Part 19 (2/2)
That doesn't look like a Kindred s.h.i.+p. In fact, what it looked like was the long black hovercar which had brought her and Kor to the spa in the first place. Had Ratner and Ferna switched s.h.i.+ps or were they running late? Maggie began to get a very bad feeling as the door slid open and a skinny, familiar looking man jumped out.
Is that...it can't be Jonas, can it?
But sure enough, the next person out of the long black s.h.i.+p was a thin, familiar shape. Maggie was standing well back from the end of the carpet but she knew Nola Pope'nose when she saw her. And even if she hadn't seen her, Maggie would have recognized her shrill, commanding voice anywhere. She ducked quickly behind one of the ornamental white trees that lined the carpet and watched the scene playing out.
”Well? Come on, Jonas-don't take all day! You know you have to carry me down the Grand Promenade,” Lady Pope'nose snapped at her cringing slave.
”Yes, Mistress!” Jonas knelt in front of her and Lady Popenose clambered awkwardly onto his back and wrapped her skinny arms around his neck.
”Hurry!” she commanded.
Jonas stumbled to his feet and began staggering down the Grand Promenade, clearly struggling even with Lady Pope'nose's light weight. It made Maggie feel a little better about the fact that he'd had a hard time carrying her back on Yonnie Six. Still, maybe Lady Pope'nose weighed more than she looked.
She's got to be carrying at least fifty pounds of pure meanness on that skinny stick body, Maggie thought. Then she realized what she was doing-she was just standing there waiting while the woman whose slave she had stolen-the woman she had chained up in her own dungeon-was coming toward her. True, she was hidden behind a tree but not very well hidden-it was time to beat a hasty retreat.
Just then, Lady Pope'nose looked up and somehow saw Maggie-maybe because her velvet red dress stuck out like a sore thumb in all that white. Their eyes locked for a split second and then Lady Pope'nose began to howl.
”That's her! That's her, right there! Guards of the spa, come get her! Jonas, hurry up!” And she began to flog the poor slave with some sort of a whip or flogger Maggie hadn't seen earlier. She had the confused impression that Lady Pope'nose might have pulled it out of her elaborate hairdo but she didn't know for sure-nor did she want to wait around to find out.
”Hurry up!” Lady Pope'nose insisted, beating her poor, laboring slave even harder. ”She's going to get away!”
At her urging, Jonas broke into a staggering run-a ridiculous sight with Lady Pope'nose still clinging to his back riding piggyback style and whipping his skinny b.u.t.tocks with her short ta.s.seled flogger.
Maggie only had a second to watch, however, because her numb brain had finally unfrozen and was instructing her legs to turn and run. Whirling around, she kicked off the impractical high heels that went with the red outfit and began to sprint as fast as she could through the slender white trees.
As she ran, Maggie couldn't help looking over her shoulder. It occurred to her that if the other woman would only dismount, she might catch Maggie with no problem. After all, she was considerably thinner and she had much longer legs. But apparently it was beneath Lady Pope'nose's dignity to set foot on the white carpet herself. She just kept flogging poor Jonas and screeching in his ear like some demented jockey in a race for sickly horses.
She won't get down-I'm going to make it, Maggie thought. I'll find Kor and explain what's happened. Surely he won't be gone yet-he was looking for the perfect s.h.i.+p to steal-one that wouldn't be missed for a long time. He'll take me someplace safe and we can try to contact Ferna and Ratner again from there.
Just the thought of seeing him again-of spending even a little more time together-lifted Maggie's spirits. She felt lighter than air as she sped through the white trees, casting the occasional glance behind her. Everything was going to be all right. Everything- Her thoughts were cut off abruptly when she ran headfirst into something big and extremely solid.
”Ooof!” she gasped and fell backwards onto her b.u.t.t. The impact was so sudden and hard all the breath was knocked out of her. Even worse, her gla.s.ses went flying off her face and landed somewhere in the gra.s.s.
What the h.e.l.l? Maggie thought, dazed and dizzy from her collision. Did I run into a tree? And where are my gla.s.ses?
”Excuse me, Mistress.” The deep, grating voice from above her made Maggie look up. Without her gla.s.ses she could only see a blur-but a large, imposing blur. Oh dear-that was no tree she had run into.
