The Seer

  Ariel MacArran

  The Seer

  By Ariel MacArran

  ©2014 Ariel MacArran

  The Seer is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this publication may be produced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the author.

  Kindle Edition License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. Please respect the author's work.

  Cover Design: Steven James Catizone

  Published by Here Be Dragons

  Also available in paperback publication

  One

  I should just let him die.

  Arissa shrank back deeper into the shadows. A few quick steps and she would be out of this alley. She’d disappear back into the filthy streets of Tellar’s capital and leave the officer to his fate.

  His vibrant blue eyes suddenly picked her out in the darkness and froze her there. She flinched, his anxiety and helpless confusion hammered against her mind.

  “Against the wall.”

  The officer’s gaze shifted to the man holding the blaster pointed at his chest. “Okay. Whatever you say.”

  He kept his hands up and slowly complied with the man’s order. The officer’s crisp, rust colored Fleet uniform was out of place in this run-down neighborhood. Tall, broad-shouldered and possessed of striking blond good looks, he could have graced a Fleet recruitment poster.

  Arissa swallowed hard, dismayed by her foolish impulse to trail after these two. Neither man had noticed her following when the officer wandered out of the scant safety of the old marketplace, the furtive, cloaked figure behind him. Flashing his devastating smile at the last tawdry Ornaments at the outskirts, the blond man had waved off their enthusiastic offers of sexual pleasures available for his purchase. With the easy confidence of one assured of his place in the universe, the officer strolled into the dusk of the streets beyond, heedless of the menace shadowing him.

  He felt like wealth, like abundance, like privilege.

  Arissa had hated him on sight.

  “I have money, friend,” the officer said. “If that’s what your looking for, no danger. I’ll hand it over.”

  “Jolar d’Tural?” the man asked in a thick Utavian accent.

  The officer blinked, then gave a half-smile. “Might be.” He gave a nod at the blaster pointed at him. “If I offended you, I didn’t mean to. I don’t come down here much. I met a friend for a drink. I didn’t take any of the women so I couldn’t have touched yours.”

  The Utavian's face had remained hidden from her by the hood of his cloak but Arissa’s breath caught as the set of his mind turned to ice.

  This man had killed before. He was going to kill now.

  The officer—Jolar—knew it too.

  In that final moment his eyes met hers. Waves of his fear and horror reverberated through her mind; his outrage against the unfairness of it made her chest ache. He didn’t understand why, even as the man slightly straightened his arm to fire, he was being cut down like this. Arissa couldn’t hear his thoughts as words but his desperation roared like a thunderclap through her mind.

  Please!

  Arissa threw herself at the Utavian, her hand extended in a clumsy grab for his blaster. His surprise pulsed and he jerked back as her fingers closed on the weapon, ripping it from her hand.

  His arm whipped down and he struck her with the butt of his blaster. Pain exploded behind her eyes and she hit the cold duracrete hard.

  The Utavian shrugged his cloak back. With slow, perfect clarity Arissa saw every detail as he leveled his weapon at her: the glint in his fierce dark eyes, the sharp planes of his face, the alley wall behind him dimming to ash gray as the last light of Tellar’s suns faded from the sky . . .

  She cried out, raising her arm to block the blinding flashes of blue light as energy bolts drilled through him.

  With a choked sob she scrambled backward as the Utavian fell. Faint wisps of smoke from his wounds rose into the cool evening air.

  Arissa’s breath shuddered in her throat, her palm pressed hard to her breastbone. The sudden stillness where there had been life just a moment before opened an aching hollowness in her chest.

  "Fracking hell," Jolar gasped. The hand that still held his blaster trembled. He pushed off from the wall behind him, keeping his weapon on the man’s crumpled form as he took cautious steps forward.

  With a sharp kick Jolar sent the man’s blaster skidding across the pavement. He kept his weapon trained on the Utavian and nudged hard against the man’s ribs with the sole of his boot.

  The wretched burned stench made her queasy despite the gnawing emptiness of her stomach. Other sensations suddenly intruded: her scraped palms stung, her feet were cold and tired in her worn slippers, and the grimy puddle water had soaked through her thin clothes to chill the skin of her hip and thigh.

  “Oh,” she murmured, her hand going to her aching head. Her fingers came away bloody.

  “Let me see.” Jolar squatted beside her, his square-jawed handsome face grim as he holstered his blaster. He cupped her chin gently to tilt her face and met her gaze for an instant. Up close his eyes were an even brighter blue.

  She flinched as he touched the sore spot.

  “Yeah, I bet that hurts. He hit you hard,” he said, his voice faintly honeyed with the cool tones of affluence. “Do you feel dizzy? Like you might pass out? Or throw up?”

  Arissa shook her head and immediately wished she hadn’t.

  He brushed a stray black curl away from her face. “What’s your name?”

  “Ar—” She caught herself. “Tianna. Tianna Hayer.”

  “Well, Tianna, I’m Jolar d’Tural and your bravery just saved my life.” His mouth curved into a half-smile. “I’m Zartani, you know, in case my name didn’t give it away. What you just did means a lot to a Zartani. It means a lot to me.” He took her hand in his, looking at the abrasions on her palm and shook his head a little. He dug in his pocket and pulled out a comm unit. “I'll let TelSec know to send a medic too.”

