Chapter 30: Impending Threats

Ruby felt remorse as she made her way through the dense jungle. She had been mean and nasty to Lottie, but it was the only way the young girl wouldn't trail her. Now as she was alone out here she felt like she should've listened to the girl's concerns. She could defend herself, but it was as Ebony said they didn't know what they were up against. But something else Ebony had said made her want to take action.

"We don't even know if they're alive!"

Ruby couldn't go to sleep that night not knowing. If someone had captured Jay, Ved, Lefty, and Toc they were bound to try and attack the others. And if they meant to attack then they were still on the island and Ruby had a chance at rescuing the man she loved.

She stopped for a short rest up against a large palm. She sighed not knowing how she got herself into this predicament. She had once told Slade her motto was, "love them and leave them". For so long she had thought like a man, playing their game. She took their hearts and left it bleeding in their hands like they had done women for centuries. But Slade had come along. And everything changed. She changed.

Her heart had begun to thaw and she discovered what love was albeit it wasn't until after Slade had broken hers.

After leaving the city Ruby fell into a depression. Not only had she lost her dream of being a mother. She lost Slade and she lost the Saloon. As if that wasn't enough to make her heart break Ebony pushed her in front of a truck. She took all that rejection and pain and bottled it up, and Jay in one kind gesture had loosed it.

At first their friendship was innocent. But each of them knew things were becoming serious. It was getting harder to ignore the chemistry between them. They were trapped on a small boat and Jay was still with Amber, had they not reached land Ruby would've thrown herself overboard to rid herself of the turmoil.

She loved Jay so much it scared her. She refused to lose another man to Ebony or kidnappers. She stood up ready to continue her hunt when the foliage a few feet ahead of her moved. She froze. It was getting darker and she couldn't make out the form.

"It's all right Ruby, it's me Bray," he said turning around at hearing her. He made his way to her.

She sighed, "If you came to stop me, you're wasting your time."

"I came to help."

"Why risk it?"

"Lottie is pretty worried about you; we had to reassure her you'd be all right. She wouldn't calm down until Slade agreed to come find you."

"Ebony had her way again?" Ruby snorted.

"No, there's safety in numbers remember?" a flash light beamed their way with the voice.

"I'm not going back without Jay," she said firmly looking at Slade.

Slade handed her the flashlight, "I know. Jack had batteries; he gave orders to use it wisely."

She took it, "I don't know where to begin."

"I found some fresh tracks, they were headed west, which explains why we didn't know we had company on the island."

"It's a fairly large island. We're surrounded by foliage and water; we didn't know there would be a threat. Maybe they came from the mountains."

Bray shook his head, "I doubt it. We would've been greeted by them a lot earlier than this."

"So we head west?" Ruby asked eager to continue the task at hand.

"You two are heading west. I promised Lottie I'd come back. You two be careful."

"You'll find your way back okay?" Bray asked. Slade hardly looked like the type to enjoy combing through jungles."

"Don't worry about me," he turned to go.

"Slade wait," Ruby stopped him, "Give this to Lottie." She took off her necklace, "She tried to lift this off me once. Tell her to take good care of it until I get back."

Slade took it, tucking it away in his pocket. Then the three parted ways. Ruby hoped they would be returning. Lottie was like the little sister she never had.

~0~

Dragon was shocked when Danni bought him a plate of food.

Everyone had gone below deck for the evening, anxious to see what Patsy could do with the fish he caught. But Dragon lingered on deck to enjoy the warm night. They had definitely moved into warmer climate.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, but Patsy cooked a great meal tonight." Danni stretched the plate toward him, "Good thing you caught another fish after that first one, I thought Kyra was going kill someone for seconds."

"She can get dangerous when she's hungry," he agreed, taking the makeshift plate. It smelled delicious and familiar. He laughed.

"What's so funny?" Danni asked.

"I just solved a mystery."

She looked at him skeptical, "All by sniffing a fish dinner?"

He grinned, "You remember Aloma?"

