Chapter 52 #2
But the ratchi chasing them didn't stop, they continued on past their hiding space. Returning to whatever vehicle or cage they had escaped from to report their loss.
Once they were gone, Peony made a quick decision.
“We're going to run again,” she whispered down at Temnavi. “Stay in the low valleys. Don't try to climb the dunes. And move quietly, okay.”
Temnavi grunted once in understanding.
Working together, they slowly emerged from their sand bubble. To Peony's surprise, sunset had already set the sky ablaze with its rich colors. It was going to be dark soon and, if the rule of deserts still applied here, that meant it was going to get cold very fast.
“That way,” Peony said, gesturing him forward, opposite of where they came.
He immediately broke into a jog and, after pulling the last of her skirt free from the sand, she followed, improvised weapon still clutched tight in her hand. It felt like the tendons of her fingers had locked in place and she wouldn't be able to unfurl them even if she wanted.
Not that it was a concern for now as she followed after Temnavi, allowing his instincts to lead them further into the desert.
Humans might be considered predators, but Peony knew that she wasn't capable of hunting, tracking, or fighting the way a domini would.
She trusted the young boy to lead their direction instead.
At one point, she heard the hum of an engine.
Without thinking, she grabbed Temnavi and jerked him close.
She yanked his shirt off and shoved his back down, turning his entire body the color of the sand.
All except his pants, which she covered with her own body, lifting her skirt back over her head, hiding her dark hair and pretty shirt.
The sand coating the fabric of the skirt acted as its own camouflage.
They were as concealed as they could get.
She couldn't see what flew overhead, but the lengthening shadows combined with their camouflage kept them from its sight.
“What if it was Atem?” Temnavi whispered curiously after it had flown on.
“It wasn't Atem,” she said, completely certain.
Atem would have called out for her. He would have made himself known so she would know that she was safe. That hover had flown quickly and quietly overhead. Searching without being obvious about it. Or trying to, anyway.
Once they were gone and the air was quiet once more, Peony threw her skirt back, pushed Temnavi up, and they started running again.
Now, on top of her exponentially worsening anxiety, she was starting to tire. Her legs felt heavy from fighting against the weight of the sand. Her mouth was dry and her lips were chapped as she ached for a drink of water. Or blood. Or both. She wanted both.
Oh, crud. Did Temnavi need blood?
“Sweetie,” she whispered, touching his arm. “Are you thirsty?”
He grunted in affirmation. “But I'll be all right.”
“Do you... Do you need blood?” She asked, feeling weird about the offer, even as she held out her wrist to him.
Temnavi looked horrified at her hand, then back up to her before rapidly flicking his hands in the motion that she knew meant no. “You can't drink from your own allies, Peony! That's wrong! Feasting on another's blood is only done to an enemy!”
Peony grinned, messing with his hair. “Not in emergency.”
“Yeah, I'm not that thirsty yet,” he grumbled, trying to fix his hair back. It was such an innocent thing to worry about and it set her at ease. He would be okay, for now.
She on the other hand, would not be if she didn't get to Atem soon. Running, oddly, was helping. The mad, desperate flight was a good way to burn that anxious energy, if nothing else.
By the time the sun had fully set, both of them were panting, shivering from the bite of chill in the air, and sluggishly walking as their lack of food, water, and rest caught up to them. Temnavi was still only a child, after all.
“Peony! Temnavi!”
Surprised at hearing her named called, they both stopped and turned. Looking up to the crest of the nearest dune. A domini stood there. He was hard to see as he was wearing dark green, and it made him blend in near perfectly with the night sky.
But it wasn't Atem.
He started to climb down the dune and Temnavi smiled brightly.
“Torvii!” He greeted eagerly.
Peony grabbed his shoulder, jerking him back before he could run towards the male that was quickly closing the distance between them. The boy looked up at her, confused, but her hard gaze was focused on the First Scholar.
He was about ten feet away when she lifted her plastic weapon, aiming the blue blood-stained pointed end right at him. Torvii came up short, surprised.
But that surprise didn't remove the relief on his face. “Peony. Temnavi. Thank the ancestors I found you. Atem has been so worried! Come. Let's go. I'll take you to safety.”
Temnavi tried to approach, but Peony's hand tightened, keeping him in place. He didn't fight her, but she could sense his curiosity and befuddlement.
