Warrior's Touch (Deadly Touch book 2)
Only Love

Llew and Jonas leaned on each other for support as the undertaker lowered the box into the ground and filled in a little of the soil before carefully extracting the tree, brushing soil from its roots, and splaying them over the tiny box. Hisham stepped forward to help fill in the rest of the soil.

Llew’s heart felt strange. Of course, she was devastated by the loss of her children. Despite her doubts, she had already been having dreams of what her family life might be like. But there was something about the whole experience that uplifted her. Jonas had lost everything, too, and yet he was here with her. Anya had her own life to get on with and a wedding to plan, and yet here she was, halfway across the continent to support Llew. In all her life, Llew had never known love like that.

The instant the tree was submerged in earth, Llew sensed a quiet hum in the back of her mind. Not a real sound. Not a physical sensation, either. Something intangible, yet real. It began exploring her as the tree in Turhmos had. Its touch gentle, reserved, respectful. Where the tree in Turhmos had dived into her memories and darted around her body, this one was featherlight, peering at her most recent experiences, exploring her scars, and checking it all against what it knew about the box cradled in its roots. There was no sadness. No pity. Only love.

They returned to the barracks to enjoy a selection of light nibbles provided in a corner of the mess hall. Llew sat, her damaged belly aching much of the time, while those that could stand comfortably milled about, conversing quietly.

After receiving all the well-dones and it-was-beautifuls she deserved, Anya made eye contact with Llew from across the room. She hadn’t been by for the last couple of days. At least, not when Llew was awake. She had managed to keep herself busy, and Llew appreciated it. There was something healing in being able to lay her babies to rest. She smiled at Anya, who smiled back tight-lipped. Then the blonde girl excused herself from her latest admirers, and made her way across the room, pausing by the nibbles table to select some treats.

Crouching beside Llew, Anya popped a bite-sized cake into her mouth and held one out for Llew. Llew accepted with a quiet ‘Thanks’ and waited for Anya to be ready to talk.

“Do you remember that book we found in Gaemil’s library?” Anya spoke once her mouth was clear of food, but she kept her gaze on the room. “The one that said the three races existed alongside each other, rather than what we’d always been taught about the Immortals somehow splitting to create the Sy races and then those somehow dividing down into the lesser varieties while still existing themselves.” She hefted a frustrated sigh and turned to Llew. As she did, the grievance fled and something else flickered behind her eyes, but she schooled herself to a neutral expression. After allowing herself a couple of breaths, she continued. “You know, that theory sounds quite bizarre now I think about it from my new perspective. Anyway—” Anya rested one forearm on top of the other and lay both on the arm of Llew’s chair. “Do you remember that book?”

Llew remembered something about dismissing one of the books because it was the only one to put forward its theory. She shrugged and nodded.

“Well, I found another that says the same thing. It’s in another language, but it has, um … pictures.” Anya scowled at the word before looking back at Llew. “If it’s right, it was an Aenuk with a Syakaran blade and an Ajnai tree that captured the power from an Immortal and then somehow gave it to another Aenuk and a Karan, creating the first Syaenuk and Syakaran.”

“The last Immortal,” Llew said, her mind not able to grasp exactly where the thought had come from, but once she’d said it, it made sense. “Aris.”

“Rendering him powerless, but no less long-lived.”

The two girls stared at each other for several moments.

“Which means I can do it again,” said Llew.

“No.” Anya’s features set, and she shook her head vigorously. “You have to promise me. If you ever replace yourself with that opportunity, you won’t do it. There’ll be another way. Like a Syakaran knife, or cutting off his head, or … something. But not you and a tree.” Anya gripped the arm of the chair tightly with her hands. “It would destroy you, and I can’t have that. Promise me, Llew.”

“Um.” Llew’s head was full of thoughts of standing by her Ajnai and taking back Aris’s powers. It wouldn’t bring her babies back, but it would punish Aris for what he had done and set things right. She couldn’t promise not to do that.

“I’m telling you this because it helps us to understand Aris, where he’s come from and what he might do now. I am not telling you this so that you can go out there and get yourself killed. I won’t have it.”

“How do you mean destroy me?”

“Exactly that, Llew.” Anya’s eyes took on a haunted look. “There’s a picture. The Aenuk between the Ajnai and the Immortal was …” Anya looked all around and waved a hand, as if beckoning the words to come to her. Finally, she settled on looking pointedly at Llew. “In bits. In little meaty bits and pieces flying everywhere. Blown up. Exploded. No more.”

The two girls sat and crouched looking at each other. Anya’s determination to prevent Llew from getting herself blown up was palpable, but Llew couldn’t bring herself to dismiss the possibility, not if it came down to her and Aris.

Still, being blown up. Well, it would be a quick way to go, if not painless.

“Have you told Jonas about this?”

“Not yet. I—”

“I’ll tell him,” said Llew. “You know he wouldn’t let me do anything stupid.”