Danni almost twisted up her nose in disgust. She had only met the girl twice, once when Aloma had broken a Generals arm in training, and the second when she spied Dragon kissing her.

She nodded unable to use her voice. Something snarky and rude would've passed her lips otherwise.

"Well her real name was Éowyn. She had this knapsack full of keepsakes from wherever she was from," he took a bite of dinner and swallowed before he continued, "One of them was a cookbook full of and it came up missing after Éowyn made this same meal one night. The thing is the recipes are in her native tongue."

"Patsy has been trying to kill us because one of your women could satisfy your stomach?!"

"Poor thing has probably been trying to decode it, experimenting with ingredients," he chuckled before shoveling the last of the food in his mouth.

"It's too bad Éowyn went away," she said without much sympathy, "Patsy could've learned a few valuable things about the kitchen."

Dragon sighed, agreeing for a totally different reason, "Yeah it's too bad," Then he sobered, "So it's just you and me alone up here," he shuffled closer to her.

She rolled her eyes, moving away from him, "You're despicable!" she turned on her heel and headed below deck.

He called after her, "Someday you're gonna want this! And I'll be taken."

He heard her grumble then yell despicable once more before the door shut. He chuckled staring off into the night. In the distance he could make out a large mass of something. He only guessed and hoped it was the island Kyra was referring to.

~0~

Danni flung herself into her bunk. She wasn't upset with Dragon, but with herself.

She had been lying to herself. He could've had her two years ago had he wanted her. But after Bray she was playing hard to get and she hadn't counted on Aloma or whatever her name was to be better at the game. When the girl up and disappeared the same night Danni caught the two kissing, Dragon was crushed. He left on an adventure to find her, but returned home empty handed.

Danni would've pursued the game again, but he returned to his sybaritic behavior. She didn't want a guy like that. She wanted Bray.

Now here she was at a fork in the road. Confused by her budding friendship with Josh, her revived crush for Dragon, and the pain she'd been holding onto since she escaped the Chosen.

She groaned, thinking "Maybe love would be nice for someone else's life."

~0~

Ceremony was important to the Kraits. Not only had they just buried a leader, but a child had been born. They had mourned and now it was time to celebrate life.

It was the only part of tradition Éowyn liked because it led to dancing. And she loved dancing. When she danced nothing else in the world mattered. She felt like a free spirit.

Tying her hair in a fresh braid she emerged from her hut. The aroma of coconut and fire welcomed her. Before she knew it she was joining the other women in a traditional dance. For five minutes the island felt void of existence. It was just her, hips swinging, feet shuffling, and a lone drum beat.

"Good to see you haven't forgotten your roots," Kai applauded her.

"Hard as I try," she opened her eyes as the dance ended.

"Not hard enough, sweet tattoo," he looked down at her leg. A banded sea krait was wrapped around her calf intertwining with a flower indigenous to the island.

Dragon had been her tattoo artist. She blushed, "It doesn't compare to your gecko," she stared at the intricate black outline of the reptile on his bare chest.

"I thought you might like it."

"Where's Keahi?" she changed the subject.

He sighed, "your nephew is being adorned with love and affection, I'm kind of jealous."

"You poor guy," she rolled her eyes moving away from the fire searching for the newborn.

"Éowyn I know what you're doing. But avoiding me is not going to make the attraction go away."

"Well you should try harder to forget me. I was gone for four years Kai."

"I wasn't talking about my feelings, I was referring to yours. Every time I'm near you or we're having a playful conversation you back away. Like you always have! Why is it so hard for you to let someone love you?"

The words stung her not because they were true, but because it was the second time someone had voiced it and she felt naked. Like they could see right through her.

"You read more into things than you should. Besides if you really loved me you would've come with me or at least waited for my return."

"I did wait!"

"And I suppose marrying my sister was waiting? What were you going to do had Charis lived? I'm right here aren't I?"

"That's not fair."

"No it's not is it? But life isn't fair!"

"What do I have to do? I'll tell everybody the truth right now, will that make you happy?" He turned to the eyes he knew were staring, "Everyone I have something to tell you!"

