Zylan Rebellion Page 5

  Nothing more was said. The women seemed content to leave her to her thoughts. They asked no questions and said little else as they helped her to gather her few belongings and escort her the short distance to the village.

  Her skin color wasn’t a curiosity as there were many varied flesh tones among the women. This was the first time she’d been given the opportunity to observe the diversity of Zylar’s people her father had described. Once again the memory of her family made her falter, she pushed the sadness aside to concentrate on her surroundings.

  The sight greeting her as they came out of the forest was a very small and almost primitive village made up of ten simply made wooden huts. The aqua tone of the wood created a vibrant picture in the moonlight. Ahnika noticed several women moving around the small rock-walled compound. But she saw no men and there were no children. It was a very quiet and seemingly peaceful setting.

  Anala stopped in front of one of the houses and turned to speak to her, “Namilla, you will find a bed in this home with Tilana.” Anala nodded at the tall, pale green woman with light blue hair. “We share our homes in groups of three or four. Tilana’s housemates are currently away on a gathering trip so there is plenty of room for you to be comfortable. She will show you where you can bathe and will bring you to the communal house for something to eat. If you have any needs, just let Tilana know and we will try to take care of them.”

  After a few bi-nons of rest, sunshine and good food, Ahnika felt like she’d been reborn. Still hyper-alert, she kept a bag packed and close to her at all times, just in case she needed to run. As she sat in the shade of a moonflower tree contemplating what to do next, she decided she couldn’t stay in Jandai much longer. This time of healing was coming to an end.

  She sensed a change in the air. After being kidnapped and brought to this planet, she had been kept underground and away from the moons’ power. But with her freedom, came exposure to their influence and the possibility that whatever psychic gifts she might have would increase with her recent exposure to Zylar’s moons.

  Many psychic gifts appeared at maturity but she knew Zylar’s three moons enhanced psi abilities. She didn’t know the first thing about testing what was happening to her or how to develop what seemed to be an increased awareness. Anala might be able to tell her of exercises she could do to uncover them, but then she might ask questions Ahnika didn’t want to answer. Maybe when she was home and safe, she would get a chance to experiment.

  She could feel pressure against her skin, the sensation reminding her of a dark cloud moving toward her. Since she couldn’t use her abilities to narrow down what that meant, she would take it as a hint to leave. The last time she ignored this impression, she’d been kidnapped from her home…she was not about to repeat that situation.

  It didn’t help that she’d also started feeling nervous around the women. They all seemed nice, but she could feel undercurrents in the village she didn’t understand. There had been several times when conversations had ended when she joined a group of the women. Or maybe she should say arguments instead of conversations?

  It almost felt as if there were a hint of fanaticism in some of this group. To a lesser degree, she recognized the same sort of psychic taint that had come from her captor. Sighing heavily in disgust, she shrugged her shoulders. It would have been nice if she could really be safe here. She didn’t exactly feel danger coming from the women, just a strong intuition she didn’t belong in this place. Unsettled and wary, she felt she needed to move on.

  Hearing women’s voices coming in her direction, she started to call out when the words of their conversation stopped her.

  “I can see this path you wish to take bringing danger to us, Syblia. You need to rethink your plans.” Anala was talking to one of the women who had just returned from the gathering trip. Ahnika had felt her discomfort increase since the women returned this last bi-non. What was the danger they spoke of?

  “Anala, you are getting old and you are past the age of bearing children. You know none of us will ever link—Brac took care of that when he captured and tortured us many life cycles ago. After escaping from him, our bodies have healed but our minds never will. We will have no men in our lives…yet some of us want children. The potion will help us conceive. It will enhance our reproductive system so a link bond isn’t necessary to the creation of life. But we still need a man’s seed. We will eventually find travelers who stray to close to our village. We are hidden, but if Namilla stumbled upon us, others will. If they don’t come to us, I can take other trips to find men elsewhere. When we have the opportunity, we will capture and hold any men we find and use them for their semen. All you need do is to strip them of their memory when we’re finished. If you will not do this, we will kill them so our village can remain safe.”

  “Doing this, you will become the very thing we ran from. Brac tried to turn us into sexual slaves, taking our freedom and our choices. Now you would do this to others?” Anala sounded furious. “How can you even think of taking a man’s seed, then killing him or tampering with his memories? You know trying to erase their time here could damage their minds beyond healing. I do not understand you, Syblia.”

  “Those of us who want more, who want children, are owed this,” Syblia spat. “We’ve had too much taken from us. We’re not willing to sacrifice this opportunity.”

  “Then go to a larger village, use the potion and entice a man. You do not need to kidnap one and tamper with their minds.”

  “Anala, you know there is no way on Zylar’s moons we would allow a man to touch us or use us in any way. We will control this. We have prepared the cave for our captives. When any man comes to this village, we will bind them and take what we wish.”

  Anala and Syblia moved away. Ahnika could no longer hear them, but she was shocked and heartsick at Syblia’s plans. No one deserved to be held against his or her will and used in such a way. Even if they were to hold this Brac, who Ahnika was sure had to be the same man that had captured her. Brac. She now had a name to put to the monster’s face. Ahnika frowned. She hadn’t paid a lot of attention to her father’s meetings, but she was almost sure she’d heard him mention a man named Brac before.