Anya relaxed, and even smiled. “Yes, he’s more likely to sacrifice himself than let you do it. At least his methods are less likely to end with him blowing up.”

“Aris isn’t going to stand there waiting for Jonas to chop off his head or stab him with a Syakaran blade.”

“No, but Jonas is a trained fighter.” Using the chair arm as leverage, Anya pulled herself close. “Promise me, Llew.”

“What are the chances we’ll run into Aris by my Ajnai tree, anyway?”

“If he has designs on destroying it before it destroys him, probably higher than you’d think.” Anya clamped her lips in a wry smirk that held no pleasure.

The nibble she’d eaten suddenly wasn’t sitting so well in Llew’s stomach. Aris knew about the tree. She’d let herself get all wound up and mentioned it when he was interrogating her about healing Jonas. But she hadn’t told him where it was. Well, she’d said Turhmos, but she was quite sure Turhmos was large enough that replaceing the tree wouldn’t be simple. Then again, how much information had Aris got out of Hisham, or even Jonas?

Llew looked to where Jonas was still deep in conversation with that lieutenant general she disliked so much. Jonas saw her looking and excused himself.

“I’ll leave you two to it.” Anya stood and dismissed herself.

Jonas and Anya acknowledged each other with a nod as their paths crossed.

“You alright?” Jonas asked, crouching beside Llew.

“Sure.” Her belly ached but, while she could neither forget nor ignore it, it nearly faded into the rest of the background noise of life.

Jonas scratched his jaw and adjusted his weight.

“Kane was tellin’ me Turhmos have reached out to Quaver.” He paused, giving her a significant look. Clearly Turhmos weren’t offering a peace treaty. “They’re worried about Aris,” Jonas continued. “Someone reckons they saw him leavin’ an Aenuk camp.”

“He’s killing Aenuks?” An Aenuk and an Ajnai had taken his power the first time. If he was killing Aenuks, maybe he hadn’t found the tree, yet. But if he had designs on wiping out Turhmos’s Aenuk camps … A chill ran through her. “My ma.”

Jonas gripped her thigh above her knee, a move she had little doubt intended to bring her comfort. She’d already lost her pa, and her children. Like Jonas, she didn’t think she could handle losing anyone else.

“It was empty. It was …” He turned from her, pained to finish. “… the one I cleared out last year. It was compromised, so they abandoned it.” With that out of the way, he could look at her again. “They’re asking for help. Kane’s negotiatin’ with them to let me go in after him. We can still replace your ma.”

“If he doesn’t replace her first.” Not that it was ever far from her mind, Llew was acutely aware of her injury and she cursed her inability to heal supernaturally from a wound inflicted by a Syakaran knife. Trapped in Quaver while Aris slashed his way through the Turhmos Aenuk population? “We need to get to my tree,” she said.

“As soon as you’re ready,” Jonas said. He had such hopeful expectation in his eyes, as if she might be about to respond with an affirmative.

She wished she could.

“Well, at least you’re out of bed, right?” Jonas stood and held out a leather-gloved hand. “Come on. I’ll take you for a walk, then we’ll see how you feel.”

Their fellow mourners let them pass with nothing more than polite nods. Of course, no one else here, except perhaps Anya, was emotionally impacted by the loss of the children they had buried. But, given the alternative was open antipathy for an Aenuk, Llew felt she should be grateful for the small crowd of fellow nibblers.

Jonas looped his arm under hers, prepared to support her should she need it. Painful twinges shot through her belly occasionally and having him there to catch her if she should fall allowed her to walk with a greater confidence. They headed from the mess hall and out into the fresh air of the barracks outdoors.

“That was real pretty,” said Jonas. “What you said back there. In the … in Anya’s garden.”

Anya’s Garden. Llew hadn’t thought of it as that, but it was as good a name as any, and perhaps the safest for what could only be described as a monument to all that Quaver loathed right in the heart of Quaver.

The barracks was deceptively large, practically a town all on its own. Soldiers’ quarters and basic utilities crowded around the main entrance, easily persuading the casual viewer that there was little more to see. Behind lay the mess hall and offices, as well as little cabins and houses for the higher-ranked officers and families. Jonas now shared Lieutenants’ quarters with one other, though he’d hardly been using it.

Along one fence stood stables and a few narrow corrals. Llew’s stocky hack stood out from the more athletic-looking Quaven military horses, not least of all due to his white and gold coloring. Llew was pleased to see he had been allowed to share a corral with Jonas’s bay pinto. The two horses seemed to have bonded as well as their riders.

Both horses raised their heads as the pair approached the fence. Chino nickered, snorted, and took a tentative step towards them before Amico rounded him up, threatening to nip his legs, and led him in a chase away from the couple.

Jonas and Llew grinned at each other to see the bold hack leading the warhorse in play. Llew reached the fence and turned back to face Jonas.

“I didn’t say anything.” Except thanking them for allowing her to keep their father.

