Pursued Read online

  “You think you’re ready, do you?” Suddenly Mother-Healer appeared in the leafy blue tent where the ritual was being held. Behind her was Elise. She was wrapped in a large yanyan leaf and her long dark hair was wet and hanging down her back. There was a troubled look on her face and Merrick sensed her anxiety through their bond.

  “I’m as ready as I’ll ever get,” he told Mother-Healer shortly. Taking the bucket of water the priestess was holding out to him with averted eyes, he rinsed the last of the tsslla milk from his body and climbed out of the tub. He wrapped a yanyan leaf around his waist and came up to Elise. “You okay, baby?” he murmured.

  “Fine.” She nodded. “Just worried. And a little sick. Those purity nuggets—”

  “I know.” Merrick nodded with feeling. “Fucking disgusting, right? Tasted like they were filled with some kind of ass-custard.”

  “They kept on feeding them to me,” Elise said faintly. “I ate as many as I could, but I just…” She made a face. “I just hope I can keep them down.”

  “You will be fine,” Mother-Healer said firmly. “Both of you. And the nuggets of purity are necessary to the purification process. Both the body and the mind must be mortified before you are fit to appear before the Elders.”

  “We’re mortified, all right,” Merrick growled. “Now can we please have our clothes back so we can get this over with?”

  Mother-Healer arched one snowy eyebrow at him. “I am afraid not. You must go naked before the Elders—as naked as the day you were born.”

  “Naked?” Elise’s face grew instantly red. “Can’t we even keep our towels…er, leaves?”

  Mother-Healer frowned at her. “You came into the Deep Blue wearing scanty undergarments of sacred crimson—profaning our ways with your blasphemous attire. And now you have the nerve to claim modesty?”

  “She’s claiming modesty because she is modest,” Merrick snarled. “Crimson isn’t a sacred color where she comes from. Elise didn’t know she was blaspheming.”

  Mother-Healer waved one wrinkled hand dismissively. “Save your explanations for the Elders. I care not. Come—it is time to meet them now and learn your fate.” She motioned for them to follow her out of the tent.

  * * * * *

  Elise followed Mother-Healer and Merrick, clutching her towel-leaf close around her and hoping against hope she’d be allowed to keep it once they got to wherever they were going. She still felt faintly nauseous from the disgusting purity nuggets and it didn’t help that her stomach was already tied in knots with anxiety and dread. Mother-Healer had said they would be arguing for their very lives. Elise had been through high-stakes negotiations many times in the courtroom, but none of them involved putting her life on the line.

  But it wasn’t herself she was mainly worried about—it was Merrick. Whatever happened, she was determined he wasn’t going to get hurt again. And she was damned if she’d let him take anymore of her punishments. If someone has to pay, it’s going to be me, she vowed silently to herself. I refuse to hide in the shadows and let the man I care for be hurt any more on my account.

  They were barefoot and the bark of the grandfather tree felt rough under her feet. There was a soft breeze blowing and the rich smell of the jungle wafted up to her from the forest floor. It was almost twilight—they’d been at the purification ritual for hours—and although Elise had been more than ready to be done with the ritual, she still didn’t feel ready to meet her fate at the hands of an alien race as old as the universe itself. But I have to be ready, she told herself, lifting her chin. There’s nothing else I can do but go through this as best I can.

  They came to the central trunk of the tree and Mother-Healer nodded at the nearly invisible network of vines that criss-crossed its rough bark. “I will go first and you must follow. The seat of the Elders is at the very top.”

  She began to climb, with surprising agility for someone so old, and was soon disappearing into the leafy canopy above them. Merrick gestured at Elise. “Go on, baby, I’ll be right behind you.”

  Elise was a little nervous about the fact that she wasn’t wearing anything under her leaf-towel. Merrick had seen everything up close and personal but she still felt embarrassed about the idea of him looking up at her as she climbed. “No, it’s okay,” she said, motioning to the tree. “You go ahead. I’ll follow.”

  He frowned. “No, you go first. Come on, the Elders aren’t going to wait. We have to go now.”

  “All right.” Clearly there was no point in fighting about it. Grasping the vines, she began pulling herself up. And up and up…Soon she began to wonder if the massive tree was ever going to end. Her first climb up the side of the tree, to reach Merrick, was nothing compared to the journey they were going on now. And no puny rock-climbing wall at the gym could have prepared her for the effort it took to keep on going up the side of the tree. But she had to—there was no place to rest. Her arms began to feel like rubber and her legs trembled with fatigue and still they climbed.

  At last Elise stopped for a moment and clung to the side of the tree.

  “What’s wrong?” she heard Merrick ask and felt his concern for her through their bond. “Are you all right?”

  “Fine,” she lied, trying to make her voice bright and cheerful. “Just a little tired but I’m okay. Is it…is it much farther?”

  “Not far now, girl-child.” Mother-Healer’s voice floated down out of the leaves above. “Come, the Elders await.”

  “All right—I’m coming.” Forcing herself to go on, Elise reached for the next dark blue ridge of vine to pull herself up. She tried to dig her fingers into the rough, rope-like tendril but somehow they wouldn’t close. With a gasp, she lost her grip and began to fall backwards.

  Strong arms caught her and the shriek that had been building in her throat was abruptly cut off as Merrick threw her over one broad shoulder. “That’s why I wanted to go last,” he grumbled as he began climbing again. “So I could catch you if you fell—not just to look up at your legs. Although I admit the view is very fucking nice.”

  “Merrick!” She slapped weakly at his back but he just rumbled laughter and kept climbing.

  Elise concentrated on catching her breath and tried not to look down from the dizzying height she now found herself at. She had to admit she was glad Merrick had insisted she go first—if he hadn’t, she knew she would be a blob of jelly on the ground far below by now.

  “Merrick?” she said in a low voice, hoping he could hear her.

  “Mmm?” was the rumbling response.

  “Thank you,” Elise whispered. “Do…do you think we’re going to be all right? Will they really want to kill us?”

  “Not if I have anything to say about it.” His deep voice was grim. “Look, baby, try not to worry about it. The Ancient Ones are severe but they’re also known to be fair. I doubt they’ll try to kill us after everything they’ve already put us through.”

  “Put you through, you mean,” she murmured and vowed again to herself that Merrick would take no more punishments for her.

  He grunted. “Whatever. The point is, just be polite and if things get out of hand, stick close to me. All right?”

  “I won’t leave your side,” Elise promised.

  “What, not even if a billib comes along?” he asked dryly.

  “Not even then.” She tried to laugh but her throat was too dry. She knew Merrick was just trying to lighten up the situation but it was difficult to ignore the gravity of what they were about to face.

  They stopped talking and despite Mother-Healer saying that it wasn’t much further, Merrick climbed for another quarter of an hour before he finally stepped out onto a branch no wider than a sidewalk. They were very high up now, so high Elise felt like the air was different—thinner somehow, and more difficult to breathe. The leaves were smaller and farther apart, giving Elise a glimpse of the sky. The blue canopy above them was deepening to twilight, bruise colored and silent.

  “Here we are,” Merrick murmured and she saw he wa