"How many?"

"Eight," Astra replied. "Drya and Dirk are with them."

"Go back inside, I'll get them," Tani said, then turned and began running straight up the face of the cliff, something none of the Khun could do. Steel was standing outside the armory cave watching as another fifty or so of his men joined the battle in the valley when he saw Tani running in his direction. He expected her to join him, but frowned when he saw that she wasn't even looking in his direction.

By the time he realized that she had no intention of stopping, and that she was going up to the mesa, she'd already passed him. He hesitated, thinking, before understanding that some of the women and children must be up there having target practice. He took off immediately, running as fast as he could in Tani's wake. Just before he reached the top, a Nomen head flew past him, a graphic reminder of her statement that most creatures couldn't live without a head. Tani sure doesn't waste any time, he thought grimly.

Then he was up on the mesa, his eyes taking in the situation even as two Nomen ran toward him. He pulled his sword with one hand, a laser with the other and stepped into the fray, something he wouldn't have done with as much relish before Tani's lessons.

He shot the furthest Nomen in the face with the laser, then raised his sword, stabbing straight into the second Nomen's throat. The Nomen went down, taking his sword, so he reached down and pulled the other hand laser from the holster on his hip and thumbed the safety off.

He saw Tani throw her short swords into the sheaths on her back with one fluid motion, and felt a twinge of disappointment that he'd missed seeing her use them. Then her hands flew to the pouches at her waist, then up, then out, in gestures so fast it was hard to tell what she was doing. He wasn't the least surprised to see that every shuriken she threw found a target. He counted six Nomen who went down and didn't get back up. Then she reached up and grabbed the handles of the short swords on her back and drew them again.

Steel nearly smiled. He was looking forward to this...or...maybe not. Terror struck him at the sight of her tiny body running toward an enormous Nomen, then his mouth fell open as she leapt high into the air, one sword in each hand. She flipped so that she was upside down directly over the Nomen's head, then both swords flashed and she was on the ground behind the Nomen who was still standing even though his head was rolling away in the red dirt.

By the time Steel managed to drag his eyes away from that morbid sight, she'd already spun around to face two new opponents, both of them easily three times her size as all the Nomen were. Steel could hardly believe his eyes when she went down on one knee between them, and struck with both swords, slicing through one leg of each Nomen at once. Both went down.

The leg of the Nomen on her right was flesh and blood, so it was no surprise to see its owner's mouth open wide in a high scream as he fell and began rolling around on the ground. Steel ran forward and shot him in the head, putting him out of his misery. He then shot two more who thought to interfere before turning to guard Tani's back.

The leg of the Nomen on her left was bio-tronic, but she cut through it as cleanly as she'd cut through the flesh and blood leg. That Nomen felt no pain, but he'd fallen to the ground on his remaining knee and hadn't yet figured out how he was supposed to stand up with only one leg. That brief moment of inattention was all that Tani needed. She jumped to her feet, spun around to get as much momentum as possible and cut through the Nomen's neck.

Her eyes met Steel's when she realized that he'd already dispatched the other Nomen for her. She nodded her thanks, then turned to look for a new opponent.

Steel's heart lodged in his throat when he saw a Nomen raise a hand laser and aim it at Tani. Knowing he was too far away to be sure of hitting the Nomen, he raised his own hand laser anyway, silently promising to practice more diligently in the future. Once again, Tani surprised him. She ran straight at the Nomen, as seemed to be her way since she kept doing it, then leapt up into the air once again. The Nomen followed her body with the hand laser, shooting twice and missing both times as his arm rose higher and higher until it was almost straight up. Tani had reached the apex of her leap and was on her way back down when she struck, slicing the Nomen's arm off at the elbow with one sword. Half a second later she landed on her feet behind and facing the Nomen's back. He was still standing, barely having had time to realize what had happened yet, so his neck was much too high for her to reach. She went for the spine instead, plunging both swords directly into the middle of the Nomen's back, then giving each a sharp twist. The Nomen screamed and fell face first to the ground, alive but paralyzed.

Tani looked for her next opponent only to find Steel finishing off the last two Nomen with his hand lasers, both having been disabled by her shuriken a few moments earlier. She watched, not even out of breath, while he went back to another fallen Nomen, turned him over, and freed his sword. Tani smiled, proud of how well he'd done.

