Page 38 of Healer
I wrapped my arms around his neck, issuing my sauciest smile.
“It’s a little something I learned as a teenager callednecking.”
Hakkar proved a quick study, as he did with most things. We spent close to an hour acting like a couple of teens just shy of curfew. Finally, with a resoundingly regretful moan, Hakkar satme off his lap, cuddling me to his side and telling me to behave myself and get some sleep. I meant to refuse... I really did, but the quiet of the night and the sense of security I felt in his arms helped sleep steal me away without much effort.
However, somnolence proved no match for the feeling of firm but gentle lips kissing over my face a short time later.
“It is time to wake, my Aggie.”
Unlike most times, when sleep held onto me like an overprotective mother, I came instantly awake and found myself lying alone on the fur. Hakkar knelt a few inches away, his attention honed toward the village.
“Is everything okay?” I glanced about the landscape, discerning nothing but darkness and a few oddly shaped blobs. Unlike mine, Hakkar’s vision was like having a built-in set of night goggles.
He moved to my side, a soothing hand running down my spine. “It is time to go.” He nodded toward the distance, where the bright bustle of the village had diminished to a dim glow.
I stood, moving off the fur and addressing myself to the handful of jerky and waterskin Hakkar offered while he repacked the satchel, leaving out a large piece of oversized gray fur.
“You will need to cover your head and face.” Hakkar shook the fur out before handing it to me. “I will keep us out of sight as much as possible, but if someone notices, this will hide your being human.”
Despite the humid heat of a few hours ago, a faint chill settled in the air as night fell deeper. I arranged the fur like a cape, the piece so big it covered my head and body completely. Glancing up for Hakkar’s approval, he smiled, bending over to kiss me soundly before arranging the edges of the fur to better hide my face.
“Stay as silent as possible,” Hakkar admonished, taking my hand.
I nodded, my shoulders growing tight with worry. We hurried across the open field, tall grass rustling more from the breeze than our steps. It took only a few minutes to reach the first ramshackle building. I held my breath as we crept deeper into the settlement.
Hakkar kept us to the shadows, side streets, and alleyways as much as possible. Passing building after building, one thing struck me as both odd and familiar. The shops of the settlement weren’t that different from those on Earth. Granted, the buildings were more akin to something you’d find in the old west instead of Madison Avenue, but the wares they carried, although a bit more rustic, echoed the shops of Earth. Clothes, food, leatherwork, metalwork, and what appeared to be a primitive technology store. Although I suspected what looked like junk from the outside was far more advanced than anything on Earth.
The streets were deserted. Only one out of every six lanterns flickered with a dull flame. The air felt thick, with a miasma containing remnants of the day—unwashed alien, cooking meat, and some kind of bitter ale.
Slipping into a side alley, Hakkar jerked me to a stop when a door slung open in front of us. A tall, blue alien with black tentacles for hair stumbled out from what reminded me of the cantina from the Star Wars movie. Beady, glowing green eyes swept over us, narrowing briefly before rolling completely back into his head. The alien’s drunken slide down the wall was so familiar that I had to clamp a hand over my mouth to keep from laughing.
The only other being we came across—a short, squat bald creature with large white eyes and a square nose-less facethankfully seemed more concerned with locking up his shop for the night instead of passersby.
This wasn’t a big village, not even a quarter the size of my hometown. Still, moving so stealthily, it seemed to take forever to travel the dark streets. Finally, we stopped outside what appeared to be a small clothing shop. Like the other buildings—wood and metal comprised its construction, with the front door made of thick steel, which seemed oddly out of place. Hakkar scanned his comm unit over the locking mechanism, and the door opened with a loud click.
Shock replaced relief as I stepped inside. The outside might appear dilapidated, but luxury appointed the inside of the shop with sumptuous fabrics, accessories blinged to the max, and something similar to jasmine scenting the air. My gasp of surprise ended, tinged with horror, as something whizzed by Hakkar’s head, stabbing into the wooden door frame with a resounding thud.
Hakkar glanced at the blade, still wavering from impact, with more aggravation than concern.
“Siereita,” he hissed, pulling the blade from its perch.
The creature emerging from the back of the shop literally took my breath away, and not because she held a laser blaster trained at my head. Statuesque and lithe, her pale lavender skin was utterly flawless, as were the dark green ringlets piled atop her head in a style that reminded me of portraits of Marie Antoinette. Her bright green eyes caught upon Hakkar, and full purple lips curved in appreciation. She moved closer, the rustle of her deep red gown reminding me of silk, a beautiful garment despite the wide “V”at the front, which exposed her breasts—all six of them.
I’d always been quite happy with my God-given endowment in that area. But standing next to her with my chestcompletely unsupported in my Wilma Flintstone ensemble, I had to admit—I looked rather inferior.
“You are Vaktaire?” She practically purred. Jealously reared inside me as deep green as her hair.
“My name is Hakkar, healer of the Bardaga and friend to Siemba and Dixa,” Hakkar told her, flipping the knife in his hand and handing it back to her hilt first.
A faint smile crossed her lips as the female relaxed. She took the blade from Hakkar and deposited her blaster atop a nearby counter.
“I received a message from Siemba to expect contact from a Vaktaire and... Her eyes roamed over me, completely unimpressed. “A human.”
“I rescued this human from an Ulkommanian research facility,” Hakkar said, as though that fact alone should earn me the female’s respect.
Siereita’s shoulders shifted. Whether from relief or resignation, I couldn’t tell. “I will relay a message to the Bardaga that you have arrived.” She turned toward the rear of the shop, gesturing with a graceful wave. “Come. You look in need of rest.”
Silently, we followed her from the shop and into a storage room, where she bent, grabbing what looked to be a thick fur rug, jerking it upward to reveal a trapdoor underneath. We followed her through the trapdoor and down a narrow stairwell. It amazed me how someone Hakkar’s size moved so gracefully in such a small, cramped area.
