"Can we talk about this later? I'm really tired."

"Sleep, Blue. You're safe with me."

Shadow rolled over and pulled her wilderness bag around her shoulders. It was hot as blazes, even in the shade of the trees, but she was shivering. She knew in her heart that when Talon left she'd be cold for a long, long time.

Chapter Thirty-Four.

"The bounty station is two streets down and one over. We have time for breakfast before they open for non-emergency business." Talon pointed to a tavern sign not far from where they stood.

"A cup of anything hot sounds good to me." Shadow shivered despite the sun beating down on their heads.

"Do you need to see a medic, Blue? It's got to be eighty degrees out here and you're shaking like a leaf." He had to keep the fire blazing all night trying to warm her. It got so bad that she allowed him to join her in her wilderness bag to share body heat. He was sweating like a pig all night but he couldn't raise her temperature at all.

"No, I do not want to see a medic. Haven't had much luck with healers over the years. It's just a bug of some kind that I probably caught in that disgusting, germ-pool of a cell. Let's just get something to eat."

He wanted to argue but since that hadn't worked during the entire six and a half hour ride from the campsite, he bit his tongue. She was right about that cell so her a.s.sumption made sense.

The tavern owner offered them seats near the open windows to catch the breeze that made the heat inside tolerable. Shadow's teeth already chattered so he asked for the table beside the kitchen door. Her smile was the first genuine expression he'd seen since she found out about his eye. He cursed himself for a fool every time he thought about his slip-up.

While they waited for their food, Talon outlined the plans he made during the long hours of caring for the woman across from him.

"The reward for those two escaped criminals will cover the cost of transporting us and the horses to wherever Draagon was last seen. I figured on two or three day's surveillance after we locate him. Once we know his schedule it's just a matter of picking the best position and waiting."

"Didn't the guards keep everything of value in your pockets? They did mine."

"I slipped the badges into my boot as soon as I realized what was happening. Those guards weren't trained to be law enforcement. They're good at intimidating visitors who didn't spend enough coins in their shops." Talon waited until the server deposited their meal before continuing.

"My pockets were emptied but they never checked the boots." He cut a healthy bite of steak and slipped it into his mouth. He couldn't remember the last time he'd had a thick, rare steak. "Mmmm, this is perfect."

"It's not even cooked!" She wrinkled her nose in disgust. "I'll stick with my soup, thank you."

They consumed their meal in relative silence, only speaking when the server asked them a question.

"Have you noticed that servers around the galaxy wait until you have a mouth full of food before asking you if your order is correct or if you need a beverage refill?" He grinned when Shadow laughed at his rambling. Her hands stopped shaking about halfway through the meal and that made him feel better about her health. She grinned at him when he pointed that out to her.

"I told you I'm fine. Let's do whatever you have to do and get aboard that transport."

She sounded almost back to normal-as long as he ignored the haunted look in her eyes. Something, probably her misplaced guilt, rode her hard enough to make her sick. The spikes of color that were constant and clear on the island were muted now. He didn't believe for an instant that it was because of his damaged eye. She was controlling it again. Was that making her sick or was her illness muting the colors? His knowledge of the colors came from trial and error and she needed the advice of a trained professional to translate the change in her colors.

He dropped coins on the table to cover their meal and something extra for the server. The heat was intense and every step along the unpaved street raised clouds of dust. Twenty minutes after leaving the tavern, they walked into the bounty station.

"Be right with you folks," said a disembodied voice from inside a closet.

"No rush. Our business isn't urgent." Talon remembered the hundreds of bounty stations he had visited over the years. It was where you picked up a list of targets and returned the live prisoners or proof of death for those who refused to be captured.

d.a.m.n! I don't miss this at all!

"Sorry about the delay, what can I do for...Talon?" The officer turned from whatever he was doing and spotted them.

"I'm sorry." Talon tried to put a name to what he saw of the face. "I don't remember you."

"No reason why you should. I was just a dumba.s.s kid right out of the academy. You folks come on in my office where it's cooler. Can I get you something? Water? Tea? d.a.m.n! The guys at HQ won't believe this! Everyone thought you were dead!"

Talon probably looked as confused as Shadow. This guy acted like he was entertaining visiting celebrities. "No thank you. We just left the tavern a few blocks from here. We have...."

"Before we jump into business can I ask you something? You were-are a legend among bounty hunters. h.e.l.l, you're the reason HQ eliminated the a.s.sa.s.sin part of the name. You brought in over five hundred criminals and only killed one and that one was self-defense." He grinned at Shadow.

"The question, Officer...?" Talon wasn't comfortable with being praised so enthusiastically.

"Right. You have business and I'm just rattling about past history. Everyone wants to know what happened? Where did you go? It was like you just dropped off the face of the planet."

