Authors: Marie Harte
She
took it and fingered the blade, then swept her side to feel her own. Killing a
rabbit with her dagger the last time had been difficult. She needed to find a
new bow. She’d given hers to Yara before they’d parted, since Yara’s had broken.
Until she had a better distance weapon, her dagger would have to work.
“I’ll
get it. Forty paces that way?” She salivated at thoughts of eating meat again,
but Beast hadn’t fed in days.
He
nodded. “There’s something else out there with it. Maybe some young.”
“How
do you know this?” She didn’t expect him to answer. He hadn’t before. As much
as she and Hinto fit physically, a distance still separated them.
“Happy
hunting.” He grinned and sat down. “We’ll be waiting.”
Thais
scowled and headed into the forest, making sure to keep away from the small
copse of blood trees that seemed to crop up everywhere in the Territories. The
small clusters of red bark and black leaves had a tendency to blend in this
fading season. The predatory foliage reminded her of the spiked
taltra
at home, giant bushes that could eat an Amazon whole, digesting her for days.
Shaking
off the uneasy memory, she reminded herself that in this instance,
she
was the hunter. Her footsteps made no sound, despite the debris of fallen
leaves, brush, and sticks all around. She’d been bred to hunt, raised to
succeed. She’d proven herself to Hinto days ago and felt a warm rush of
pleasure he didn’t feel the need to smother her with advice or protection.
Wild
boar could be deadly adversaries. Thais had killed her fair share. This one
would fall as the others had.
Following
a trail she could see, now that she knew what to look for, she came upon the boar
and three of its young mewling for food. The little ones were the size of
Hinto’s boots, the mother five times their size.
After
a brief prayer to the Goddess, Thais crept closer, glad to be downwind of the
creatures, so they wouldn’t catch her scent until it was too late. Grabbing a
rock from the ground, she pocketed it and climbed a tree several feet.
Waiting
there, she withdrew her knife and the rock and made a sound to attract the
mother’s attention. She tossed the rock directly below her and waited.
The
boar roared and left her babes behind as she investigated the intrusion. Thais
threw her knife into creature’s snout. Then she jumped down from the tree,
landing on top of the wounded animal.
Without
giving it time to attack, she stuck it behind its skull with Hinto’s knife. Three
repeated thrusts and the boar died. Thais removed and cleaned the blades on its
hide, while the boar’s young squealed in fright near a hollowed out log. Knowing
they would die without a mother to protect them, Thais thanked them for their
sacrifice and quickly eased their suffering.
She
brought them back with her but left the boar’s carcass for Beast. When she
reached the camp, she saw Hinto rubbing Beast down. The mare stood by the other
side of the camp, chewing on what looked like wild beets.
“Go
on. Go eat.” Hinto slapped Beast on his flank and watched the vore dart into
the forest, the way Thais had come. His eyes lit up as he saw her catch. “Hot
damn, Thais. You never disappoint, do you?”
Before
she could dwell on those she had in fact let down, Hinto dragged her by the arm
to the fire and instigated an argument about who should cook. By the time he’d
wormed his way out of fixing their meal, Thais realized he’d worked her out of
her grim mood as well.
She
shook her head and prepared the meat while Hinto saw to Ainippe.
“Shifty
bastard,” she muttered, still not sure how he’d won the argument.
“I
heard that.”
She
grinned anyway.
***
“So
as I see it, we have another four, maybe five days before we hit Shine.” Hinto
rode on a contented Beast. The sun shone brightly, heating up what would prove
to be a gorgeous, though cool, day.
The
clouds overhead shifted in the blowing winds. No sign of rain, for which he was
grateful. Now that he’d had more paste applied to his healing wound, filled his
belly on a delicious meal of roast pork, and could sit atop his mount without
the sexual hungers Thais had recently sated, Hinto glowed with good cheer. His
father and brothers wouldn’t recognize him when they saw him. He’d have to make
sure not to grin too much. Didn’t want to scare them.
