Crossing boundaries, Combining two worlds part two

BE CAREFUL

After his rendez vous with Kayla, Gh'ara went back to the camp where Varsa was anxiously waiting for him.

"Well? What did he want with you?"

Gh'ara didn't respont but started to rumage around his stuff.

"Gh'ara?!"

Only when Gh'ara had apparently found what he was looking for did he turn to his friend.

"Here..." And he pressed a small package into his friend's hands. "You must give this to your father. I just sent him a message and it won't be long before you get a call from Laraji saying that Taroc Vsar has asked for you.

This..."And he gave an astonished Varsa an information crystal.

"...you must give this to Rhan. If anything happens to me I want him to use this info to do something for me..." Varsa looked at him with frowning eyebrows.

"Why Rhan? Is there something on it I'm not supposed to know?"

Gh'ara gave him a scornfull smile. "No, but if something happens to me, you're going to get your hands full with other duties..."

He took a deep breath.

"Look, once Latarji is evicted, Rhan will take charge, he will lead our clan, that's already been agreed..." He raised his hand to silence his friend. "I never had any intention of becoming a Taroc, Varsa! Together with Vsar it has been decided that Rhan is the best man for the job, he is going to take over the leadership, and if I survive everything that is about to happen, I will remain Ikat... If not, you will take my place, temporarily or otherwise..."

Varsa flopped down on the bed in surprise.

"What has happened that made you think, you might not going to survive this?"

Gh'ara wearily ran over his face with his large claw.

"I think latarji wants to get rid of me and a lot of my men... He had all the women in the camp killed, Varsa... And now he wants me to use my men to hunt for new ones... It makes no sense..."

Varsa looked at him with bulging eyes. "He's done, WHAT?"

Gh'ara sighed. "He had all the women in the clan killed...

Look, I know I can't ask you for help again on such short notice, but I still have a few hours to go. Can you cover for me one last time?"

Varsa looked at his friend's tired face. What had he gotten himself into? Varsa knew that the Ikat was not telling him everything, although they were friends, Gh'ara was still his superior.

"No problem, just make sure you bring some extra game with you on your return, that will explain your absence better than anything..." and he gave his friend a crooked grin.

Gh'ara quickly gathered the things he needed. He didn't want to stay away any longer than necessary, Varsa could be called back to the settlement at any moment and he had to be present in the camp at any time, otherwise his absence would be too noticeable and Latarji might start to get suspicious.

As fast as the airglider would fly, Gh'ara made his way through the overgrown and devastated cities.

A buzzing sound woke Kayla, scarying the hell out of her as the noise came from the undergrowth. The puppy had also heard the rustling sound and had started to growl as menicingly as possible.

Quickly Kayla put her hand around the dog's snout and hussed him to be quiet. Fortunately, the girls had also woken up, quickly Kayla pushed the little dog into Lisa's arms and crawled to the opening of the cave, where she carefully poked her head around the corner of the entrance to see where the noise had come from.

To her surprise, she saw Gh'ara emerge from the undergrowth.

"What the hell are you doing here?" The words rolled over her lips without thinking.

Gh'ara looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Well isn't this a warm welcome... I get the impression you rather hadn't see me coming..." Though his words sounded teasing, there was a cautionary undertone to them.

Kayla shook her head. "No, it's not that, you just left less than an hour ago... I didn't expect to see you this soon already... that's all..."

Gh'ara walked over to the little woman and knelt before her. "Give me your wrist..."

Flabbergasted by his behaviour, Kayla raised her eybrows and looked at him and hesitantly extended her arm to him.

"What are you up to?" Without saying a word, he clamped an wide, emerald green bracelet around her wrist and pressed a few buttons on the top of the band, causing the thing to softly buzz and vibrate.

Kayla looked anxiously at the machine. "What's this?"

Gh'ara shifted his gaze from the bracelet to her and looked at her intently. "Before I left I told you not to go to the river anymore, bunny, that still applies, but in the unlikely event that you get caught don't give them any names..., just keep your mouth shut and press this button."

She looked at him pensively. "Gh'ara... what is going on, why are you acting this... strange?"

As emotionless as possible, Gh'ara tried to look at her. "It doesn't matter, bunny, just do what I told you."

To his surprise, she yanked her wrist out of his grasp, got up and tried to pry the bracelet from her wrist.

"What are you doing, Kayla? Leave that thing on!"

Without giving him a second glance, Kayla continued to pry off the bracelet.

"Kayla, stop trying to get the bloody thing off!" Gh'ara began to get irritated by her icy and stubborn behavior.

To make matters worse, he saw that she had already partially slipped the bracelet over her narrow hand, and in a flash he stood up and gripped her arm tightly. "AYEK! Are you mad woman?! Stop prying that bracelet off! Do you hear me?!"

His voice roared through the dark night and in the corner of his eye he saw the two girls wincing in fear, the puppy ducked its little head into the girl's neck.

At 8ft he towered over her smal frame and he was thrilled to see a glimpse of fear slipping across her face, but that feeling didn't last long and it was gone as quickly as it had arisen.

He turned his head to the two teenagers.

"You two... get inside..." And he turned back to face Kayla again who looked at him with flaming eyes.

"I don't know what you're up to, Gh'ara. But I wouldn't have survived the past few years if I hadn't used my brain! Either you tell me what's going on or you can shove this thing in a very dark place! The past few days have been too bizarre for words and you may have 'marked' me, but that doesn't mean you get to decide everything for me without explanation!"

A bitter grin appeared on his lips and Kayla swallowed seeing the strange look in his eyes. "Yes, bunny I can... You're mine whether you like it or not!"

Her eyes flashed at his words, but before she could open her mouth, he pressed his mouth hard against hers.

"Just do as I'm asking you, Kayla. I can't worry about your safety..."

There was no smug grin on his face, nor was there a teasing tone in his voice, the giant looked like something was terribly wrong and Kayla swallowed hard.

"What's the matter, Ghara? You scare me... You might be an asshole, and we know each other, what? A week or so? But you act like there's a war coming this way, you're not going to get out alive..."

Gh'ara gripped her chin tightly and leaned toward her.

"You're closer to the truth than you know, bunny..." and he stroked her soft lips with his callused claw.

A sickening feeling rose in her stomach and her eyes widened at his words. "Gh'ara...?

He got up abruptly. "Promise me you'll leave the bracelet on and you won't go to the river. Promise me, Kayla!"

Kayla nodded quickly. Quickly Gh'ara turned around and without another word he disappeared into the dark night.

"Be careful..." Her voice sounded... sad...