The man jerked his head and called his workers in. He spoke quickly and when they were all staring at her, Dravi called her over.
It was a little scary to approach a group of men who were looking at her with curiosity in their eyes. Curiosity could lead to fear and fear led to her being kicked almost to death.
Dravi ran interference. “Please, come closer, Erinii. No one will hurt you.”
She stepped slowly, her feet touching gravel, pavement and dirt in equal measure. “What can I do?”
The foreman gave her an encouraging smile. “We need the block wall over there lifted and held in position. Fixer was going to come in to have a look at our crane, but until she gets here, we would appreciate any help you could offer.”
She looked over at the chunk of stone and narrowed her eyes. It lifted smoothly into the air and hovered there. “Where do you want it?”
The workers visibly jerked in surprise.
The foreman didn’t waste a moment. He set up a 3D display of the project and highlighted the destination for the wall panel.
She set the wall into position and as the foreman barked orders, his men moved into position to fasten the wall down snugly and it started a very tiring afternoon for her.
The buildings were modular and went together easily. Dravi stayed next to her and occasionally brought her a beverage to fight off the heat of the afternoon.
Her limbs were shaking by the time sunset called a halt to their activities. Dravi hauled her to the dining hall and helped her fuel her depleted body.
When he left her at her rooms, she looked up with a smile. “Thank you for your help today.”
“Eckkil was impressed with your skills. If Fixer hasn’t made it to the job site by tomorrow, they would like you to return.”
A deep sigh came from inside her. “I would like that. It is so freeing to use my skills after all these years of buttoning it down.”
He pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. “Sleep well.”
The tingling was intense at the point where his lips made contact with her skin. She locked her mind against him as she closed her door behind her.
Erinii had no intention of sleeping ever again.
She meditated and ordered a cup of tea from her in-room dispenser. Before that fateful day, she had used meditation to keep herself under control and if she could simply not wake up back in the facility, she would be happy.
This new life being offered to her was one she desperately wanted to accept, but if it was the dream and not the reality, she didn’t want to wake up and so, she would not sleep. It was the most direct solution she could come up with.
Five hours after she had said good night to Dravi, she was dangerously close to sleep. Fresh air was the only thing she could think of and so, she walked through the halls of the Citadel until she was able to find the stairs to the tower.
The wild caress of the wind drove sleep from her thoughts. She stood calmly and watched the stars of the Morganti system as the planet rotated under their pinpoints of light.
The air was cold enough to keep her alert, but the robes kept her body warm and safe. The night passed by and nearing dawn, there was activity at the Sector Guard base. A dragon landed at the base, as did several shuttlecrafts. A few shuttles took off and as the light illuminated everything around her, she embraced the new day with a sigh of relief.
Erinii had survived one more day and it was going to be a good one. She turned and a sleepy-looking Dravi was watching her.
“Erinii, how much sleep did you get?”
She smiled. “I got what I needed from the night.”
He gave her a calculating look. “Why are you shielding from me?”
Erinii blinked. “I didn’t want to wake you if you were sleeping.”
Dravi accepted it and gestured for her to join him inside. “It is time for the morning meal and you have a request for more assistance from the construction crew. You really impressed them yesterday.”
She chuckled and stifled a yawn. “I will be happy to help in any way I can.”
He gave her a concerned look and held her arm as she walked down the stairs and back into the common areas of the Citadel.
She wasn’t hungry, but she forced herself to eat. The vitamins in the fruit gave her a quick boost and she almost felt normal by the time she was standing next to the construction site half an hour later.
Eckkil, the foreman, had a plan and his men were only too happy to get to work. As Eckkil said, “We get paid by the job, not by the day, so the faster we can go, the more we can pull in.”
Leaning against one of the buildings they had put up the day before, she grimaced at the effort it was taking to lift the several tons of material with her thoughts. After two hours of steady work, she blinked several times to clear her vision. The block she was holding wavered and cries of alarm broke out, sending workers scattering for cover.
