Chapter Six #3
“I understand.”
She patted his cheek. “Good. You may survive to be judged by the dwarf council for your attacks against their taller genetic throwbacks. They will get the final say. I hear they like to toss the guilty into piles of stones. Doesn’t that sound like fun?”
She got up and watched as he was carried out in full restraints.
She went to get her helmet, and Day-ek asked, “Why do you run around with the dark visor at night?”
“I was born blind, dumbass. As are most with these eyes.”
Day-ek nodded. “I did think it odd that you could drive.”
“I have a friend, and we share strengths. And then the most recent wave hit, and things changed again.”
She nodded. “Well, you do your thing. Jennel has the recording of the scrying today. Amy has the printed record. I am out. I will just tell Axa that we have him and that she wasn’t the only one. Have a good shift.”
Day-ek asked, “One more thing. Do you dance like Cora?”
“Oh. No. Not like Cora.” She chuckled. “If she’s drunk enough, she can dance a bit like me.”
She laughed and headed out, getting back on her bike outside the venue and returning to the hospital.
She held Axa as she learned of Rein’s twisted obsession with the dwarf descendants who could be controlled with simple medications available at any pharmacy.
Removing the bracelet at the bar was the first step in his being able to get her into the back, and from there, anywhere he wanted to abuse her.
Vaia’s presence messed that up but gave him the chance to volunteer to read and still live out his twisted fantasies.
Axa cried, but she asked what would happen to him.
“He will make a full confession, or he will suffer as you suffered. Losing the senses in his limbs and making him very popular in parts of the prison.”
Axa blinked. “Wow. You can do that?”
“Sure. Everybody has something that they are good at. That is my thing. Now get stronger, get your life back, and join your friend who seems to have enough room in her life and home for you and several like you.” She smiled.
Axa blinked rapidly. “I...”
Vaia came into the room. “I heard. Axa, you have a place with me as long as you want it. Thanks to Azreen’s urge for a large home, I think I have enough space to hold a sleepover in a different room every night of the week.
Of course, he would grab me and haul me off when everyone was asleep, but there is a certain amount of fun playing hide and seek with him. ”
Never got up and smiled. “Right. I will leave you to your friend. Have a good life, Axa, if I don’t see you again.”
Axa looked up. “You will see me. That much, I can feel. I don’t know what happened to me during the wave, but it was something. I just need to figure out what it is. Vaia has already promised to help, but I know I will see you again.”
Vaia asked, “You are staying in town?”
“Until Cora is better and I get a call to hunt someone. I will be at her place.” She chuckled.
“Letting my hair down. She’s stuck here for the next day or so.
Axa, start to decide how you want your life to go.
You get to start over, and your friends have aged and advanced enough to be useful as you begin again. ”
Axa laughed and held Vaia’s hand. “Thanks again, Never.”
“Get up and get dancing, Axa.” She smiled. “Your legs still work, charge them rent in effort and sweat.”
Never left the room and tried not to look as exhausted as she felt. She looked in on Cora and grinned. “Iscorabella. You are just slacking. Are you feeding more energy to the clan chief?”
The male in question blinked at her voice. “Oh, Never. How was your hunt?”
“Successful. Cora, do you need anything this evening?”
“No, Never. You can head to my place and crash.”
Never nodded and smiled. “I will.” She walked over and kissed her sibling’s cheek. “And thanks. I don’t think Leo understands what we are.”
“We barely understand it. I still want to punt those punks into next week.”
“Cora, they are in their eighties.”
“Yeah, but they are still punks.” She chuckled.
Abel-ur looked up and said, “You are most welcome to stay with my clan if you feel the need for other orcs about you.”
Never smiled. “That is kind, but I can feel the gathering around me. It is rarely restful.”
Cora said, “Orcs, trolls, and goblins are her purview. She feels them all to her soul. Every ache, pain, want, and need. The very matter that makes them calls to her, and if needed, she answers.”
Never laughed. “What she said. I am going for tacos. Nighty night, Cora.”
“Aw, tacos. Can you bring me some?”
“No, but I can send you some. Expect them in twenty minutes.” She waved behind her as she left her sibling’s room. If she didn’t get some sleep soon, there was going to be an issue.
* * * *
“Why does she call you Cora?”
“Oh, because Bella is what I use publicly. Iscorabella is what Matthias gave me, just like Never was given Navender. So, it was either Never or Ender.”