  Right now who he was didn’t matter, Ahnika knew she wanted absolutely no part of this village if they would recreate the horror she’d lived through. She would leave in the morning.

  * * * * *

  Raj pursued Ahnika’s psychic thread up into the wilds of the northern mountains.

  This was an unsettled region and, as far as he knew, there were no villages or settlements for the girl to get supplies. Worried for her, he wondered if she found enough food or if she was able to keep warm during the cooler nights. His senses told him he was getting closer to her, but she remained out of his reach.

  Several bi-nons into his search, he stood on a high ridge and looked down, amazed to have found a small community well-hidden in the middle of a thick forest. If Ahnika’s soul tendrils hadn’t led him directly to the tiny village, he would never have seen it.

  Raj was tired. He’d used up a great deal of energy just keeping those Goddess cursed tendrils from reaching out to him again. And he’d been using even more psychic energy trying to soul-shift at night—not one of his stronger talents—draining his life’s essence by mentally going back to Brac’s compound to see if he could, somehow, gather more information. Unfortunately, each soul-shift had been like hitting a brick wall. Brac’s home remained tightly shielded and Raj hadn’t been able to discover a way in, nor had the shields loosened enough for him to catch so much as a glimpse inside.

  All he’d managed to accomplish with those nightly visits was to exhaust his psychic powers. He would soon need to find some willing female bodies to replenish his depleted strength.

  Maybe he would find someone in this village. He watched the small group for this suns’ rising and noticed how Ahnika’s winding blue and red soul trails were woven all through the village tapestry. It appeared she’d spent some time he
re, although it looked as if she’d recently moved on. He could follow a very new tendril as it snaked out from behind the village and disappeared into the forest on the other side with no returning thread.

  Raj didn’t have the vitality he needed to follow her. It was too far to any other settlement to take a chance without feeding. He would have see if he could find what he needed among these women before he could go any further. Both physically and psychically tired, he settled down to rest and before he could think clearly, he relaxed…allowing his shields to drop.

  Within minons, he could feel the first touch of Ahnika’s soul trails. Groaning, he realized he had no energy reserve to fight what was to come. From beneath heavy lids, he watched the pulsing red and blue fingers move over his body, creating the sensation of fingers running through his hair, caressing his face.

  Slowly the ribbons moved over his arms and chest. In breathless anticipation, he watched a mist of purple color pool over his groin and teasingly hover in place. A light sheen of sweat coated his body and he shifted uncomfortably. His mind raced as he tried to work through his options, he had a choice. He could deny this experience and try to put his shields back in place, which would use the last of his dwindling psychic energy and leave him powerless against more danger than the soul trails. Or, he could see what the psychic ribbons would do to him. The first brush of pleasure tempted him. He could feel the clear, fresh essence of Ahnika’s energy reach out and enclose him in its warmth.

  Decision made, he relaxed in his hidden tangle of underbrush, surrendering to the phantom touch. With his capitulation, the ghost tendrils jumped him.

  They caressed and skimmed over every inch of his covered skin. Pulsed. Raj shuddered with indrawn breath, as the mist simultaneously gathered between his thighs and hovered over his cock. Having clothes deadened the effect, so with a wave of his hand, he removed the barrier of fabric. And the entwined soul trails settled over him. Reached out to circle his nipples. Groaning softly at the moist suction running from his breast to his groin, he watched the bolts of red and blue energy spike and shimmer along the length of his shaft.

  Feeling swollen and needy as the blood in his body surged and throbbed to the soul trails’ tempo, he disbelievingly noted the colors dancing and playing over his skin, as they flayed his body with the most amazing sensations. The energy beat over him, alternating between a slightly soothing feeling and a tormenting fiery pleasure. The blue soothed, the red tormented…a rainbow of ecstasy held just out of his reach. Bending his knees, he dug his feet into the ground and pumped his hips. Struggling to find release, he forgot he wouldn’t feel a welcoming cradle for his cock and that the expenditure would cost him needed vitality.

  Waves of heated touch moved faster, swamping him as the curling swirls of energy drove his excitement higher. Soft fingers of sensual fire branded his flesh, making him arch into their caress, causing him to moan in rising need. The force stroking him began to pump and squeeze his cock. It pressed in on him and then slid along his thick length, searing him with vibrations so sharp he needed to fight for every breath.

  The pulsing flares of heat grew firmer, faster, making him clench his muscles and grind furiously against the misty red and blue haze. In stunned distress, he felt his power build as if he were feeding from a woman’s orgasm. The slight increase reminded him that he had to stop this now. He couldn’t afford to let the needed energy dissipate with his discharge.

  But he was powerless against the passionate embrace of the tendrils. For the first time in his life, he had no control. The colored bands of Ahnika’s soul milked him and he felt the force of a thousand shockwaves crash over his body and a hot ejaculation of seed spurted and shot from the end of his cock in a climatic explosion.