  Arissa yanked her hand away and pushed him hard. She twisted, on her feet and out of the alley at a dead run before his backside hit the pavement.

  The few lights that still functioned here offered only scant pools of sickly yellow illumination against the gathering darkness. At this hour the pathetic denizens of the area had withdrawn indoors to sink into chemical induced dazes and Arissa’s footfalls echoed against the dilapidated buildings. Startled voles, their whiskers twitching in alarm at her panicked rush, flashed glittering black eyes at her before scattering to wriggle their tiny, furred bodies into cracked walls and garbage piles.

  “Tianna!”

  She risked a glance back at the officer, her breath caught at his determination and how quickly he was gaining on her.

  She was running full out now, scrambling to think where she could lose him. She couldn’t turn off this street without being trapped in one of the side lanes. The abandoned shop she'd intended to spend the night in was off to the right but she couldn’t possibly duck inside before he saw where she’d gone. The lodgings she hadn't made rent on were on the other side of the old market and she didn’t dare return there without the means to pay.

  She sure as hell couldn’t let him catch her.

  In the distance the colored lights of the old market glowed jauntily into the night sky and she seized on that. Business would just be picking up for the evening and there would be enough people milling between the taverns, chemists and pleasure houses to lose him there—if
he even followed her that far.

  She bent her head trying to gain more speed, her feet pounding against the worn duracrete. If she got enough of a lead maybe he would just give up. He’d just killed a man; he’d have to report in or something, wouldn’t he?

  He pulsed with triumph an instant before he slammed into her. She cried out and stumbled, taking both of them to the wet pavement. He caught her and took the brunt of the fall as they rolled across the ground.

  Then he had hold of her wrists, pinning her down.

  “Let go!”

  “What the hell’s the matter with you?” His face was flushed, his vivid blue eyes furious. “Why did you run off like that?”

  “Get off me!” she spat. “Fracking son of a sular cow!”

  He gave a short, disbelieving snort. “Well, that’s some impression I've made on you. But watch what you say about my mother.”

  “Get off!”

  He shifted his weight to let her sit up but he kept tight hold of her wrist, yanking her back when she tried to scramble away.

  “Not so fast. You saved my life,” he said impatiently. “I owe you.”

  “Yeah, you’re welcome! Festering hell, let go!”

  He pushed up to stand. “Come on.”

  He was pleased. To have caught her, probably. And annoyed. That much was clear from the way he hauled her up, even if she couldn’t hear him thinking it.

  He was a lot taller and a lot stronger than she, his grip like tarasteel around her wrist. Dragging her feet wasn’t even slowing him down.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” she cried.

  “You need medical attention and I just shot someone,” Jolar returned, not breaking stride. His hands and uniform had gotten dirty from their struggle and smudges showed on the fabric over his elbows, knees and back. “We’re going back to wait for TelSec and then I’m going to—”

  Arissa punched him with her free hand. “Gods, let me go!”

  He twisted to catch hold of her other wrist.

  “Damn it, stop hitting me! What the hell is—?” He pulled up short. “Tellaran security. That’s it, isn’t it? You’re afraid of TelSec.” He frowned. “Why? What have you done?”

  “Nothing!”

  He took in her forest green tunic with its embroidery fraying at the hem, matching pants and light jacket, her scuffed slippers. “You’re a scrawny little thing and your clothes have sure seen better days. You hardly look like the criminal type.”

  Scrawny? Her eyes stung. Her face was so thin and wan these days and her pale green eyes, always too large for beauty, looked back at her in the mirror with the wide-eyed terror of a frightened sercat. These clothes, that had fit so well before she fled her homeworld, now hung on her like sacks. And her always impossible-to-tame black curls must be utterly wild now.

  “I know you aren’t from Tellar by your accent,” he continued. “Apovian, right?”

  Her mouth went dry.

  “Well, come on, Apovian girl,” he said impatiently. “Are you going to tell me?”

  She wet her lips. His mind felt hard and set as glass.

  “Fine,” he snapped, turning to continue back the way they came and pulling her along. “I’m sure TelSec will be happy to.”

  “I’m an Ornament!”

  He stopped. “You’re an Ornament and—?”

  “I haven’t— I don’t have a place to work. Uh, anymore.”

  His eyes narrowed. “Go on.”

  “I signed a year’s contract with a pleasure house in return for transport to Tellar. But I— I didn’t like it there so I ran away and now—” She gave a half-shrug. “I work on my own.”

  His glance went over her face, her breasts, her body, and she felt the blush creep up her neck at the sense she caught. “You don’t look much like an Ornament.”

  “Well,” she hedged. “Some men like that, fracking a girl who doesn’t look like a whore. Tastes and all . . .”

  “How much?”

  Arissa frowned. “How much what?”

  “Do you charge? You do charge, don’t you? The pleasure house explained the idea that you get paid for sex, right?”

  “Oh, no, sure. I mean—yes, I get paid.”

