Chapter 29 #2
Normally Nora would keep pressing, but today she doesn't. Instead she attacks again, and this time she's faster.
I defend automatically, but it takes me several exchanges to understand what's different: She's anticipating me. The next time I reach for her arm, she ducks before I've fully committed to the movement. My hand closes on empty air. An elbow impacts my ribs.
I stop moving. “You predicted that.”
Nora stops too, with a satisfied little smile on her face. “I’m starting to learn how you fight. And you always lead with that side.”
She's right. I do, and I have for years. Most opponents never survive long enough to notice.
We begin circling again.
"You know," I say, "you still can't beat me."
"Beating you isn’t the point here."
"Then why are you taking this so seriously?" I ask.
Finally she says, "Because Sophia won't have you. She’ll only have me."
“She will?” I ask, strangely resenting the idea. Does she think I’ll fail?
"If she's alive, she's been surviving without a giant alien harrower protecting her.
If we're going after her, then I need to be useful when we get there. You will protect me, not her." There’s a set determination on her face, one that I’ve seen on Harrowers before a mission. “And someone should protect her.”
For several moments neither of us moves.
Then she attacks again, and I defend without thinking. A grab, an escape, a strike, a counter.
The rhythm carries us across the chamber. All the while my thoughts keep returning to the same thing. Sophia won't have me.
Nora is training because she expects danger. She thinks that there are situations where I won't be able to protect her.
The Inquisitor's voice returns uninvited. You must remove obstacles. The sooner, the better.
The next exchange ends with me catching both of her arms again. This time I hold her in place. "What are you preparing for?"
She meets my gaze. "For whatever happens next. You said you don’t worry about that. But I have to."
I release her slowly. For the first time, I understand that Nora’s becoming stronger because she knows I might fail.
My first impulse is anger. A Chief Harrower does not fail.
But watching her reset her stance, small and bare-knuckled and utterly serious, I find that the offense won't come. What comes instead is something closer to shame. Not because she doubts me, but because she may be right to.
She steps back and raises her guard again. Her small hands should look ridiculous in that position, but the determination in her eyes would give any attacker pause. "Again?"
I study her for a long moment. The determination is there, but there’s also something else that I can’t quite place. Finally I raise my hands. "Agai–"
Suddenly the whole chamber shakes as the Beast tightens up.
I grab Nora to keep her upright. “She’s seen something.”
The pulsations through the ship speed up as we both quickly make our way to the command chamber.
“Chief Harrower!” the navigation chief exclaims. “There are two ships attacking us!”
Through the Beast’s eyes I see the shadows of two ships against the stars of the galaxy. “Which brood?”
“We don’t think they are from a brood, sir! They look like Gzet!”
I zoom in with one giant lens. “Ah. Shiny and made from metal. Remarkably ugly. Yes, those are Gzet.”
“They’re coming straight at us, sir!”
“Looks like we’re getting close to their planet,” Nora points out. “It makes them nervous.”
I give her a little smile. “Nervous enough to come out to try to fight us. Your Lucius was right about the direction.” I turn to walk over to the command seat, but Nora puts a hand on my arm.
“Don’t destroy them. They may have clues about Sophia.”
Under different circumstances I would tell her that battle rarely allows such luxuries. Yet she has a point. If these ships truly came from the Gzet homeworld, then they may know where her friend is. "I'll preserve one if I can."
The answer doesn't seem to satisfy her, but she nods anyway.
Around us the command chamber has become a hive of motion.
Officers hurry between their stations while the Beast's living displays pulse with growing urgency.
Through her eyes I watch the two ships approach.
Hard metal angles protrude in every direction, and their engines leave pale streaks against the darkness. The Beast dislikes them immediately.
I settle into the command cradle and allow the control tendons to wrap around my arms and torso. The familiar pressure steadies my thoughts. A good Harrower doesn't fight with weapons. He fights with his Beast.
The connection forms. Suddenly I can feel her irritation. The Gzet vessels are attacking her. She wants to crush them.
"Patience," I murmur.
The first volley arrives a moment later. Thin beams of white light slash across the darkness and strike the Beast's fur. Several crew members flinch. The beams burn channels through the outer layers before dissipating harmlessly against the dense tissues underneath.
I bare my teeth. "That is their weapon?"