Chapter Two
Jander and Pa'das traveled together for a week. Jander could not deny that he enjoyed her company. He had been lucky to find one friend like Eckerd, and now he had another.
"What are you thinking about?" Pa'das asked him.
He smiled at her and took Korrieana. Pa'das was right, Korrieana did enjoy being on the road much more than living in the town. In the town, she hardly ever cried. On the road, under the sky, she literally never cried.
"How lucky I am to have friends like you," he answered her.
She threw a quick glance at him at the plural, but said nothing. He saw the look and answered her unasked question.
"The town before Makam, one of my friends found out. Instead of turning away, he made me this necklace." Jander smiled down at the necklace in Korrieana's plump hand.
"Wha-" Pa'das stopped abruptly.
"What happened? Nothing. As far as I know, he's still alive."
"Then why did you leave?" Pa'das asked, shocked.
"It's too dangerous to stay in one place too long. Usually, I only stay for two months or so. I stayed far too long in Makam, and you saw the consequences." He grimaced at the memory. Each time her was so brutally thrown out of somewhere, it hurt a little more.
Pa'das saw that on his face, and placed her hand on his arm. She opened her mouth to say something, but was stopped short by a warning from Soorefina.
Someone's coming your way. It's Sarrasor! Run away, hurry!
Pa'das paled. "Soorefina says Sarrasor's coming. We have to get out of here." She looked at Jander with a panicked look on her face.
"Who?" Jander asked, totally confused.
"Sarrasor. Korrieana's father. We won't be able to hear him until he's-" a branch snapped "-close." She composed her features quickly and turned to face the sound. A tall, dark man stepped into view.
"Ah yes," he said, "the people of Makam said you would probably be in the company of an elven vampire. And you're allowing it to hold my child?" he asked incredulously.
"She is not your child," Pa'das said in barely masked fury. Korrieana clutched Jander's shirt and buried her face into his shoulder.
"Spawned of my seed," Sarrasor said. "Give her to me. You are obviously not a good mother," he shot at Pa'das, stepping forward, "to trust such a thing with my baby."
"She is not your child," Pa'das snarled again. "And Jander is more of a father to her than you could ever be."
"A vampire?" Sarrasor sneered disgustedly, stepping forward once more.
Jander stepped back as Sarrasor stepped forward. Korrieana tried to burrow into Jander's shoulder. Animals suddenly appeared out of the forest, mostly huge cats and wolves. All extremely dangerous.
"The little witch brings her pathetic animal friends to protect her." Sarrasor's voice dripped with sarcasm, but both Pa'das and Jander noticed he stopped moving forward.
"Begone from here," Jander said. Sarrasor could hear the threat in the vampire's voice. He faded back into the forest.
"I'll be back," he told them, before disappearing from sight altogether.
I'll follow him, Soorefina told Pa'das, and she, too, disappeared into the forest.
Pa'das started to tremble. She tried to hide it, but Jander saw anyway. He wondered what Sarrasor could have done to have left such a mark on such a brave woman, but he didn't ask. He pulled her into a tight, one-armed hug - Korrieana was still in the other arm. Pa'das buried her face in Jander's shoulder. Silent tears coursed down her cheeks and onto his shoulder. She shook violently - Sarrasor terrified her more than she would ever admit. Jander held onto her tightly, offering silent support and comfort.
Pa'das brought herself under control. She stayed in Jander's arms for a moment longer, enjoying the feeling of his strong arms around her, but then she moved away.
"Sorry," she muttered, wiping an arm across her face. Korrieana reached out for her mother, and Pa'das took her.
"For what?" Jander asked, sincerely confused.
"I don't know," she admitted, grinning. "I suppose I owe you an explanation for that."
"No, you don't," he protested. He did not want her speaking of something that would trouble her so.
"Oh, but I do," she told him. "Let's start walking. Soorefina is following him, but I don't want to be around if he come back." The two friends moved out, picking their way through the forest. Pa'das told Jander the story of her and Sarrasor.
"He was a friend at first. I met him wandering the woods. He said he loved animals as much as I did. We became partners - I was a wanderer, even then. It was somehow more comforting to know that there was someone to watch my back in a fight, or to stand guard at night, no matter how unneeded it was.