With everything in her, she held the block of rock away from the ground until there was no one in her way, but she could not hold it long. As carefully as she could manage, she set the block down on its appropriate site, but it was the last thing she saw as her body spasmed and her mind screamed into the darkness.
I don’t want to go!
Chapter Seven
Dravi held her tight as the skimmer whisked them to the Guard base. She was still spasming and twitching, a low, constant moan with the chant, “I don’t want to go.” The refrain was also echoing over and over through her thoughts, but he couldn’t do anything to help her until her body was stabilized.
She was locked in her own thoughts. There was no way for him to speak with her until she calmed down. For that to happen, her body had to be relaxed and she needed medical intervention for that.
The Citadel healers were not equipped for it. Her physiology was beyond what they were used to and they had recommended immediate removal to the Guard base and had called ahead.
The moment that they landed, Dr. Effin was at their side, scanning Erinii from head to toe as she thrashed in Dravi’s arms.
“She’s exhausted. Her body is overflowing with adrenaline and her nervous system is misfiring. We need to get her purged, balanced and rested.”
“Lead the way.” Dravi held her tight as he carried her into the depths of the base and into their medical area.
Fixer arrived a moment after they did, helping them lay Erinii flat on the medical bed. She whistled as she ran her hands down Erinii’s body. “She is a wild one. Her normal levels are so high that there is no way that the Citadel would have picked up on it.”
Dravi stood back, his hands clenched into fists. “What does that mean?”
“Bassinor are designed for battle. They have settled down and become a standard economically based civilization, but the wild heart of their ancestors still beats in them. Their bodies evolved to house this kind of power. I don’t know why she would be so exhausted though.”
Dravi scowled. “I believe she is trying to avoid sleep.”
Fixer moved her hands slowly across the gland centres of Erinii’s body. “Why would you think that?”
Effin monitored Erinii’s life signs and smiled as the readings calmed. “She’s rebalancing your apprentice, Minder Nemilin.”
Dravi sighed and stroked the crimson fall of Erinii’s hair. “She isn’t my apprentice, but she is in my care.”
Fixer gave Effin a knowing look.
Erinii was now still, her chest rising and falling more rapidly than Dravi would like, but she had stopped fighting.
Effin worked a series of hypos and injected their patient with balancing enzymes. “That will help her body reset, but she won’t rest until her mind lets her. Sedating her wouldn’t do any good, she would simply fight it and that would do more harm than good.”
Dravi straightened his shoulders. “I will try and get to the heart of the problem. Please allow me a few minutes of privacy.”
The doctor and Guardsman left him alone and he stood at the head of Erinii’s bed. It had been years since he had tried to contact a semi-conscious patient. The little matter of his attraction to her made the contact border on the unethical.
Explaining the details of her confinement on Bassinor would take longer than simply making contact with her, so into her mind he went.
Colours were swirling around him as he paced toward the lightning storm that was Erinii’s core. Fairies and demons flitted across his path, none tried to stop him and several waved.
Erinii was sitting next to a waterfall, her knees drawn up and her arms wrapped around them. Her hair flowed wildly down her shoulders and back. She wore a comfortable shirt, tight pants and boots. It was the same outfit Dravi remembered from the video images.
“Hello, Erinii.”
She looked up at him, tears running down her cheeks. “I don’t want to go back there.”
“Where?”
“The facility, the madness. I don’t want to go back.” Hope filled her face. “I can stay awake. That way I won’t go back when I wake up.”
“It does not work that way. You are a real person in a real place and you will be a valued member of the Citadel if you let yourself.”
She hiccupped. “I don’t believe you. My mind always tricked me into believing I could get free before, why would this time be different?”
“Because this time, I am willing to stay with you.” It hurt him to say it. He wanted her, but if she needed support more than she needed a lover, he would be support.
She blinked, the tears in her huge green eyes magnifying them and starting an ache low in his gut.