At first Dirk was afraid the gun would fall out of his shorts, but he'd been growing fast lately, and all of his clothes were getting a little bit tight, so the gun remained in place. As he climbed beside his grandmother, he wondered if he should try to shoot the Nomen himself. As he looked around at all the big men with guns, he asked himself what Gunji Tani or Steel Khaan would say about that, and knew immediately they wouldn't like it. He didn't even know how to turn a hand laser on.

He heard a shout and looked down, then smiled when he saw Gunji Tani use her swords to kill one of the Nomen. It was kind of gross, but he watched anyway until one of the Nomen threatened to shoot them if they didn't climb faster. He reached a broad ledge on the side of the mountain above the mesa right after his grandmother and looked back down, surprised that only three of the Nomen had remained with them. The rest were down on the mesa fighting with Gunji Tani and Steel Khaan.

He wanted to watch, but Grandma took hold of his hand as they were forced to run to an enormous ground transport, which kind of scared him because he didn't remember seeing anything like it before. No one else was afraid of it though, so he pretended he wasn't either. He was glad when they were all put into the back of it so they could sit together in a circle with Ruya lying on the floor in the middle. Then the Nomen got in the vehicle and it took off, going so fast Dirk could hardly believe it at first. He looked at Grandma, who patted him lightly to let him know it was okay. Dirk didn't think it was okay at all, but he pretended it was so Grandma didn't get upset again.

"Where are the women and children?" Steel asked, and Tani shook her head. She hadn't seen them. She ran over to the back of the mesa where it met the mountainside and checked to be sure they weren't hiding behind the rocks piled up there to hold targets. She shook her head.

"They must have taken them," Steel growled.

"We have to stop them, Steel," she said. "They'll use the hostages to force the Khun to return to the mine." Steel nodded as he hurried over to where a few of the Nomen had fallen and traded his depleted weapons for theirs. As he rose to his feet, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye and turned to see one Nomen, not quite dead, raise a hand laser and aim it at Tani. Steel took two running steps and kicked the weapon out of the Nomen's hand "Honey, that's gonna leave a mark," Tani chastised gently. Steel aimed his hand laser at the Nomen's head and pulled the trigger, then turned back to Tani and shrugged.

"I don't think he'll notice, Khalute," he said, then shifted. Tani ran toward him and leapt up into his arms, then kissed him on his enormous mahrac jaw.

"The Nomen came down the mountain over there," she said, pointing toward an area that showed clear signs of disturbance. Steel took off, flying up the side of the mountain. As soon as they found the place where the Nomen had parked their ground transport, they both heard the deep rumble of its engines. Steel immediately changed direction and flew after it.

"Stay high enough that they can't see you without sticking their heads out a window," Tani said. Steel climbed a little higher, cutting across the face of the mountain until he was directly above the vehicle. He stayed there, watching it zig zag back and forth as it sped down the mountain. When it reached the foot of the mountain it would be forced to cross an expanse of flat ground littered with large rocks and boulders that, Steel and Tani both knew, went on for three miles. It wouldn't be able to go fast, which was a good thing for him. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to keep up.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do," Tani said. "When they reach the bottom of the mountain, you're going to gradually descend until we're right over the top of the ground transport. Then I'm going to use that nice big sword of yours to stab down through the roof directly into the skull of the driver. As soon as he dies the mandatory safety protocols will kick in and stop the vehicle. Well, they will if the Nomen haven't disabled them."

Steel frowned, then looked slowly and deliberately at her hip, wondering if there was any possibility she'd understand his concern since she didn't carry hand lasers. Somehow, as usual, she did. He smiled inwardly, loving how in tune with each other they were most of the time.

"We can't risk using a hand laser because if the driver is carrying one and we hit its power supply, or if he's carrying grenades, or anything else like that, the explosion will kill everyone in that vehicle."

Steel shook his head slowly. The answer was so obvious that he knew he should have thought of it himself, but he hadn't. He wondered what he would do without her, then shivered at the thought.

"We killed seventeen Nomen between us on the mesa," Tani said after a few moments. "I estimated thirty Nomen in the valley. What do you think? Is thirty about right?" Steel nodded his head in agreement, wondering why the numbers were important. "Of the eighty Nomen at the mine, forty seven are dead, or will be soon. There can't be many Nomen in that transport because it's not large enough to have carried more than twenty of them since they're so big, and like I said, we killed seventeen. So, figure five maximum, though my guess is three. That would leave around thirty at the mine, if they haven't gotten reinforcements, which isn't expected until they come for the metal in two weeks, correct?"

