Heart Scarab by Anna Butler

Author:Anna Butler [Butler, Anna]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Gay Mainstream
Publisher: Wilde City Press
Published: 2015-03-08T23:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

17 Tertius 7488: Telnos

“Horses?” Rosie eyed the animals and suppressed a shudder. She didn’t like horses, much. Big brutes that rolled their eyes at her and always looked as if they were working out which bramble bush to drop her in. Or which pile of manure. “What’s wrong with walking?”

“They’re faster.” Bennet hauled himself up onto the horse’s broad back. “We discovered Maess drones don’t see us as humans on horses. They don’t take any notice of us and every little helps.” He looked rueful. “I’d offer you a hand up, Rosie, but I don’t have the hand to spare.”

“I can manage.” Rosie squirmed up to ride pillion. It was not an elegant manoeuvre. “Oof!”

“Okay? Hold on.” Bennet gathered up the reins. “What brought you here, Rosie? I thought this place would’ve been written off by now.”

“It was your father’s idea,” Rosie put her arms around his waist and rested her cheek on his back. He was alive. Her eyes stung and her voice wavered. “Oh, Bennet.” She choked, grimaced, said his name again as a sort of talisman. “Bennet. I didn’t expect to find you, much less for you to be alive. No one did. But your father was taken with the idea you’d want him to do something about getting out any survivors. A tribute to your memory sort of thing.”

“It’s the sort of noble gesture he’d love.”

Two Mosquitoes whined overhead. Rosie glanced up but they were invisible in the cloud cover. “Yes. I got that about him. You two are rather alike, you know. Anyhow, when I suggested we came back, he got it at once. He can take a hint. Which is where you two aren’t at all alike, come to think on it.”

“When did you see him?” Bennet touched his heels to the horse, getting it moving. The miners, most of them doubled up on the horses, were halfway down the slope. Bennet let the horse pick its way in the rear of the little group. The big miner stuck with him, off to one side.

“The morning of the Watch and then at the funeral, of course. I wore a black armband and your pendant, and I cried myself silly. We all did. They held the Watch in your parents’ local temple and it was lovely. Your mother was very sweet to me when I went to tell her how sorry we all were. You look a lot like her.”

“So I’m told.”

“Anyhow, before the Watch started, your dad had me talk to the Supreme Commander to persuade him it wasn’t a good idea to leave people trapped on this little hell-hole. And after a week thinking about it, they sent us back here to see what we could find. It took us a few days to sneak our way in. This sector’s hot with Maess now and well behind the lines. We took it slow and took the long way around. The last thing we wanted was to be noticed. We didn’t know what

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