Talon never thought he'd be asked his side of the story. There was no reason to seek out the other a.s.sa.s.sins. It was a solitary profession. "I was almost killed by Draagon's Phantom Riders. It took a long time to fully recover and by the time I did, the job didn't mean the same."

"Now that makes perfect sense to me. What can I do for you?"

"You really know how to show a girl a good time, Mister Bounty Hunter." Shadow kicked back in the luxurious seat of the private transport. Who knew bounty hunters travelled in such splendor?

"I'm still trying to come to terms with my immortality. They changed the academy name to Ta'Londal Academy. Why would they do that? How did they know where I came from?"

"They're trained to track down the most elusive of criminals. How hard would it be to track someone who had no reason to hide his origins?"

He didn't really expect an answer to his questions. It was his way of dealing with the honor his peers bestowed on him. He kept reading the obituary notices from around Cyperia. The entire planet mourned his death while he drank away his pain alone.

Shadow was so proud for him. The men who governed the bounty hunters honored him the only way they could when reports of his death reached them. The respect he garnered from every law enforcement agency he worked with was evident in the eulogy read at his memorial service. His ethics were held as the bar every new bounty hunter trainee was expected to reach. They even offered him a job teaching at the academy. They understood his decision to go after Draagon, even giving him the coordinates from the latest attacks; but still tried to convince him to bring him in alive.

He believed he was alone in the world when, in fact, he had hundreds of brothers-in-arms. Could their opinion of him temper his thirst for revenge? Time would tell but did he have that time?

Meanwhile, the Regional Director insisted they travel in his private transport. This baby could carry a full company of hunters and their weapons on the level below this one. There was even a fully stocked and manned stable for the horses. She could definitely get used to this. This trip wouldn't require transferring through seven different transport stations, waiting for hours to days between flights. The pilot had orders to take them, non-stop, from Karphor to Cyperia.

Chapter Thirty-Five.

Talon walked through the streets of his old life and cringed. These weren't the kinds of bars where you brought a special lady for a night on the town. These were the lowest forms of street life.

d.a.m.n. How did I survive two years of this destruction? He searched the bodies across the road until he located Shadow. She was in full blue mode while she worked her way up that side of the road. They hoped to hear any sc.r.a.p of gossip, rumor, or gloating that would give them a direction-someplace to start.

The hunter manning the bounty station didn't have as much information about Draagon's location as he did. The last update to reach his office was shortly after the explosion that almost killed Dak and Kierin. Talon shared what he knew with the over-worked hunter but didn't hold out much hope that he would do anything with the information. His mention of a handful of homeless families showing up claiming to be the only survivors of a Phantom Rider raid was another reason they were here. A signal from Shadow had him dodging people and horses to get to her.

"I have a location for the families the officer mentioned." She turned and jogged back the way they came.

"Why are we running? Are they in danger?" He could keep up with her in this gentle jog, but if they had to run he didn't know if he could recognize obstacles in time to avoid them.

"Might have to kick some pervert a.s.s." She looked back at him and grinned. "The bartender at that last place was telling anyone who'd listen that there was a sweet, young thing barely past her first monthly that could be had for a gold coin."

"m.u.t.h.e.r f...how much farther?" He didn't need her answer when he heard the scream. He took off at a hard run, Shadow at his side. She shouted 'left' and they turned down a dark alley and ran into the middle of chaos.

The men who weren't fighting each other for a chance at the girl were yelling threats at the father trying his best to defend his daughter with a pitchfork. Talon pulled the pistol from the holster under his arm and fired a shot into the air. Shock quieted the mob, for the moment, anyway.

"Get the h.e.l.l out of here before you p.i.s.s me off enough to start shooting. The first one to argue gets the first shot."

"He can't get us afore we get him." Someone shouted from the back.

"You might be right but I know I'll take down four or five before I go down and my partner there will get just as many."

"Move, bounty hunter. I'm a better shot than you." Shadow bragged and leveled her gun at the gut of the man closest to her. "Ever see a man die from a gut wound? Ugly, ugly way to die."

"Ain't no piece o' a.s.s worth this. f.u.c.k it." He dropped the tree limb he must have picked up along the way and stumbled away, pushing and shoving at the men still blocking the alley.

"Well, come on if you're coming?" Talon demanded. "This man can't stand here all night and I'm getting bored."

One-by-one they slowly left the alley. Some brave soul yelled from the street that they'd be back when there wasn't some sorry-a.s.sed bounty hunter and his b.i.t.c.h around to stop the fun.

"Is anyone hurt?" Shadow asked the father, easing the pitchfork from his trembling hands.

"Jus' scared, mostly." He lifted the corner of a dirty sc.r.a.p of canvas and motioned for his family to come out of hiding.