  “So how much?”

  Sella, the hard-faced Ornament who rented the room next to Arissa’s charged differently depending on the service. She'd certainly heard enough of Sella's negotiating through those thin walls.

  “Well, how much for what, exactly?”

  “For me, exactly,” he gritted out. “How much for me to frack you?”

  She blinked, her breath picking up speed. Negotiating wasn't the only thing she'd heard through those walls.

  His blue eyes seemed almost aglow, his heat vibrating against her mind. She glanced at his body, the broad shoulders, the slim hips.

  Would he kiss her?

  Would it hurt?

  She wet her lips again. “I don’t—I guess a hundred?”

  “For the whole night or just the once?”

  More than once? "Uh, I don’t—What do you want?”

  He reached into his pocket and glanced at the bills in his hand. He pushed them at her. “There. Five hundred credits for five nights.”

  She stared at the rainbow hued bills he held out to her, the breath rushing out of her lungs. Five hundred? She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen so much money. It would pay five months rent at her run-down rooming house. She could sleep in a bed tonight.

  She could eat.

  “Well?” he demanded. “Five hundred and you’re mine for five nights. Do we have a deal?”

  Numbly her fingers closed around the bills, the reinforced paper crinkling as she clasped them.

  “Great," he muttered. "I’m looking forward to it.”

  He pulled her along, the money gripped tightly in her hand. Clearly he didn’t trust her enough to let go of her wrist.

  What did I just do?

  She didn’t even have any rooms to take him to! She glanced at the money clutched in her hand. Well, she could certainly pay her rent now. But he wanted to . . .

  She swallowed. And he really did want to. She could still feel the current of desire, of hunger, from him.

  “Just let me do the talking when TelSec gets here.” Jolar said.

  “You’ve already called them?” She stopped. “No, I’ll meet you after, okay?”

  He gave her an impatient look. “No, it’s not okay. Once we’re finished with TelSec, I’m taking you to the medcenter.”

  Medcenter? Her heart hammered. They’d want an ID scan before they treated her. An ID check would show her real records, her name, how out of date her information was.

  A medical scan would show why.

  “No, I—I don't need a doctor.”

  “Yes, you do, Tianna. Why don't you want to go to the medcenter?” He glanced at her belly. “Are you pregnant? Is that why you ran away from the pleasure house? I can buy you out of your contract if I need to. I can set you up somewhere else.”

  Buy an Ornament out a year’s contract from a pleasure house? Set her up somewhere? That must be a staggering amount of money. Who had money like that?

  Why would he even want to?

  Colored lights suddenly flashed down into the street as the TelSec vehicle came to hover over them. A second shuttle continued on, going in the direction of the alley.

  Arissa twisted her wrist sharply to break his hold. She made it only two steps then he caught her from behind.

  The money scattered at her feet as she clawed at his hands. "Oh, gods! Please!"

  He hesitated then pulled her to the shelter of an overhang. Lights from the security vehicle lit the alley in nightmarish colors.

  Her breath came in quick shallow gulps. The shuttle paused, hovering over the street. The shadows sharpened as the security vehicle directed its searchlights down.

  She whimpered, shrinking into the scant safety of the overhang’s shadow.

  “This isn’t about a broken employment c
ontract, Tianna,” Jolar growled in her ear. “You have to tell me before they get here.”

  "I can't!"

  "Whatever it is, I promise—I promise—I'll help you. But I need to know what I’m dealing with!"

  “No!”

  "Damn it, come on! They're landing!"

  He was right. The TelSec shuttle was touching down. The officer inside was looking right at them.

  "I'll help you,” he insisted. “Just tell me."

  Jolar was warm against her back, his strength curled around her as he held her, the roughness of his cheek brushing her temple.

  “I’m a telepath,” she whispered.

  Two

  He froze, his sense reverberating with shock and horror. “You’re a Seer?”

  “You said—I helped you!” Arissa’s eyes stung. “Just let me go!”

  He wavered, indecisive, fearful.

  “No,” he said hoarsely. “It’s too late.”

  The TelSec officer was out of the shuttle now, his blaster in hand.

  "Damn you!" Arissa’s fists clenched. “I should have left you back there. I should have let you die!”

  Jolar gave her a shake. “Shut up, godsdamn it! I need to think!”

  “Hold position where you are!"

  Arissa flinched as the TelSec officer shone his handheld light on her.

  "It's all right!" Jolar shouted. "I'm the one who called you."

  The brightness made her eyes water and made the pain in her head double.

  "Hands where I can see them!" The officer took a few steps toward them, his blaster in his hand. “Both of you!”

  "I'm going to let go of you," Jolar hissed in her ear. "Don't run, understand? He'll shoot you if you do. Just put your hands up. I'll handle this."

  Handle it? Didn't he know she could feel his fear?

  He eased his hands off. She hadn't realized how tightly he'd held her, how cold the night air was, until he moved away.

  He faced the TelSec officer, his hands held up.

  "Tianna," Jolar prompted tightly.

  Arissa shakily raised her hands.

  After a moment the TelSec officer stepped forward. "Are you armed?"