“That
meat seems to have perked you up,” Thais said, her accent more pronounced
lately.
He
liked to think she trusted him enough to be herself.
“Honey,
a good boar can fill your belly for weeks. If I’d had more salt, I’d have taken
more than her flanks. But I don’t want to attract too many predators.”
“The
predator you’re riding seems to have enjoyed himself.”
Beast
grinned, and Hinto smelled the coppery scent of blood. “Damn, son, we need to
fix that bad breath of yours.”
Beast
snickered.
“Pig
guts and blood. Not nearly as pretty as Thais’s scent.”
Flowers and me, all
over her.
She
frowned at him.
He
shrugged in feigned innocence. “What?”
“Tell
me more about Shine.” She ignored his question, a sure sign he’d irritated her,
which made him want to laugh out loud. Damn. He hadn’t felt this good in years.
“It’s
up in Big Sky Territory, which we’ll cross tomorrow. Country’s wild up there. I
think there’s maybe two UTO’s in the whole territory, mostly because it’s so
open. Only NorthWest has less folks than Big Sky.”
“And
Shine? Is your town as wild?”
“Hell
yeah,” he said with satisfaction. “That’s what makes it so perfect. Not too
many folks living up where we are. Those that do protect each other. Not like
Morrow. Course, that’s a helluva lot more crowded, what with the railway so
close. Up in Shine, there are a few ranches, an old blacksmith, and the last
time I visited, they were building a general store. Not sure why, but if they
have it stocked, I’m sure some of us will use it.”
“No
house of worship? No miners or farmers?”
“Nah,
no church. Most of us commune through the land. It’s pure, almost as if the sky
rocks never touched down out there. You’ll see. The pretty colors, the crisp
air.” He glanced at the jacket she wore. Leather lined with what looked like wool.
His father had crafted his jacket a few years ago: cowhide and fox fur. It kept
him warm enough during the harsh winters.
“We
don’t have any use for miners,” he continued. “Loggers and miners are shot on
sight. Anyone looting from the land is as good as dead where I’m from. We’re
our own UTO.”
“So
I won’t have to register, then?” she teased.
He
laughed. “Honey, you’re registered with me. The Dakotas are legendary around
Shine. You mess with one of us, you mess with all of us.”
“Like
the Nolans?”
“Ha
ha. Very funny.”
They
rode in companionable silence for a while. Eagles soared overhead. Deer
scattered when they caught Beast’s scent. Mountain lions, wolves, foxes and the
like milled about the open valley they rode through, a primitive Eden filled
with predators, prey, and lovers.
Hinto
swelled with satisfaction. Had he known the effect sex with Thais would have
had on him sooner, he’d have seduced her that first day he’d seen her tangling
with Lenny and Benny. Or at least, he’d have tried harder.
He
glanced at her, wondering what she thought about as she looked around her with
curiosity.
How
different was this place from her own home? The Amazons supposedly lived in the
jungle. What manner of creatures had she lived with? For that matter, what
manner of people?
“Thais,
what’s it like in the jungle? Are your trees this big? Are there mountains
there, or just vines and snakes and heat?” What little he knew came from his
mother’s people, tales he’d heard when he was just a young boy. The Dakota
learned through story and through the telling, an intelligent, giving tribe
who’d survived when many others over the years had not.
She
looked at him, her eyes as dark as the moss in the shadows of the trees. “Much
of my home is the same as this. Large, life-giving trees. Tall grasses, flowers.
Animals that kill, animals that are killed, for food, clothing and nourishment.”
She smiled at a hawk overhead. “But our animals are different. Much more
colorful, and so very loud. Sometimes at night, the silence of your forests are
peaceful.”
“And
empty, I’d imagine,” he murmured.
“Yes.”
She sighed. “I miss my home, but it’s not really my home anymore.”
“Really?