”What...who are you?” she demanded. ”What do you want?”
”My name is Captain Beblax, head of security here at the spa. I'm afraid you're going to have to come with me,” the blur informed her.
Maggie's heart sank. Was this it? Was she really going to get caught just when she was almost out of here? It didn't seem fair or right. She hoped that Ferna and Rater might still show up and help her or maybe that Kor would come cras.h.i.+ng through the trees to sweep her away in the nick of time. But the only one who arrived was Lady Pope'nose, still astride the puffing, blowing Jonas.
”That's her!” she cried shrilly, obviously speaking to the blurry guard. Finally she slid off the exhausted slave's back and stalked around to point at Maggie. ”The one I told you about when I called. She stole my slave and my ident.i.ty-not to mention my clothes. Why, that's my best afternoon dress and she's stretching it out! She must be punished!”
”I only stole him because she was about to kill him,” Maggie said desperately as Captain Beblax hauled her roughly to her feet. ”Look, I can't see anything without my gla.s.ses. Could you at least hand them to me?”
”Oh, you mean these?” To Maggie's surprise, Lady Pope'nose extended one skinny hand holding her gla.s.ses.
”Oh, uh, yes-thank you.” She reached warily for them but Lady Pope'nose jerked them back and dropped them on the ground. There was a sickening crunch and Maggie felt her heart sink.
”Oops!” Lady Pope'nose said sweetly. ”What a pity, my dear-I seem to have stepped on your oculars.” Then her voice turned hard. ”Bring her to the security office. We have much to talk about...and much to do.”
Chapter Nineteen.
The Kindred Mother s.h.i.+p-6 months later Sees Truth was striding along the winding corridor that led to the guest suites with his head down, a frown on his face. As a dark twin of the Twin Kindred, he had an intense and sometimes bleak personality to match his raven black hair. His eyes, however, were an atypical pale, almost white-gray with a single thin black ring around the iris. The light eye coloring was rare in a dark twin. Then again, nothing about Truth was typical-and hadn't been from the moment of his birth.
Truth was lost in thought-so deep in contemplation that he nearly ran straight into a male who was coming in the opposite direction. The two males b.u.mped shoulders hard, nearly knocking them both down.
”Oh, sorry, Brother,” the male he'd run into said.
”Apologies,” Truth muttered in reply. Then he happened to look at the other male's face. ”You.” He said the p.r.o.noun as though it was curse.
”Yes, me.” The other male frowned. He was about Truth's height-six foot seven-and had dark blond hair. His eyes, though, were purest black-an unusual combination. He was, in fact, Strays Far, Truth's twin brother-not that Truth would acknowledge him as such.
”What are you doing here, Far?” he demanded, scowling at the other male. ”Have you come to bother Becca again?”
”I came to see Commander Sylvan,” was the stiff reply.
”Give me your hand,” Truth demanded. Without waiting for ascent, he grabbed his twin's hand and squeezed it hard, looking into the other male's eyes.
Far returned the look without flinching and refused to squeeze back, even when Truth's crus.h.i.+ng grip had to be hurting him. At last Truth released him with a sneer.
”You did come to see him and not Becca. Why?”
”He is on the Council, as you know. I saw something...something I thought I should tell him.”
”Had another little vision, did you?” Truth raised an eyebrow at him. ”Like the time you saw that girl floating in a pool of blood?”
”The same girl who went missing the next day?” Far arched an eyebrow at him. ”I stand by that vision-it was at least half true. All my visions are.”
”Too bad fifty percent accuracy is the best you can do,” Truth remarked. ”I never have such problems-I can always see when someone is lying.”
”I'd be lying now if I said you weren't an arrogant b.a.s.t.a.r.d,” Far said coldly.
”And I'd be lying if I said I gave a d.a.m.n what you think, Brother.” Truth shrugged. ”I don't have time for this-I'm going to see Becca.”
”Why don't you leave her alone?” Far demanded, his normally cool features tensing with anger. ”She's had enough of your wooing, don't you think?”
”At least I'm honest about what I want,” Truth shot back. ”And what I want is Becca.”
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