Torvii just smiled at her. “Peony? What's wrong? Don't you recognize me? Poor female. This heat must have affected your head. You're safe now. Come with-”
“How did you find us?” Peony asked, her voice hard.
“We've been searching all day. Since you went missing. Dominani is beside himself.
Peony smiled sardonically even as her heart clenched at the very idea that she could be this close to him. But she also wasn't naive.
“Then comm him,” she ordered, gesturing with the point of her sword. “Comm him right now and let me speak to him.”
Torvii looked surprised before quickly fixing his features into one of amused hurt. “You do not trust me, Adassani?”
“I do not. Comm him now or get away.”
Torvii chuckled, uncomfortably. “All right, Adassani. No need to threaten. I'm reaching for my comm now, all right?”
He moved slowly, reaching into his hip pouch. Peony was hyper focused on the careful movement, afraid that it was a trick.
A fear that was quickly realized when he jerked his hand free holding, not his combot, but instead a small weapon not at all dissimilar to the one she had been shot with before.
She threw Temnavi back just a second before a bright, white laser shot crossed the air right where he had been standing. It exploded against the sand behind her.
“Run!” She shrieked at Temnavi as she ducked another shot.
She heard the boy scrambling to obey her order as she stood, her hand desperately clutching a fist full of sand. Torvii aimed again, his entire face curled in disgust as he fired.
Just as his finger pressed against the button she figured had to be the trigger, she jumped to the side, narrowly avoiding another blast of laser fire. All the while she was running forward.
Torvii, proud domini that he was, didn't even consider backing down. She was just a tiny human with a piece of plastic to defend herself, after all.
He didn't see her handful of sand until she had already thrown it into his face. He yelled, desperately wiping at his eyes as the sand granules scratched at the delicate globes.
Peony lifted her weapon and slammed it down against his weapon arm with a desperate cry. He slashed at her with his other hand even as the strange gun hit the sand. She felt blood trickling down her down her flank but didn't yet feel the pain.
She ignored it as she snatched up the gun and turned it on the traitor.
He snarled, baring his fangs, as only one eye remained open, though it kept fluttering as though desperate to close again.
Peony pressed the button on the gun. But to her dismay, it didn't fire. Torvii started laughing at her, enjoying her incompetence.
Rearing back, she instead threw it at his head.
It might not fire in her hands, but it made a fairly decent bludgeon.
He yelled out, blood rushing from his nose as the weapon bounced off of his skull.
It hit the ground again and, this time, Peony kicked more sand over it.
Covering it so that he couldn't find and use it against her.
Instead, she lifted her plastic stake and charged.
He dropped back, avoiding the blows he could probably see coming a mile away.
She no longer had the element of surprise and two of his three eyes had managed to open again.
Their orange light was brightened with irritation from the sand that still coated them.
It was a small victory, but she would take what she could get.
“Female!” A hissing roar yelled out over the dunes.
She turned, ready for another attack.
Only to come up short when she saw that one of the ratchi, the one she had injured, had Temnavi in his grasp.
One of his beefy arms had hooked under the boy's jaw and was holding him up, his thick scales imperious to Temnavi's single, juvenile claw.
The ratchi had his other hand held over Temnavi's face, a proper set of obsidian claws threatening him.
“Drop your weapon,” he snarled. “Or your young dies.”
“Don't do it, Peony!” Temnavi yelled, kicking his little legs. “I can get out! I can!”
Atem might have showed him how to escape the hold, but whatever technique he was trying to use clearly wasn't working. The ratchi that held him was simply too strong.
Peony's throat closed as those claws came closer to her boy's face.
Snarling herself, she tossed the plastic into the sand.
The moment the weapon was gone, Torvii grabbed her by the wrists and jerked them back, holding them in one hand as his claws dug into her arm, drawing more blood. His other claws, he put at her neck, snarling in her ear.
“I ought to take your eyes for that offense, you disgusting vurick.”
“She is not yours to mutilate, domini!” The ratchi hissed. “That is our prize.”
Peony was tense but still, watching as Temnavi struggled against the ratchi. He was repeating the same, bucking motion over and over again. Trying desperately to employ what Atem had taught him without effect. And so long as he was caught, she couldn't fight back.