"Don't," she tried to stop him.

"But we've got everyone's attention now. We've gotta tell 'em."

"Fine. Now that all eyes are on us you guys may as well know I will not be taking my sister's role as Tribe leader. I don't deserve it nor do I want it."

There was some murmuring among the villagers followed by indistinguishable stares and then it was like she'd never even spoken.

"I'm sorry," he said, realizing his mistake.

"What for? You only forced me to tell them what they were going to find out tomorrow."

"Thanks," Blaze approached them. He knew exactly what Kai was going to say.

She glared at him, "I did it for Lani. She deserves to know the truth but not like that, and you should own up to your responsibilities."

"I would, I mean I will but Lani's in a bad way, sick, like Charis was."

Éowyn's face softened, "What does the medicine man say?"

"He thinks it's the virus. He wants to send them away."

"How could the virus get here so fast?" she thought aloud.

"What?"

"That's why I came home. This guy Mega got power hungry, he created a new virus. He tried to stop it but it was unleashed anyhow. Everyone had to evacuate the city when his lab blew up."

"I'd like to kill that guy," Blaze pounded his fist into his hand."

"For who? Lani?" Kai asked bitterly.

"For Charis, for Lani, for my son, even for you Kai. I've caused you so much misery," he said flashing a look at Éowyn.

She pretended not to notice, "Did my sister leave the island before she got sick?"

"Once to trade with a nearby island called Fleur Isle."

"And this was around the time Lani returned home?"

"Yes, she escaped slave traders."

This sounded very fishy to Éowyn. These islands were nowhere near The City the virus was released in. How could two women mysteriously become ill and nobody else? She turned her back to the two men and headed towards the Healing House where she knew the medicine man would keep Lani.

"Where are you going?" Kai questioned.

She waved him off. She needed to talk to Lani alone.

~0~

Ved had finally wakened when water and a meal came around for the prisoners.

"This bread is stale and you stink!" he said to the brunette man serving them a hunk of bread.

The man smirked, "Oh yeah, you'll be a good one."

"A good what?" Ved looked at him in anger.

The man only continued smirking calling to his friend who was serving water, "Hey Turk, the boss is gonna love this one, he's got a mouth on him."

The two men laughed and Jay pleaded with Ved through his eyes to shut up. When the prisoners were alone again Jay yelled at him.

"Could it hurt to try and preserve our lives a little longer?"

"Just trying to get a feel of what we're dealing with," Ved defended himself.

"First rule of survival don't piss off your captor!" Lefty said. He was on Jay's side.

"However I think Ved has the right idea. If we get them talking they might reveal what we're dealing with," Toc defended the young man's actions.

"You all are idiots! They're slave traders! They disguise themselves as traders with market goods then pillage your homes taking prisoners to trade for necessary supplies," a prisoner from the far back spoke.

"Could've told us that a week ago," the scrawny kid said.

"Yeah how come you didn't speak up earlier when we were discussing this?" Toc asked with anger.

"I figured you guys were smart enough to figure it out."

"Great just great!" Ved spat.

"We could revolt!" Toc offered, "I've almost gotten my knots loose."

"How many of them are there?" Lefty asked their enlightener. He liked the way Toc's mind was working. It's why he loved her.

"Five, on this boat, maybe four or five on the other."

"There's another boat?" Jay asked disappointed.

"One for any of your friends they capture."

They all grew quiet. They could take the five on this boat, but they were outnumbered unless the others came looking.

After what seemed like forever Ved said, "I think we should try!"

Toc agreed, "Good because my wrists are all free."

Everyone seemed on board with the plan, but Jay.

"What?" Ved asked him.

"I wanted off the island, this is my chance."

"For a life of servitude?"

"Well no, but…"

"But nothing! You'd rather sit here and do nothing than save the woman you love?"

Jay thought about it. He wouldn't live with himself if anything happened to Ruby or Ebony because he didn't try to save them. "Okay, I'm in!"

Toc stood up having freed herself of the bounds begin untying Lefty, "Let's do this!"