Steel nodded again, fascinated by this unexpected peek into her mental process as she worked something out. Tani fell silent for another long moment, then reached up and placed one hand on his cheek. "What all of this means to us, Steel, is that if you and I fail to free the prisoners in that ground transport, and we get killed, at least we know that the rest of your men will have a really good chance of succeeding. And if they don't, my parents will be here tomorrow and they absolutely will free anyone and everyone being held against their will."

Steel shook his head once, hard. "I know, I don't like to think of it either," Tani said. "But I have a reason for bringing this up right now. See, I've kind of been waiting for you to say something, but you haven't yet. I'm not generally impatient, but under the circumstances, I don't think it's a good idea to put it off any longer. And if I say this while you're in your alter form and can't talk, I won't feel so bad if you don't feel the same way because you can't say it back to me anyway."

Steel glanced at her, frowning. She reached up and placed her other hand on his face and looked into his eyes. "I love you, Steel," she said softly. "Absolutely and completely. I've loved you from the moment I first laid eyes on you, and I will love you even when the feet of my spirit take me to the next plane. I understand now why I'm so different from other Clan Jasani. It's because of you, Steel. You are my destiny. If you feel the same way, then I'd like to stay here, with you and the Khun, if you'll have me."

Steel felt tears sting his eyes, aware of how ridiculous he must look, a huge ferociously ugly gargoyle crying, but he didn't care. All he cared about was letting her know he felt the same way. Not knowing what else to do, he lowered his head and pressed one kiss to the top of her head, squeezing her gently. When he raised his head and looked down at her, she was smiling brilliantly at him.

"Thank you, Steel," she said. "Just remember that you still owe me the words. Later."

He chuckled softly, a sound like rocks rubbing together in his mahrac form, but he was too happy to notice, or even care. Then he looked down at the ground transport and sobered as it started across the flat lands. "You ready for this?" Tani asked. For answer, Steel began to descend toward the car while staying directly over the top of it.

The vehicle went over big bumps and made lots of turns as it raced down the mountainside, making Dirk feel sick. He was keeping his eyes on the window because Ruya was bleeding a whole lot and it was really gross, so he saw the mahrac flying high in the sky behind them for just a moment. Then it was directly over them and he couldn't see it any more, but that was okay. He'd seen enough to know that it was Steel Khaan and Gunji Tani. A thrill of excitement ran through him.

He turned his head so he could see the Nomen in the vehicle with them. There were two in the front seat, and the third one was sitting right behind them in a seat that faced sideways. He was so big that he had to hunch down to keep his head from hitting the ceiling, so he was kind of watching them and kind of not.

Dirk waited until the Nomen wasn't watching, then reached back and slipped the hand laser out of his shorts. He stilled when the Nomen looked at them, watching from the corner of his eye until the Nomen looked away again. Dirk saw that he was trying to open a container of water and he was having trouble with it, so he very slowly slid the hand laser across the few inches of floor space that separated him from his grandmother, stopping only when it touched her leg.

She glanced down in surprise, looked at him with a tiny smile of approval, then picked up the hand laser and held it down by her leg. Dirk saw her do something to it. A couple of somethings actually, confirming his suspicion that if he'd tried to shoot the Nomen himself it wouldn't have worked. He clasped his hands in front of himself, ready and waiting for when Grandma looked at him again. When she did, he raised one finger, pointing upward, hoping as hard as he could that she'd understand him.

Grandma's eyes widened, then she winked at Dirk. He relaxed, watching her as she began paying closer attention to the Nomen.

As Steel got closer and closer to the roof of the transport, Tani thought about what she was going to do and realized that she probably wasn't strong enough to do it successfully. She relied on momentum, flexibility, and speed to make up for her small size and weight. In this instance, it would take sheer strength to push that sword through the roof, and she didn't have enough of that.

"Steel, you're going to have to shove the sword through the roof," she said. "I'm not strong enough to do it from a still position. It's got to be fast and straight down."

Steel knew she was right, but didn't know how he could hold her and handle the sword. Once again, she had a solution. "I'm going to hold onto your neck and wrap my legs around your waist, okay?"

