Chapter Eleven
Cardo lifted the lapels of his long black leather coat and strode into the dingy bar on the Dinko space station. To call it a space station was generous in the extreme. It was basically a glorified budget mechanic station, with a bar and food establishment.
But almost everyone here had something to sell quickly, or a side gig. One particular side gig was what he was hoping for.
When he walked in, everyone stopped. Nearly everyone who was here was a criminal or on the run. A vampire walking in would strike fear into anyone’s heart here, but a group of Drazani guards backing the vampire made it worse.
But there was one man who looked more frightened than most. The bar manager. He was no better than the rest of them. He had long greasy hair and wore a dirty, oily T-shirt, with a cracked and worn black leather waistcoat over it.
The bar manager gazed at him through one good eye and one basic, cheap, silver mechanical eye. Unnerving to some, but not to Cardo.
“Cardo,” he said with false confidence. “I didn’t think I’d see you so soon. Drink?”
“I don’t think so, Kack.” Cardo leaned on the bar and looked around the downbeat bar with disgust. “I prefer to drink in more…clean environments.”
“How can I help you, then?” Kack asked.
“I want to talk to you about finding someone.”
“I don’t vet people who come into my bar, Cardo. I just serve them.”
Kack’s hand shook as he poured himself a drink. That pleased Cardo. The feeling of power he got from intimidating people was a thrill he never tired of.
“Despite your appearance, I know from personal experience that you have skills, skills that can decode the hardest of signal communications, and you sell them to the highest bidder, either Abnobian empire or the resistance.”
“Yes, I’m just a normal man. I don’t pick sides,” Kack said.
Cardo slammed his hand down on the bar, making Kack jump. “Let’s see if you can help me again.”
“But I have a whole bar full of people.”
“I’m sure they won’t mind waiting, or flee into the night, with Drazani to keep them company,” Cardo said. “Take me to your office.”
Kack turned to his barmaid and said, “Don’t let anyone run up a bar tab.”
Cardo said to the guards, “I’ll take two of you, and the rest can stay here.”
Kack walked out from behind the bar, and Cardo followed him to his office. “I don’t know how you think I can help you. I haven’t heard anything unusual. In fact I haven’t been monitoring much lately.”
“I’m searching for someone. You might know her as the Map Keeper? I know if anyone has picked up her name in transmission, it’s you.”
He just opened his mouth a few times but said nothing.
Cardo shot across the room, put his hand around Kack’s throat, and pushed him hard into the wall. He cried out in pain.
“The Map Keeper?” Kack said.
He looked terrified from the sharp teeth that erupted from Cardo’s gums and the deep red eyes he was no doubt exhibiting.
“Everyone knows the legend of the Map Keeper, Kack. Do you think you can get a better price for this information than your life?”
Again Kack said nothing.
“Drazani guards, go and kill everyone in the bar.”
“Yes,” they replied.
“Please, not my barmaid.”
But within seconds they heard gunfire.
Kack’s head fell to his chest. “I found something. Please let me live, and I’ll show you.”
Cardo let him go, and he went to a concealed safe on the wall. “This computer scans for signals continuously.”
“As I thought. Now give me the message.”
“The message simply said, I have her. I have the Map Keeper.”
“Where did it come from?” Cardo asked.
Kack’s hesitation made Cardo grab him again around the throat. “Where? Was killing your whole bar not enough?”
“Ziggy’s, it came from Ziggy’s Place.”
“The gaming moon?”
“Yes,” Kack managed through his struggle for breath.
Cardo smiled and patted him on the cheek. “Now, was that hard?”
He felt Kack’s body relax, and just when it did, he ripped out his throat. Cardo could have drained him of his blood, but he surely tasted foul.
So he left him to bleed out on the floor. Ziggy’s Place was two days away, without a portal. A day and a half if they pushed it.
Cardo would get that girl and her mutt protector.
The RR opened its doors, and a fresh wind hit them both. Brogan immediately felt better. She took a step in, and suddenly she was there, in a place so like home. Her stretch of beach was waiting for her.
She couldn’t wait to get down there and start to run.
“Camber, this is like magic, but none I’ve seen before.”
“Well, they do say that technology is like magic to those that have not experienced it before. That’s why the Abnobians can behave like gods to people who are at a less developed planetary advancement,” Camber said.
“It’s not like having the power to change into a wolf, be a witch and cast spells, or be a shapeshifter or a fae.
