C. S. Friedman by The Wilding

Author:The Wilding [Wilding, The]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-03-18T08:42:00.343000+00:00

"Moving her to forward quarters," Homani told him. "Raija wants vid on her, and there's no outlet for that in this closet."

Tali'l reached forward and opened the portal. In the darkness beyond Tathas saw familiar, frightened eyes. He steeled himself against betraying any sign of com-passion and nodded. "All right."

Slowly he knelt before her, letting her accustom her-self to the triple threat in the doorway. He didn't dare soften his expression lest she respond to it and give him

away. "Come on," he said quietly. "We're moving you to a better place."

There was more terror in her eyes than usual, if that was possible. Boundless, bottomless terror, that made the hair on the back of his neck rise. He forced himself to meet her gaze steadily, willing her to draw strength from him, then pointedly looked away. It wouldn't be good if the others saw any connection between them.

She was quiet as he gathered her up from the floor, one arm behind her back, another beneath her knees.

Trembling as he touched her. He started to rise up, lift-ing her—

—when suddenly she twisted in his arms, her face pressing close to his cheek as her hands grasped his head—

And she whispered in his ear, "They're going to kill you. Now!"

There was no time to think, only to act. His hands were full, his balance wrong, and three of them were be-hind him. If he took time to question her words or their source he'd be dead. So instead he rose to his feet in a fluid motion, the woman still in his arms, and turned to face them.

Tali'l's talons were bared. Her eyes were fierce. Her expression said it all.

With a silent apology he threw the woman towards Homani. Surprised, he caught her; the glitter of black from his weapon was visible for a moment beneath her tangled hair before he growled in anger at the tactic and simply let her fall. But his instinctive response bought Tathas a precious second in which to close distance with Tali'l, grabbing at her wrists to control those deadly taloned hands. He got one and missed the other, and she nearly gutted him as he jerked her forward, ripping the side of his tunic as she fought to stay on her feet. But that was okay. He'd pulled her between him and the two men now, so they had no clear line of fire. Hopefully they'd care enough about her for it to matter.

Talons raked for his face. There was a black glistening substance on their tips now which, he noted grimly, was not likely to be nail polish. He ducked the blow and threw the full weight of his body against her, still hold-ing her other hand fast. Good but not good enough; he felt the sharp nails rake down his back as he lifted her off her feet and heaved her with all his might over the psychic's limp body, into whatever man was standing closest. Homani cursed and Fatu fired, but the shot went wild.

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