Steel wasn't too sure, but he nodded. He had an awfully big waist in this form, and Tani's legs weren't very long. "Just keep one hand on the small of my back and I won't fall."

He nodded and helped her shift positions. When he was sure that she was set, her arms tight around his neck and legs on either side of his hips, squeezing tightly, he wrapped one arm around her, then drew his sword. He descended closer, then closer still, imagining where the driver would be. He was in a prone position over the top of the vehicle before he felt he could reach the right spot. Then he raised his sword and slammed it point down straight into, and through, the roof of the vehicle with all the power he could put behind it. He felt the slight resistance as the blade struck something hard then push through it, and knew that he'd hit his target.

His heart leapt into his throat when the high pitched hiss of a laser gun sounded immediately afterward, not just once, but twice. The ground transport began to slow immediately after the death of its driver, rolling to a stop a couple of seconds later. Steel landed on the ground beside it, the sound of women's excited, but not panicked, voices telling him that they weren't being threatened. He set Tani's feet on the ground, then shifted back to human form just as a small boy leapt out of the transport and flew at Tani. She went down on one knee and caught Dirk up in her arms, then held him tightly as they watched the other women climb out of the vehicle behind him.

"Gunji Tani, Ruya got shotted," Dirk said, relaxing the strangle hold he had on her neck.

"What?" she gasped, then looked at Drya.

"It's serious, I'm afraid," she said as she reached for Dirk, knowing Tani would want to see to the injured woman. "She's in there."

Tani climbed into the vehicle, ignoring the dead Nomen as though they didn't exist. She crawled back to where Ruya lay, her heart racing at the amount of blood she saw. She placed one hand on Ruya's forehead and concentrated. Relief washed through her when she found that Ruya still lived, though it was a near thing. She placed her other hand over Ruya's chest where the wound was, closed her eyes, and hoped for another miracle.

"Thank you, Tani, for healing Ruya," Naran said later that morning as they stood in the clinic waiting room. "I'm not sure I could have stood it if I'd lost her, too."

"No thanks are necessary, Naran," she said. "I'm just glad I was able to do it. I didn't know that you and Ruya were related."

"We're not," Naran said with a little smile. "I have only one sister left. But I love Ruya. When this business with the Nomen is over, we'll marry."

"That will be very soon," Tani said. Naran's use of the word business struck her wrong, but she showed no sign of it. "My parents will be here tomorrow, and they'll make short work of the Noman, and Brutus."

"Tomorrow?" Naran asked in surprise.

"Yes," Tani said, nodding. "I'm sure it'll be a relief to everyone."

"Yes, of course," Naran said. "A relief."

Tani frowned at Naran's response. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Naran said, smiling. "It's just...shocking to think that, after so long, all of a sudden time's almost up."

"Time's almost up?" Tani asked blankly. Naran blinked at her.

"Pardon me?"

"You said time's almost up," Tani said. "I don't understand what you mean by that."

"Me neither," Naran said with a grin. "Weird huh? Maybe that head injury I had was more serious than you thought."

Tani smiled because Naran was clearly waiting for her to smile, but inwardly she wondered what the truth was, because she knew without a doubt that his head injury was fully healed. She'd checked carefully on her last exam.

"What I really meant is that it's hard to believe we won't have to worry about the Nomen anymore." Tani didn't like the way Naran was looking at her, but she smiled anyway.

"ICARUS will be able to do something to insure that the Khun never have to worry about the Nomen again. Of that I have no doubts."

"Wouldn't that be something?" Naran said softly.

Tani nodded her agreement. "Well, Steel's waiting lunch for me so I best get going."

"All right, Tani," Naran said. "Thanks again."

Tani nodded, then turned and headed for Steel's cave, wondering why that little conversation with Naran bothered her so much. It wasn't just his strange choice of words, either. There was something more.

She shook her head and pushed it aside. She'd told Steel that she loved him, finally, and that she wanted to remain on Garza. He'd indicated that he'd felt the same, which had been a relief, but she was looking forward to hearing him say the words. That's why he'd invited her to lunch, she was certain of it. But, as she climbed the cliff, the conversation she'd just had with Naran refused to stay away.

"What's the matter, Tani?" Steel asked as soon as she entered his cave.