This is purely tech. Is this landscape what you had in mind? ”
Brogan was moved, excited, and emotional. “Yes, it is. I feel like home right now, in my pack lands, in Ireland. I’ve been away from it for far too long.”
Camber touched her softly. “Go on, then.”
“I…” Brogan sounded apprehensive. This all must be overwhelming. “If I run, do I hit a wall?”
Camber laughed. “No. The room keeps up with you. It creates what you need in front of you and behind you. So just think of it as a big open space, not the RR. Look at me,” Camber said.
Brogan turned, and Camber took hold of the two lapels of her dressing gown. “Think of it as home. On you go.”
Being so close to Brogan made her want her so badly. Her reactions to Brogan were desperate, and these feelings were dangerous. Vorka had always said this would be a lonely life, because she couldn’t trust anyone enough to get close to them, but day by day, she trusted Brogan a little bit more.
“Would you come in with me? This is all very new,” Brogan said.
This big dominant wolf was unsure of herself, and Camber found it sweet. “Of course I’ll come in if you want me to. You go in and shift to pelt, and when you look up, I’ll be there on top of the sand dune working with my map.”
“Okay.”
Brogan took a few steps into the room and was surprised how it felt underfoot. The bank that ran along the beach was dry sand and long grasses. As she walked in further, she could feel the long grasses brush her legs.
Her wolf was clawing to get out now, and her confidence in this place was growing. She jumped down the hill in one stride and stripped off her dressing gown. Before she shifted, she dug her toes into the sand and filled her lungs with the sea air.
It was exhilarating. She bent down and went on all fours, and then her wolf couldn’t shift quickly enough.
Brogan ran to the middle of the wet sand, then stopped to look up for Camber. She was there as promised and waved down to her with the cutest smile. Brogan’s wolf growled low, the sound reverberating in her chest.
She gave her a quick howl and rolled around on the wet sand, just for the simple joy of it. She shook off and then started to run at full speed across the wet sand. The salt in the air transported Brogan home. There was nothing like this scent or this feeling.
Brogan’s muscles needed to stretch so badly that she was sore, but she went faster than she ever had before.
She ran and ran, her heart thumping against her chest. Brogan wasn’t in another realm any more, she was back home in Ireland, but there was one thing that wasn’t home on Earth—Camber watching her.
Camber smiled and giggled as she watched Brogan not only run but jump and roll like a puppy. When Brogan had run far, she turned and walked into the sea up to her ankles, then went in deeper and dived underneath and up again like a seal.
The next time Brogan dived, she stayed under for longer than the last time. Camber stood up and tried to find her, then Brogan came bursting from the sea holding a fish in her mouth.
Camber stood and waited for Brogan to paddle to shore. She was joy. Brogan was pure joy, and it just warmed her heart.
Brogan’s wolf came splashing out of the water and shook the water off. She ran like an overexcited puppy across the beach and up the sand dune to Camber, then presented the fish on the ground.
Camber clapped her hands and laughed, then on instinct leaned over and scratched the fur behind Brogan’s ears. Brogan leaned into her hand, making mewing noises of pleasure.
Camber’s eyes went wide when she watched Brogan start to shift back to skin, and in moments she was standing before her, breathing hard, with the goofiest smile on her face, but entirely naked.
Camber licked her lips as her eyes caressed Brogan’s muscular, sinewy body.
It lit a fire in her that had been smouldering since she’d met her.
“That was amazing. It’s like I went home. I can’t believe a computer can make this happen. I even caught a fish.”
Brogan must have seen the shocked look upon Camber’s face because she looked down at her naked body, then jumped down to where she’d left the dressing gown, and then ran back up.
“I’m sorry, wolves don’t worry about the naked body, and I was just so excited.”
“Don’t worry about it.” Camber cleared her throat. “Well done catching the fish.”
Brogan didn’t bat an eyelid about being naked in front of her, but Camber felt the heat on her cheeks glowing.
Now clothed in her dressing gown, Brogan’s face and demeanour were still that of a playful puppy.
“I can’t tell you how good that was. Even before I came through the portal it was a while since I’d had a good run like that.”
“I’m glad you enjoyed it. I didn’t get any map work done. I was too busy watching you, Wolfy. I’ll work on it after we get cleaned up and get something to eat,” Camber said.
“No rush, we’ve got plenty of time for that.”
“We do?” Camber said with surprise.
“I want to make sure you’re safe.”
Camber felt a tingle down her spine. This wolf was sweet with the biggest heart, and she was bringing her closer and closer. “Computer, open.”
The doors to the hotel room opened, and she walked through.