Page 58 of Resisting the Alien Rider

“Who else would it be? You’re practically on my doorstep. When did you get here?” I aimed my tail at the curled figure still sleeping in his lap. “Are you going to introduce me?”

His face, which had been oddly slack before, went taut. Stricken.

And then I knew that something was very wrong. Because I’d seen that expression on him before.

At the end of our trial, when we were both condemned.

“What is it?” I asked urgently. I tried to crouch to get down to his level, but my ankle prevented me. Probably good. With my foot in such bad shape, once I’d gotten down there, it would have taken me ages to get back up.

He only gave me a single word in answer.

“Ardu.”

His voice was like that of a drowning man’s.

My stomach tightened. My blood crashed in my ears. I saw then two tiny brown and bootless feet. One of them with the telltale signs of an ardu’s bite.

And then my mind was on fire, questions and calculations ramming at each other so quickly it became hard to think.

“How long has it been?” I demanded. Already, I was turning to see how far I’d come from my shuldu. Garrek would have to get to his shuldu, too. And he’d have to be fast.

“What?” he asked dazedly.

By the Empire, the man was falling apart right in front of me.

“When was she bitten?”

I whistled sharply. Fiora came galloping along the stony beach at once.

“I…” Garrek shook his head, as if to knock loose some old, forgotten information. “It was just after sunrise.”

“Then there may yet be time. Get up,” I commanded him as I hopped madly over to Fiora. I took a harsh breath in – because this part always hurt like the bloody blazes – and hauled myself up into the saddle.

Thankfully, Garrek seemed to be responding to some of the urgency in my voice. By the time I was seated in the saddle, he was on his feet, cradling his dying wife close to his chest.

“Now what?” he asked.

“Now, we ride like her life depends on it,” I told him, taking up my reins and turning Fiora ’round. “Because it does.”

22

GARREK

I’d never ridden so fast as I did then with Magnolia limp and burning in my arms. I pushed Shanti as hard as she could go, keeping pace with Oaken while Killian followed. I did not know where we were going. I did not even know why. All I knew was that Oaken seemed to have an idea and anything,anythingwas better than sitting there feeling Magnolia slip away from me on that beach.

Even if whatever Oaken wanted to do was some foolhardy waste of time. There was no cure for an ardu bite.

But doing something had always been more natural to me than doing nothing, and if I could do anything for her now, I would. I’d follow Oaken off the edge of a cliff for her if it would make any sort of difference.

We left everything else behind. The bracku, fenceless and defenceless. The tents. Our packs. The beautiful vest Magnolia had made for me. All of it.

I did not know how long we rode. I, who’d alwayshad a good sense of direction – a skill sharpened by my life here – could not have recalled the path afterwards even if I’d tried. No landmarks served as records for me now. Only Magnolia gave me signs I paid any heed to. The temperature of her skin, the speed of her breathing were my only markers. Her body the only map that mattered.

I finally did notice when we passed fencing, though. Wooden enclosures nestled within a wide, grassy valley between soaring peaks. A clear stream burbled over rock nearby. And beyond that stream was a cabin.

I tightened my hold on Magnolia as I urged Shanti into a broad leap over the water. Oaken and Killian leaped, too, and Oaken shouted over the sound of pounding hooves, “We have to get her inside!”

Shanti had barely stopped moving when I was already jumping down with Magnolia in my arms. I landed in a heavy crouch and sprinted for the door. I kicked it hard, boot colliding, and wood splintered as I forced it open. I heard Oaken swear as he got awkwardly down from his mount, then he muttered something like, “Blast it all, Garrek, I have a key!”

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