“Well then, what you didn’t say, it was real nice.” He gave her a lop-sided smile and leaned an elbow on a fence post. “I mean I … I’m real glad you saved my life, too.” He looked down, scowling. “That ain’t what I meant …” He pulled his hat from his head, ran his other hand through his short hair and, with a grimace, pushed his hat back in place.

Llew felt a smile touch her lips, but thought better of letting it show. She thought back to before the funeral – in her room – and how they hadn’t talked about their children. And she remembered the funeral itself and how Jonas hadn’t said a word, had looked everywhere else but at Llew or the box. It was a reminder that though she struggled to, some people believed in love and let themselves feel it. He had loved their children. She stepped into him, wrapped her arms around his waist, and stooped her head to press her ear into his chest. His arms came up around her shoulders and his spiky chin pressed down on the back of her head briefly, then he pulled back. He must have felt what she felt, the faint transfer of life where their skin made contact.

Frustration flared inside Llew but, while Jonas had preserved his own safety, he hadn’t let her go. So, for a moment Llew allowed herself to forget all that lay ahead of them. For right now, she could savor a moment of comfort. Her children were at peace.

Something was making the back of her arm warm and moist. She pushed back to replace Chino and Amico, both with their heads over the fence. And on her arm, a grass stain. She brushed at it ineffectually and went to give Amico a pat on the nose but stopped short of touching him. So far, she’d managed to avoid healing off her horse, and she didn’t want to damage the trust he had in her.

Jonas gave her a sympathetic grimace and reached out to pat the hack on her behalf.

“I bet they’re eager to go,” said Jonas, giving Amico a scratch under his forelock. “You think you might be ready?” he asked.

Llew bit down on the rising anger she felt seeing him pat her horse. It was irrational, but that didn’t mean she could turn it off. She watched his leather fingers trail up and down her horse’s head.

As for being ready to go, Llew didn’t know. Knowing what she did about Aris’s probable intentions, she wanted to get on the road as soon as possible. But her belly ached a lot of the time, reminding her that not too long ago she’d had a knife her Aenuk powers couldn’t heal her from rammed into her belly twice, and her flesh was not yet knit. The Ajnai tree in Turhmos had healed her from a Syakaran knife wound before, but at the very least, the journey there would be unpleasant, if not downright dangerous.

“We got to go sometime,” Jonas said, keeping his voice gentle. “Doc said it could take months for you to heal, longer maybe. We gotta get you to your tree.”

“I know.” She gripped the top of the fence. “Anya found out that an Aenuk and an Ajnai tree took Aris’s powers the first time. And if he’s already killing Aenuks …”

“It won’t be long before he hunts out that tree,” Jonas finished for her. “We can’t stay and protect it, what with your ma and my son, but we better get you to it before he replaces it. Unless you think that new tree could do it? That’d be a big help.”

Llew hadn’t even thought of it. The tree was sentient the way the one in Turhmos had been, but was it mature enough to heal her?

“I don’t know. We could try. So long as trying doesn’t kill it.”

Jonas nodded and shrugged. “Maybe it’s safest to head for the Turhmos one. We gotta go there anyway for your ma and my son. But it won’t be easy if you can’t ride. We’ll have to take a cart.”

“I guess so.” And a cart would slow them down. But she wasn’t ready to sit astride a horse, yet. “Will Hisham go with us?”

Jonas darkened, but nodded.

“You, me, and Hisham?”

Jonas nodded. “So far. Cadyn wants to come. And Kane wanted me to take a whole regiment, but I told him we’d be safer crossing into Turhmos with a smaller group. If we take an army, it’ll rattle Turhmos, even after they reached out to us, and I wouldn’t blame ’em.”

She heaved a sigh. “I wish Cassidy was here. And Alvaro. Do you think he would come if we asked him? He would be handy to have along, don’t you think? He’s good with a sword.”

Jonas stepped in close behind her, looping an arm about her waist. “Alvaro’s a long ways away. And somehow, I don’t think he would be much fun to travel with. Not once we’ve swung by your tree, anyhow.” His hand moved, caressing over her shirt.

Unbidden desires stirred, manifesting in painful cramps.

“Don’t do that!” she snapped, firing an elbow back reflexively.

“Oof!” He half-stumbled back, clutching his side. Over-reacting, or maybe getting out of her way before she had another go. “What was that for?”

She turned to face him, biting back a moan from further pain. “It hurts when you do that.”

“What?”

“Touch me like that. Make me want … things.”

“Sorry. I didn’t know.”

“Well, you do now.”

They stood in awkward silence, neither quite looking at the other.

Jonas finally sought eye-contact. “Really?” he asked, all innocent curiosity.

“Yes, really. So don’t, alright?”

“We better get you to your tree real quick then.”

“Stop it.” Llew narrowed her eyes at him. “Don’t even smile at me. It hurts.”

Jonas clamped his lips together. A look like that could do no harm.