“You will stay with me?”
“I will. I will remain in your mind as long as you need me to.” He reached out and held his hand palm up. “Come with me and re-join the world?”
She smiled and took his hand…
Dravi smiled as Erinii relaxed and started the deep, restful breath of sleep. He pulled his hands away and she frowned, twisting. Sighing with a wry smile, he stood at her side and took her hand. She immediately returned to restful sleep.
When Effin returned and started rounds of nutrients and hydration, Dravi took a seat on the edge of the bed and watched Erinii sleep.
“You can leave her in my care, you know?”
Dravi laughed quietly, “Actually, I can’t. She will wake when I cease to touch her. I promised her I would not leave her.”
“That is a big promise considering that you are not in control of your assignments.” Effin gave him a look and Dravi tried not to get irritated by the Wyoran.
“They will not refuse me this. She was beaten almost to death by her own people and then locked in a hallucinogenic state for four years. If anyone needs a minder around the clock, Erinii is the one.”
Effin paused. “A Bassinor that was in a psych ward?”
“That is the Bassinor method of restraining talents. The Guard was involved in retrieving her. Didn’t Relay tell you?”
Effin was Relay’s husband and so, it was a slight dig at the doctor.
“I was not involved. Fixer was a little on the frenzied side and needed some supplements for her second trimester. It was a black market issue from the Moreski.”
“So, talented women are awkward all the way around.”
Effin laughed. “It seems to be the way of things.”
Dravi smiled and held Erinii’s hand for an hour before Fixer came in and exhaled roughly. “If you have to touch her, simply lie down next to her and hold her, twit.”
It seemed like both a good idea and torture at the same time, but he turned her on her side, curled around her and held her while she slept.
Chapter Eight
Being afraid to open her eyes was common, but waking with a strong arm wrapped around her ribs confirming that she was not alone was a new experience.
“Dravi?” Her whispered wish was all she could manage.
“Yes, Erinii?”
“Are you in bed with me?”
He laughed softly in her ear. “Sort of. We are at the Guard base on Morganti. You have been getting some medical treatment. You seem to enjoy pushing your body past its limits.”
“I have been meaning to ask, why is your skin so pale?” She ran her fingers along his exposed forearm.
“My father was a Vimpyr and he and my mother lived on a world with heavy cloud cover. My skin does not increase pigmentation with light exposure, so I remain pale.” He released her and sat up, moving to stand next to her in a moment.
“What is a Vimpyr?” She sat up and ran her hands through her hair. All of her muscles were sore and even her hair hurt. “What happened to me?”
“You almost crushed fifteen workers with a wall and then you started seizing.”
She noted that he ignored her first question but filed it in her mind for later. “How did we get here?”
“The healers at the Citadel couldn’t help you, so an emergency call was sent to the Guard base and a skimmer brought us here. Fixer and Dr. Effin worked on you until you were stable and then you were able to sleep.”
She knew that she had fought sleep to keep herself sane, but with Dravi next to her, she was pretty sure that she had received exactly what she wanted. He was with her and she was still on Morganti. If this was the dream, she didn’t want to wake up.
The doctor entered and smiled at her. “So, you are finally awake. I thought that poor Dravi was going to die of hunger.”
She blushed. “I am sorry to have caused such trouble.”
“That is what we are here for. The Citadel healers would not have had any chance at stabilizing you without inducing a coma and you would have fought that to the death.” Dr. Effin was cheerful as he made that pronouncement.
Erinii blinked. “Oh.”
Dravi cleared his throat. “Is she clear to return to the Citadel?”
The Wyoran looked at them and grinned. “Let me run one more test and I will release her.”
Erinii cleared her throat. “What are you looking for?”
“A baseline for your species. Bassinor aren’t Alliance members and they don’t share their medical specifications. If we need to treat you or you need treatment at any other Alliance base, we will be able to know what your readings and levels should be.”