Gods of Garran

The Gods of Garran: Chapter 6

A novel by Meredith Skye

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The enforcer team had wrapped the bodies of Dale and Tomlin and put them in body bags. Then, once deep into the hills, they buried them. The Agency would come back to claim them later.

Once that was done, Ruben and his team travelled for half the night, carrying the priest Jaynanth's body on one of the yithhe. Ruben took them over rocky trails to hide their tracks in case someone tried to follow.

The north moon rose and gave them a little light. Still they rode their yithhe well away from the village. They found shelter in a ravine and made camp.

They dropped Jaynanth's body carelessly on the ground. His vacant eyes stared up at Asta. The eyes almost looked alive still. She bent a little closer and thought she heard a whisper; it made her jump. She moved away from the corpse.

"You didn't have to kill him," Asta accused Ruben, who was standing nearby.

"You hate the Garrans as much as I do!" insisted Ruben. "What were we supposed to do?"

"Arrest him and give him a trial!" she said, upset.

"You saw what he did to Dale and Tomlin! He's a killer. And I'll be damned if he got away with it!"

"He wouldn't have gotten away with it," said Asta. "That's what courts are for!" This breach of justice bothered her.

Ruben studied her. "Is this going to be a problem for you?" asked Ruben. He knew her father was the Commander. Ruben almost refused to take her into the Stealth Unit because of that. "You're not going to get me in trouble are you?"

She could. Technically, her father, Koethe was the head of the Enforcers. Though as base Commander, he oversaw little of the actual operations. She and her father weren't exactly on speaking terms-but she could report him to someone else.

Asta studied him Ruben.

"Look," he said. "Things happen out here. If you can't handle it-then maybe you're in the wrong line of work."

"I can handle it," she said.

"That priest attacked us! We don't even have to make a story up. He was armed. He killed Dale and Tomlin. So-we killed him. We put him down. All this is true."

She stared at Ruben. He was one of the Agency's top agents. Even if she did complain to his superiors-maybe they knew how much he bent the law out in the wilderness. Maybe they knew . . . and did nothing. She shrugged at last. "I don't go running to my Father every time something bothers me, if that's what you think."

Ruben nodded. "So, we're good then? You'll back us up?"

"Of course," she said, trying to appear careless even though the whole situation made her feel uncomfortable.

"Good. Because out here the lines can get a little fuzzy. We are the law and there are very few of us against a vast population of natives. Things have to get done, even if they get done the hard way. Strength is what these people understand," said Ruben, his eyes hard.

He turned to the others. "Build a fire. Let's do this."

Breehan, Jess and Pak pitched in and they built a huge bonfire. They tossed the body of Jaynanth into it and watched him burn.

Even in the fire, the priest's head was visible. His eyes stared at them the whole while, as the body burned. Last of all, the fire consumed the head. Asta fought down an urge to quit this job and go home-back to her desk job.

Asta really wanted to leave the planet of Garran. Go back to her homeworld of Toolash-a civilized world, not some lawless, backworld desert. The planet that had killed her mother. She pushed those thoughts aside.

Once the body had been incinerated, they roasted eke meat on the embers of the bonfire, laughing and joking about it all the while. A final insult to the old priest.

"Relax," said Ruben, passing Asta a flask of Anik Rum. "This was your first big mission. You did well."

"Thanks," she said. She took the rum and drank. It took several more drinks before the situation felt acceptable. The others drank deeply as well.

She could still see the priest's bones in the fire.

The tents had already been set up and they were done for the night. It had been a very long day. A tense one, especially for Asta. Now the group just relaxed.

Ruben slid a little closer to Asta. "I wasn't kidding when I said you did well. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks," she said, blushing a little.

They were both drunk. He took her hand. "It's nice to have a little time together out here, under the stars." Ruben had flirted with her some during training. She'd had her eye on him. He had that rugged look that appealed to her, as did his scraggly long hair. A bad-boy look to go with his attitude.

The moon rose higher, casting a pale light over the desert. The stars came out. But the white bones of the corpse in the fire, damped the romantic moment. Asta still remembered the look in his dead eyes. She closed her own eyes, but it was hard to remove the memory.

She opened her eyes as she felt Ruben move. He leaned over and began kissing her. This surprised her. She hadn't expected it. To be honest, she had hoped that it would happen. So, she kissed him back.

Just 21 years old, Asta had never had a serious relationship. She'd always been a bit of a loner. Ruben's tender and insistent kiss felt good to her. Arousing. Also comforting.

Still, some part of her mind objected. The day had been upsetting. But by now, the rum had kicked in and her worries melted away. She gave in to his kisses, savoring the intimate moment ... haunted by the embers turning to ash in front of them.

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