"I don't know," Tani said, sitting down with a sigh. "I suppose I'm tired. It's been a long day already, and it's barely noon."

"Well, it's no wonder you're tired, Khalute," Steel said, handing her a plate loaded with enough food to feed three hungry mahracs. "You killed a few dozen Nomen, rescued all the damsels in distress, not to mention one curly haired little urchin who possesses outstanding bravery and a remarkably cool head for a four year old, and healed Ruya from wounds that would certainly have taken her life without you're intervention."

"Yes, well, I did have a bit of help," she said dryly. "To hear you tell it, I'm a miracle worker."

"As far as I'm concerned, you are," Steel replied. "Because of you, our women are here where they belong and on the road to health. Because of you, Dirk lives, Ruya lives, and Naran not only lives, but walks. I still can't believe he survived being shot out of the sky. Even in his mahrac form, the fall should have killed him."

Tani gasped softly, an expression of surprise on her face that Steel didn't understand. "What is it?"

"Did you just said that Naran was shot out of the sky?" Steel nodded. "Did Naran tell you that?"

"Yes, of course," he replied, frowning. "He and Roark were flying home and were ambushed by two Nomen who shot at them. Roark was killed instantly, and Naran was knocked out of the sky, but landed too far from the Nomen for them to reach him right away. He barely managed to fly home."

"But Naran's laser burn was on his back," Tani said. "Unless he was flying with his back toward the ground, that's just not possible."

"No, it's not," Steel said, his frown deepening for a moment. Then he shrugged. "He must have been confused, Tani. After all, he was badly injured, as you know since you healed him. If he'd been in his human form he wouldn't have survived, of that I have no doubt."

"Agreed," Tani said. "But I don't think he was confused, Steel. I think he lied."

"Why would he lie?"

"I don't know," Tani said. "You know him better than I do."

"Exactly," Steel said, his dark eyes going cold as he spoke. "I've known Naran my entire life, and I know he'd never lie about something so important."

Tani frowned up at Steel, noting the angry set of his mouth, the tension in his shoulders. "Do you think I would lie?"

"There's absolutely no reason for him to lie," Steel said, avoiding her question.

"There is if he had something to do with Roark's death."

"Oh, now he's a murderer?" Steel demanded, his temper flaring.

"If I'm right, yes, he's a murderer," Tani said. "If I'm right, he's the one who nearly killed Dirk, and now that I think about it, I suspect it was Naran who fired that shot from the mine compound."

"That's stretching things a bit," Steel said angrily.

"Is it?" Tani asked, refusing to let her temper get the better of her the way Steel's was. "Who else carries a Blind Sight, and was left behind that night? Khurda and Marbic went back, and saw no one, so it wasn't one of the Nomen. They would've immediately raised the alarm. And don't forget that I had to heal Naran again after that incident because he'd overexerted and reinjured himself."

"I will listen to no more of this," Steel snapped, tossing his half eaten sandwich onto his plate so hard that it skidded off and landed on the floor. "Naran is Khun. There's no reason for him to betray his people. You, on the other hand, are not Khun. You're the outsider here, Tani, and as such, you've no right to make an accusation such as this against one of my people."

Tani maintained a calm expression with the greatest effort, even though her chest felt like the weight of the entire planet had just crushed it. It took every scrap of will she possessed to set her plate down, stand up, turn around, and leave Steel's cave without another word. She made her way down to Astra's and went inside, not even hearing Astra's greeting as she went into the guest chamber and stopped walking.

She stood there for a very long time as Steel's words continued to echo over and over in her mind, too stunned by their deliberate cruelty to silence them. She'd allowed herself to believe, just for a few short hours, that she'd found her place in the universe. She was surprised at how much it hurt to have that short lived belief torn away. Eventually she managed to build a barrier between herself and the pain. It wasn't a very big barrier, or a very strong one, but, so long as she didn't put any pressure on it, it would serve until she was able to escape from Garza. That meant staying away from Steel and, if possible, finding something else to occupy her mind with.

Her eyes fell on the black sweater she'd borrowed from Astra, folded neatly on top of the dresser, and she nodded to herself. She crossed to the dresser, pulled out the clothes she'd been wearing when she was transported onto the Stray, then closed the curtain over the entry way and undressed. She redressed in her own clothes, then collected all of the clothing she'd borrowed and took them into the kitchen, glad that Astra was no longer there.