the sight of their once beautiful home.

“Take us over to the river. I want to see something.”

Marco steered the ship to the right, and headed straight for the river that received the water runoff from the mountain.

“Can you cloak the ship?” He had a feeling that he was about to see something he wasn’t going to like.

“I can but it takes a massive amount of power so we wouldn’t be able to stay cloaked for long.”

“Just do it,” he said.

The ship sped in the direction indicated by Jahan. As they neared the banks of the river, they could see movement. Several figures in full combat gear milled about the area as if nothing was going on. Three fighter ships were parked on the high ground of the riverbank, and two men stood guard as the others stood in pockets talking.

“What the fuck are they up to?” Marco commented as he steered the ship closer to get a better look.

Marco took the ship as close as he dared to take it without being discovered. It hovered out over the water for about fifteen minutes undetected by the men on the shore. A tent had been set up along the edge of the water in order to house the men. He would have to send out a team of men to take this camp out, and capture whatever men they could in order to interrogate them for information.

“Let’s head back to the mountain, and take of what we originally came out here for,” Jahan said. “It might take us some time to clear away the debris, and I don’t want to be caught out after nightfall.”

It took another twenty minutes to fly back to the mountain, and find the area that was causing the problem with the generators. Marco landed the ship on a flat part of the side of the mountain then switched the engines off. As they made their way out of the ship, they both noticed that little Bankee was sound asleep in the chair she was strapped into. Taking a moment to find a blanket, Jahan leaned the seat back, unstrapped the girl then covered her with a green blanket. He hoped that she would remain asleep for however long it would take them to move the mess, and assess the damages.

Outside the ship, the air was filled even more so with smoke, and the smell of burnt vegetation. Charred remains of trees lay scattered, and bent as if someone had come through, and taken the time to twist the once mighty tree trunks together then dip them in a barrel of black tar.

Jahan carefully jumped from stone to stone in order to get to the central mass of debris that had collected on top of the generators’ roof.

“It doesn’t look to be took bad. We might need to move a few of the larger trunks over here so that the roof can bear the weight more easily,” he shouted to Marco, who was setting up the equipment they would need to use to move the larger pieces. “Let’s start with the smaller ones, and make a path that will allow us to take out the others a bit more effortlessly.” He made his way back over to Marco by repeating his jumps. By the time he returned to his brother’s side, the lifter was purring away and ready for its first load.

“Just keep an eye out for any pieces that might be bearing a load. The last thing we need is for the whole damned roof to cave in!” He moved off to the side to get the second lifter up, and running while Marco started in on the mess.

It took them over two hours to finally clear enough of the debris to make the roof more stable. Each, and every piece that was moved was placed in a more secure location so that it wouldn’t cause any further trouble for the residents that lived below.

Dirty, and tired, the brothers left in the ship to return home. They radioed ahead to inform the garage of their impending arrival so that the doors would be open when they arrived. Marco steered the ship right through the open doorway then set her down gently in the only available space in the garage.

Jahan was the first up out of his seat. He wanted to get Bankee to the healer to give her a once-over just to be sure she was okay. The poor thing was still sound asleep when he lifted her wee body into his arms. She couldn’t weigh more than a couple dozen pounds if he were correct.

As he walked through the garage, all eyes turned to him as him carried Bankee to the healer’s living quarters. After more than a week at war with his councilman, it was a surprise that any of his people were still alive if they remained on the outside of the command center. Bankee must have hidden herself quite well in order to avoid any kind of detection from either his or Rahman’s fighters.

Jahan was just about to cross in front of the corridor that lead to his quarters when Samantha came around the corner nearly plowing into him.

“O!” she shrieked in surprise. “You scared me!” she placed a hand over the area on her chest where her heart beat steady and strong. “Who do you have there,” she asked as she tiptoed to try, and get a look at who he carried.

“This is Bankee. I found her hiding out on the mountainside where her home used to stand.”

Sam’s eyes widen in shock. “But, where are you taking her? Is she okay?”

“Aye, I think she is, other than tired, and hungry. I was going to get the healer to check her out though.” Gods his wife was beautiful. She must have just awaken because her face was flushed, and her voice was still thick with sleep.

“Can I come with you,” she asked of him.

“Of course. I think that would be a good idea since I’m not sure how she might react to the healer without her mother being there.” He moved to continue on his way to the healer’s with his wife in tow now, not that he minded. The smell of Sam had his cock hardening painfully in his pants. It had only been a few hours since he last saw her, so why was his body acting as if he hadn’t had her in forever?

“But…where’s her mother? Surely she would want to know you found her child.”

“The child’s parents are dead.” There was no easy way to put it. He heard Sam’s sharp intake of air at his blunt words.

“Dead?” she whispered as she fell behind a few steps.

The door to the healer’s quarters was open. He kept his door open in order to allow those in who were in need of his treatment or medicine rather than go down to the next level.

“My lord, what do you have there?” the healer asked as he gently placed Bankee on the nearby examination table.

“I found her while Marco and I were out scouting the damage. I don’t think she’s hurt but just to be sure can you check her out?”

“Of course, of course!” the healer rushed to Bankee’s side. “Hi, there angel.” The healer spoke gently to the little girl who was now awake.

“Hi.”