"He found me talking to the animals one night, and asked me about it. I admitted what I could do. He pretended to accept me, acting the part of a true friend. I was totally taken in by his act.
"Slowly, our relationship escalated into what I thought was love. For him, it was merely the payoff for his pretended friendship all those years. After Korrieana arrived, he got…abusive. Very abusive. Finally, I screwed up enough courage, took Korrieana, and left. We made it to the next town and kept on moving."
Pa'das finally stopped talking. She had not revealed much, but enough to shock Jander. He silently vowed to himself that if ever he should see Sarrasor again, he would extract revenge for the way he treated Pa'das. Jander did not know why he felt so vehemently about this, but he did. They walked in shared silence for a while, both receiving comfort from the other's presence. Korrieana was asleep in the sling around Pa'das' neck.
"He taught me almost everything I know about fighting," Pa'das said suddenly. "He's almost my equal," she said, not bragging, merely stating a fact.
"I have never seen you fight," Jander said, "so I can not judge how bad that is. But, judging from the look on your face, I'd say that forebodes almost doom for us all."
"Aye, he's that good."
* * * * *
When Pa'das finally decided they were far enough away - when she stopped looking over her shoulder - it was full dark. They continued on for a bit, but as soon as Jander saw a likely place, he made her stop.
"You need rest," he said to her protests. "Don't worry, nothing's going to get past me." He did not really expect her to listen to him. After all, who would trust a vampire? But, she smiled her thanks and lay down with Korrieana at her side.
"I'll try to sleep," she told him, and closed her eyes, promptly falling into an exhausted slumber.
Jander stood looking down at her for a few moments. Lines of worry still creased her beautiful face. His heart warmed at the fact that she trusted him, a vampire, the embodiment of evil, so completely.
He shook himself out of his thoughts, and moved to build a fire. The night would be cold. Although it would not affect him, it certainly would Pa'das and Korrieana. As he got the flames blazing, Soorefina stalked into the clearing. She lay down next to the blaze, watching Jander.
"He is gone far from here?" Jander asked rhetorically, not expecting the panther to answer.
To his surprise, she nodded her head up and down.
"Did that mean yes?" he asked, incredulously.
Soorefina just looked at him like he was an idiot.
"OK, don't look at me like that. It's not like I expected you to answer." Jander liked Soorefina, although she undeniably did not like him. This was starting to change, though. Just a few days ago, the cat would not have even come that close to him, unless he was openly threatening Pa'das or Korrieana. Now, she sat right across the flames from him, still gazing at him as though he were the biggest fool in the world.
Jander settled down to wait out the long night, his only companion a panther who thought him an idiot.
* * * * *
The next morning, Pa'das woke up to the sound of meat sizzling over a fire.
"Wha-" she asked sleepily.
"Shish-ke-bob," Jander said. "Meat on a stick. It's only squirrel meat, but…."
"Smells good." She got up and came over by the fire, leaving Korrieana asleep in the bedroll.
"Mmmm," she said after tasting it. "This is really good!"
Soorefina waltzed into their camp, licking her chops. She glanced at Jander.
He is an idiot, she told Pa'das.
Pa'das, too, glanced at Jander, and burst out laughing.
"Soorie!" she scolded out loud, "that's not nice!" Why, she asked silently.
He doesn't have the wits to recognize a nod when he sees one.
This started Pa'das laughing again.
"I'm assuming you're laughing at me," Jander said in mock anger. He grinned to let her know he wasn't really angry. He was glad to see her laughing again, even at his expense. It was too strange fleeing through the trees in silence.
"Never saw a cat nod before," Pa'das giggled, "have you?"
He grinned. "It's not that funny!"
"It is if you had seen your face." Pa'das saw his confused look. "Telepathy," she tapped her head. "Comes in hand when you need a good laugh."
They sat in silence for a while, enjoying each other's company.
"There's a town about half a day's walk from here," Pa'das said suddenly. "Do you want to stop there for a while?"
Jander readily agreed. He picked up Korrieana, and Pa'das grabbed their stuff. They set out for the next town.