“Ender seems to suit her occupation.”
“No. She just hunts them. She doesn’t kill them. As she puts it, she puts the mechanisms for dying into place. Her target can survive if they want to.”
“So, she has aspects of goblin and troll, as well?”
“Yup. Non-shifter, non-human bipeds with wave-based origins.”
“And she’s a shaman.”
“To all of her related races. Yes.”
“So, do they offer her clanship?”
“Only the orcs need shamans in-house.”
Abel-ur sighed. “It isn’t that. While they are powerful, they are vulnerable. Much like you and Never, a shaman needs a companion to hold a link, to keep the power balanced.”
“Who are you texting?”
He grinned. “Someone who very much wants to link with your sister.”
“She’s going to be a hard sell.”
“He knows. He’s anticipating getting her to see his side of things.
She’s pretty much everything he wants in a partner, and he’s trying to demonstrate his good qualities to her.
Let’s just hope he doesn’t strip and flex at the taco stand.
That will be a deal struck with the XIA that will cost me to keep quiet. ”
Cora chuckled. “He wouldn’t.”
“If she says she wants to measure the distance between any part of him, the clothes are coming off. For a speaker, he suddenly lacks dignity.”
“Sudden?”
“As of yesterday. Tam-or got all domestic all of a sudden. I mean, I had about ten hours over him, but he hit it hard.” He kissed her knuckles. “Your sibling makes an impression.”
“Oh, that she does. I am surprise she let him see her, though. She normally obscures around orcs.”
“Why?”
“Because when I went to a seer and looked for the father of my kids, she mentioned a powerful orc in the middle of the city. When Never heard that, she started obscuring herself around orcs. If I needed one to fulfill the vision, she wasn’t going to risk us aiming at the same male.”
“But, when you and I linked up...”
“She was free to be seen. If you had made any moves toward her, she would have left the city rather than mess with my future.”
“That is loyalty.”
“Oh, you have no idea. She helped toilet-train me when I was little. I just refused to go indoors.”
He laughed. “In touch with nature?”
“Yup. Wild magic is my personal strength, but when I look human, I have the same issues as a human, including not being bulletproof.”
“So, if you could, you would walk around with the horns all the time?” He smiled.
“Only when the ceilings are high.”
He grinned. “Fair enough. Are you going to dance any time soon?”
She turned her head, and the shadows formed Hura, who stepped forward. “She is going to get back into practice as soon as the docs let her. We are starting Wednesday classes at the mansion a week after this. Seven o’clock, with bells on.”
Abel-ur asked, “Does Never dance?”
Hura smiled. “Not the same way Bella does. A lot more deep island dancing. Graceful arms, rocking hips, and fast drums. The way she can rotate her hips and squat while stepping is something I aspire to.”
“That image boggles the mind.”
Cora laughed. “I have it.” She pulled up the image on her phone and showed Abel-ur. His eyes widened, and he said, “Can you send that to Tam-or?”
“Nope. He gets to see it when he earns it. Or when she’s involved in an orc dance-off.”
He smiled. “We do have a university launch celebration coming up. We like our graduates to know that the community is behind them. A shaman’s blessing would be greatly appreciated.”
“Uh-huh. Don’t tell me. Tell her. But let her get a good night’s rest first.”
“Why did you smile when she said she would let her hair down. That’s a pretty common phrase.”
“Ah. She only takes her hair out of the braids when she’s planning on staying for a week or more. It takes hours to get back into configuration, so it’s a sign that she will stay as long as she can. Oh, shit. I have to send her my new address.”
She quickly texted Never and soon got a response. She answered and pulled her tray into position. A moment later and hot tacos, hot sauce, lemonade, and everything, enough for two. “I hope you like tacos. She sent enough for both of us.”
He got up and sat on the edge of her bed, and they had a hospital room picnic. The nurses came in, took one look, and asked, “Does your friend deliver to nurses’ stations?”
She texted and grinned. “She’s sending tacos for six, but you are on your own for drinks because she’s mad at the coffee machine for eating her quarters.”
They kept eating, and five minutes later, there was a happy noise from the nurses’ station. Cora laughed. “I bet they overheat their faces.”
“If they are lucky. Dem-rah must like your sister if he makes them this hot for her.”
She sighed and chuckled. “Everyone likes Never, as long as they haven’t pissed her off.”