I never feel that way about Shine.” He couldn’t imagine spending his entire life
away from the ranch. “No matter how much I ride away from the place, my
family’s there. It’s where I plan to settle when this is all over.”
She
regarded him with hooded eyes. “Really?”
“You’ll
see. You can breathe the peace in the air, there. Like I said, there aren’t
many folks who want to live so far away from everyone and everything. But I
like that. Less people means less problems.
“Mahpee,
that’s my older brother, is taken with anything on four legs. He loves vores
and taming wild horses. He’s smart enough to work with the creatures, instead
of trying to mold them into mindless beasts.”
Beast
shook his displeasure.
“No
one could ever call you mindless, Beast. Senseless, maybe,” he growled and
patted the vore with respect. “But never stupid.”
“Mahpee
is the one who lost his wife?”
“Yeah.
It wasn’t easy. Still isn’t, I guess. He keeps to himself mostly. Wolf, that’s
my younger brother, he’s a pain in the ass. Kid has a smart mouth, but he knows
horseflesh. He normally spends his time helping my father with the farm. We run
a small one, enough to feed the family and trade for what we don’t have. We’re
pretty self-sufficient up in Shine.”
“Do
you never get lonely?” she asked, as if puzzled.
“Lonely?”
“For
companionship.” The slight blush on her cheeks told him what she meant.
“Oh,
you mean for sex. Well, Shine isn’t all that big, but there’s a few whores in
town who enjoy the business. Women aren’t treated poorly everywhere. Most small
settlements treasure females. There are so few of you as it is.”
She
frowned, as if not liking the reminder that she was in fact a woman.
“Haven’t
you noticed that most women have several males as family?”
“Yes,
but it’s not that way everywhere. Many of the women in Temeco lived a life with
one or two men at most. And some of the men didn’t seek female companionship.”
Hinto
knew of a few in Shine like that. He didn’t understand the call to fuck a man,
but he didn’t mind those that did. Less competition for females, to his way of
thinking. “Some men prefer men, others like women. My brothers will like you
just fine.” He frowned.
“Why
are you making a face?”
“Look,
do me a favor. Don’t shoot Wolf when he tries to move on you.”
She
blinked in surprise. “What?”
“I
know my family. Mahpee will leave you alone, for the most part. He’s always
been quiet, but since Dana, he only goes to town once in a great while for, uh,
companionship. Wolf, on the other hand, is a real problem. Boy thinks he’s a
damned rabbit.”
“I
don’t understand.”
She
would within a few minutes of meeting him. “Wolf is twenty-six going on
fourteen. I love him, but he has an eye for the ladies. Always has. Problem is,
they like him too. I still can’t believe he hasn’t gotten some young thing
pregnant by now. My family doesn’t leave the ranch much, but when they do, it’s
usually Wolf doing the selling of horses and livestock. The towns within a few
days riding distance from Shine welcome him with open arms. Hell, he rarely has
to pay the whores. Dad calls him the pretty one in the family.”
Now
that he thought about it, Hinto wondered how Thais would take to Wolf. He
didn’t worry so much about Mahpee. Like he’d said, Mahpee didn’t take much from
women but sex, and Thais wasn’t one to give it away freely. But Wolf… the boy
might just charm her into a night between the sheets. The notion didn’t sit
well with him. At all.
“Hinto,
you seem upset.”
“Not
at all.” If Wolf so much as put a hand on her wrong, he’d break off his dick. Brother
or not.
“Okay.”
Thais didn’t seem to believe him. “Could you at least tell me—”
“Wait.”
He stopped Beast, aware she stopped as well. His senses flared, telling him
trouble lay ahead. He could
feel
several bodies, and the seeping energy
of at least two on the brink of death. “There’s a group up ahead, beyond the
next crook in the stream. Come on.”
They
left Beast and Ainippe by the water with orders to stay put. Beast didn’t look
happy about being left behind, but he stayed and nipped at Thais’s mare when
the horse would have followed.