Page 44 of Abalim

Abalim squatted and put out his arm as if she was dumb enough to keep on walking. Okay, maybe with her head in the clouds, she was. But still. She hunkered down next to him.

“JR15,” he whispered to the bot on his shoulder. “Can you tell me how many are guarding the hut?”

“Oh yes, Mister Abalim, sir.” His spider shaped robot quivered his bulbous butt. “There are ten guards surrounding the domicile.”

Abalim looked over his shoulder at her. “Open your senses and tell me what you feel.”

What? It was time for psychic lessons? Lisa gave him a narrow-eyed stare before giving in and closing her eyes. A wave of emotional sensations wrapped around her. There was excitement, fear, and a huge heaping of giddy lust from the guard, Xalun, as he daydreamed of Maelani. Ewww, she could’ve done without that last part. She mentally shook herself and put a block on her spidey-sense so she didn’t get overwhelmed by everyone’s emotions.

“I’m not sure how helpful that was.” She gripped his firm upper arm to keep herself steady. “All I got was a jumble of emotions that I have no idea who they’re from.” She nodded toward Xalun. “Except for that one. All he can think about is Maelani.”

Abalim’s smile lit up his dark eyes as he searched her face. “That’s very good. First chance we get, I’ll teach you how to separate the emotions so you can pinpoint which ones you want to focus on. That way you’ll have the ability to determine who’s friend or foe.”

Friend or foe. Sometimes he talked like an old codger. Lisa giggled. “Well…” she intoned. “Spill. Tell me what you know.” Tit for tat. Time for the man to share the good stuff.

Abalim pointed to the guards wandering around the hut. “The guards you see are determined to keep the elders inside safe. What’s important to us is they’re not militarily trained in any way. Most of them are farmers or merchants.” He stood and pulled her with him behind the nearest large tree. He peeked around it and pointed to the hut. “But I’m sensing something completely different inside.” He frowned. “Those people are terrified.”

“I don’t blame them.” Lisa studied the hut in the dim light of the full moon and the lit poles placed around the small one-story building. “I mean, even though these people grew up believing they might end up as part of the Ritual of Renewal, I doubt they thought for a minute they’d be in a group instead of doing this alone.”

Abalim humphed. “JR15, would you do another sweep to make sure there isn’t anyone else around?”

“Analyzing, Mister Abalim, sir.”

“Why are you making him do that?” Lisa tugged on her ear and studied his intense expression. “You’re not going to do what I think you are, are you?” Who said she needed psychic powers?

He grinned at her. “Probably.” He turned and studied the small building. “We’ve got to get inside. Something just doesn’t feel right.”

“Mister Abalim, sir, no change in who is inside or outside the building.”

“Thank you, JR15.”

“What doesn’t feel right? Do you mean in there or just everything in general?” Lisa let her senses go free. There… he was right. Something was off. Like an underlying plot percolating she wasn’t aware of until she focused on it.

Abalim glanced at her and shrugged. “If I’m honest, everything.” He circled the air with his forefinger. “Not just in the village and the ritual they’re planning on performing later, but the whole situation the Xeltrians put us in. Why are we really here in the small village getting ready to watch them terminate their elders? Are we supposed to stop them or encourage them? And have you noticed the surrounding landscape? How every hour we’re here, the plants appear to be dying?” He gestured to the leaves and bark of the tree they hid behind.

For the first time, Lisa studied the bark she stood next to. It had black patches that matched the ends of the leaves. She was no botanist, but it didn’t look very healthy.

“And what about Saphira and her crew? Was it necessary to freeze them in stasis on their ship while we gallivant around here? Why not put them in a holding cell on Qorath?” He turned to study the hut and guards again. “There is definitely something else going on in there and here.” He clenched his hands into fists. “When I think I’ve figured some of it out, something else happens.”

Well, soaring space dung.The man was right. The last time she felt like this was when she’d walked in on the middle of a movie and never saw the trailer. She scrutinized her surroundings. Now the taste of unease she experienced was stronger. “What do you think we should do?”

His sigh rumbled from deep within his chest. “First, let’s see what’s happening inside that hut. I want to know how those elders feel about going through the ritual. Are they there willingly, or were they forced? If they’re eager to do this, then why is everyone afraid? And why guard people who want to be a part it? I’m convinced someone or something changed how things are done here.”

“Like what?”

Abalim scratched the side of his square jaw. “Like why are there some Lumarians going against the norms and insisting on seeing their mother before the ritual when they were never denied before? If everyone is happy about the ritual, why are they now going against generational traditions? I’d like to get close to Maelani and Dravik and find out what they’re really afraid of.”

“Ah, you’re going to read their minds.”Hmm, yep, sounded like a plan. “Okay, I’m with you. Read the folks in the hut first. Then we’ll go and look for Maelani and her brother.” She eyed the guards circulating the small hut before glancing at Abalim.

Abalim’s eyes narrowed on the small structure. “Yes, that’s the plan.”

“Okay, so how do we get in without alerting the whole village?”

Abalim turned to her with a radiant smile. “Why, through the front door.”

Oh sure. Through the front door. Why didn’t she think of that?

Biting her lower lip, Lisa followed Abalim out of the dense foliage and headed straight to the guarded elders’ hut.

---