"Keiara?" he asked as he popped up through the trap door and into Gar's hut. Keiara and Asher were both gone. He felt abandoned and suddenly very much alone.
The old warrior glared at him, his hatred hot and vibrant. He got up the minute Rone came through the floor, short sword in one hand and a shield in the other.
"What have you done to her, Rook?" His lip was pulled into a vicious-looking snarl.
Rone stopped, keeping his body as still and nonthreatening as he could. He put up his hands, showing Gar that he had no weapons.
"I honestly don't know," he replied. "Listen, Gar. I know you don't want to believe this but I don't want to hurt her. I don't want to hurt Asher or any of you. Keiara was right. We have spent too long hating each other for no reason. It's time we put that all in the past."
"I've spent my entire life fighting your people," Gar said, the snarl still on his lips. "You think you can just wash away the horrors and wrongs Rooks have wrought on us. You think you can smile, wave, pretend to understand or say sweet words and everything will be forgotten. My daughter was at the Battle of Ledun. She has a burn scar covering half her face. How will your words fix that?"
Rone didn't say anything for a long moment. He couldn't help but feel overwhelming guilt at all the pain his people had caused. And he felt angry that the reason was so stupid. Ignorance. Plain and simple ignorance. They didn't understand the Terraquois and were scared of the things they could do.
"I can't undo the past, Gar. I wish I could and I would in a heartbeat." Rone stepped forward, his heart pounding in his chest. He was terrified. The old warrior's anger was a nearly physical being. It lived and breathed and it was focused entirely on him.
Gar's sword lifted, its point aimed right at Rone's chest.
"But I might be able to help your daughter. I might be able to undo some of the damage. You said she'd been burned during the fight?"
Gar hesitated, unsure of whether or not Rone was trying to trick him.
"You can fix her?"
"Maybe," he replied, his hands still up and open. "But you will have to trust me. Can you do that?"
Still he hesitated but there was also hope there. The pain his daughter bore because of that burn was a weight he'd carried around his neck since it first happened.
He looked at Rone.
"Do it," he said. "Fix her."
"How fast can she get here?"
"She can be here in just a few hours," Gar replied. "She can become the cheetah." His eyes lit up with fierce pride. "But I am not sure how long it will take to get a message to her."
"Let me worry about that," Rone told him, closing the gap between them. He laid his hand on the brawny warrior's shoulder. He felt the man tense up but he relaxed a second later.
Gar lowered his sword and looked up at Rone.
"If you hurt or kill her, there would be nowhere you can hide yourself from me. That, I promise you."
Rone nodded. He took a step away from Gar, opened his mechpaks and watched as a cloud of nanos hovered in the air. Rone focused on them for a moment, envisioning what he needed first and then watched as it took shape. It gradually turned into a drone not unlike the one he'd made for Asher. There was one difference however. Mounted to the front was a circular depression with a shiny, black eye. The drone hovered in the middle of the air and turned to face Gar.
YOU ARE READING
Dragon: A Histories of Purga Novel
Fiksi IlmiahI read Dragon and liked it. This is worth reading. - Review by: Piers Anthony (Bestselling author of the Xanth novels) Rooks have embraced science and technology, inventing microscopic robots called nanos to create any machine they need. The Terraqu...