  Shivet! Raj groaned as his body underwent aftershocks as the soft tendrils slid from around his cock and off his flesh when he re-erected his shields. What in the Goddess was that? Just what he needed right now…to be completely drained with the very first orgasm since his training with the Selven when he was eighteen life cycles and learned that having such a release would require him a non of time to recover his energy. He wouldn’t waste the effort it took to bemoan the fact that this climax had been a solo one.

  Sitting up, he was amazed to find he wasn’t weak, but actually felt a little better than before the onslaught of psychic sex. Goddess! This was going to take more thought than he was capable of at the minon. With a wave of his hand, he cleaned himself and redressed.

  Needing to push away what just happened and concentrate on his next moves, Raj realized the interlude had given him a choice. With the little bit of added energy, he could continue to track Ahnika or he could go into the village and take the chance someone would be willing to feed his Vampen needs. He looked around him and sighed, he didn’t think there were any other villages or towns within bi-nons of this place. Not understanding the nature of the energy he had just received, he still knew it wouldn’t last long and he wasn’t sure he wanted to chance using the tendrils again to gain the little bit of power the experience provided him. He would have to go into the village.

  This small community perplexed him and made him nervous, he had yet to see one man or a single child and yet he counted about twenty-five women. The lack of men and children was odd. Not wanting to alarm the women any more than he had to, he decided he better see if he could get his needs met during the suns rise as he felt they wouldn’t appreciate a stranger entering their village after nightfall.

  With this thought, he strode from the tree line and made his way to the small arch in the stone wall signifying the village entrance. By the time he reached it, several women were gathered at the entryway.

  At first, he was a little disconcerted when all the women stood and glared at him, they really didn’t look welcoming. But Raj wasn’t worried for long, he truly liked and enjoyed the opposite sex and women of all ages liked him in return Never having met a female who could resist his caring, he was sure he’d be welcomed once they realized he posed no threat. He just hoped at least one of them would be unattached and interested in spending some time with him.

  After a tall, dark-haired woman whispered a command, the women became more accepting and Raj relaxed. The villagers’ reaction was most likely due to their isolation. He didn’t imagine they got many visitors.

  The tall woman approached him and spoke, “Sir, welcome to our little village. I am Syblia. We can see you are tired and dusty. Please come and share a cool drink with us and rest.”

  Raj smiled and accepted readily. “I am Raj and I thank you for your hospitality. I would appreciate something to quench my thirst other than the water I have had on my journey.” This woman was nervous with him but he could understand her reaction if there really were no men in their village. Raj decided he would share a drink and light talk before he asked any questions about Ahnika or searched for volunteers.

  While standing over the village and looking for traces of Ahnika’s soul trails, he had seen overlapping tendrils of all the village inhabitants. Many of the women here had dark shadows within them, shadows that could mean a number of things. Attempting to mentally reach out and touch the women’s minds to see if he could detect if the dark murkiness hid some sort of sickness…he also wanted to find if he could identify someone who would be receptive to having sex with him.

  He was surprised to discover all the women’s thoughts were blocked to him—an unusual event for a Hunter. Most of the time, he could read others with no trouble. First Brac blocked him from reading his mind and now these women were doing the same thing, the unusual situations were a little disconcerting. He hadn’t realized how often he relied on reading at least the surface impressions of others. Maybe his psychic powers were draining more rapidly than he thought with his efforts to find the girl and trying to figure out what Brac was up to.

  During his observation, he did notice a highly unusual and positive—for him—fact about this village—all the women were unclaimed and over the age of
agreement. Thinking this strange, his need was so great he took it as a good sign and silenced his inner caution.

  The women seemed to change their wary attitude toward him quickly enough and acted delighted with the idea of having a visitor. Syblia offered him what she said was a common Zylan restorative potion.

  “Here, drink this and rest a minon. Then we would love to hear what brings you to Jandai.” She handed him a simple mug of brew and he noted how this village seemed lost in past times, as if it had been tucked away for many life cycles. Their story would undoubtedly be very interesting.

  The taste of the potion was bitter and Raj drank the liquid quickly. Thinking that they must not have a very well-trained herbalist, he was astonished to find himself rapidly losing consciousness. They had drugged him!

  Nilts later, Raj woke to find himself naked and locked into arm and leg shackles in a cave. The women had him chained on his back on a low pallet, his feet spread apart and his arms tied together over his head. The metal restraints were fixed low to the floor, which left him spread-eagle with no way of using his body for leverage. A blanket had been thrown over his waist.

  Furiously, he tested his bonds and tried to break them without success. He didn’t have enough psychic or physical force left to fight this captivity, which left him completely helpless. He roared in anger, “What in the name of the Goddess is wrong with you people? Let me out of here!”

  At his shout, several women moved into the chamber. “Good, you are awake.” He recognized the speaker as the woman who called herself Syblia.

  “What in the moons are you doing?” Raj demanded.

  “You are our captive, we plan to use you for your seed, taking no pleasure from your body. Your role is to impregnate several of the villagers with children. There is no doubt a man with your…proportions will be very virile,” Syblia informed him tonelessly.