Talon's heart ached for what the man was suffering. "Draagon?"

"Yes, Sir. He came to our village two months ago and took over everything. My farm is a good ways out so I wuz able to get 'em hid afore they came an' burned me ta the ground." He wrapped his arms around his pregnant wife, while a young boy hid his face in her skirts. The girl at the heart of the trouble couldn't be more than ten or twelve years old.

"You can't stay here." Shadow squatted so she was eye-level with the little boy. "Do you think you could help me with something?" She asked, softly.

He looked up at his mother with big, tear-filled eyes before turning back to her. "Don' know but I can try."

"My friend and I were going to have a little picnic later tonight but he's not feeling so good after running all the way here. Sure would hate to see all that food go bad. You think you might know some people who could help me have that picnic?"

"Us! Us! Us!" He jumped and jumped in his excitement. "I could eat it all by myself but I wanna share."

"Sammy, you sit down and stop all that racked. These nice folks won't believe I raised you with manners." She reached out and touched Shadow's arm. "I don't like taking charity but my family will die if they don't get something more than dried up berries, road kill, and garbage sc.r.a.ps to eat."

Talon offered his hand to the farmer. "I'm Talon and this is my partner, Shadow. It's a pleasure to meet you. If you can get word to the other families to meet us here, I think I may have a solution to some of your problems." Talon stood and nodded to the young children. "I'm going after that basket of food but Shadow will be here to protect you. She's a fierce warrior."

"But she's a girl." Sammy whined.

"Exactly!" Shadow laughed at the unabashed honesty of childhood and followed Talon to the mouth of the alley.

"Make it a big basket but keep the sugary sweets to a minimum. I don't think their shrunken stomachs will tolerate anything too rich." Her whispered words wouldn't be heard by the young family.

"If you keep looking at me like that, Blue, they won't be the only ones getting lucky tonight." He dropped a quick, hard kiss on her mouth before walking away.

"In your dreams, bounty hunter." She yelled after him. The huge grins on the faces of the farmer and his wife caught her by surprise. Too much time away from other people has rotted my brain.

"So...Talon told you our names but I didn't hear yours."

Turned out that Big Sam and Emmie, short for Emmeline, ran away and got married when her father forbid her to speak to him. Her father was the mayor of a town she refused to name and Sam was nothing but a farmer and too far beneath her, according to her father. Life was hard but she wouldn't change a single thing about their life before Draagon. Sammy was a typical eight-year-old, full of mischief, and Belle was ten.

Shadow could tell that Emmie was well educated as she gently corrected the grammar and etiquette of her children. She could feel the love these four had for each other.

"When is the new baby due?" She asked Emmie, instantly regretting the question when tears rolled down her cheeks.

"As soon as I can find a medic. The babe hasn't moved in more than a month."

"I couldn't find no food fer 'em an' barely any water. The babe jus' weren't strong enough."

Sam shouldered the blame for the loss of their baby but Shadow put this all on Draagon. He could never be punished enough to balance the horrible, horrible destruction he delivered. Why couldn't law enforcement capture him?

"When Talon returns with the food, we'll make our camp here with you for the night and find you safe lodging tomorrow."

"I got no words ta thank you. I used ta be a proud man but not when it comes ta keepin' my wife an' babies alive. I'll take yur charity an' be grateful fer it."

"It's not charity, Sam." Shadow a.s.sured him. "It's a second chance and everybody deserves one of those.

"Thank you for trusting us enough to meet here." Talon sat on an empty barrel and looked every man and woman gathered in the alley in the eye.

"No offence, mister, but it weren't you we trusted-it were Sam and the offer of food for our young."

Talon chuckled at his honesty. "Whatever brought you here doesn't matter. Did everyone get enough to eat? Shadow still has a couple of unopened baskets over there." When no one spoke he continued.

"I'm after Draagon and I hope you can help me find him." The whispered mutterings didn't sound promising. "Please, hear me out."

"Talon," Shadow whispered in his ear. "Tell them your plan first. If they know their families will be safe they'll be more willing to help."

"I know a place where you can take your families and never have to worry about Draagon ever again."

"No man can make that claim. Draagon goes where he wants and takes what strikes his fancy."

Talon couldn't see who spoke so he looked at Sam when he answered. "It's true. Draagon never returns to a town or village he's destroyed, right? Why would he when he's taken everything of value and destroyed what was left?"

The adults all nodded in agreement. "That's what he did to my village twenty years ago. It's not on Cyperia but I've arranged transportation for you. There's plenty of game in the hills and since it's an island, there's fish and mollusks. Fresh water still flows into most of the houses. Three hundred families used to live there and most of their homes were damaged by the Riders. Weather and wildlife added to the damage but there are enough building materials there to repair most of the ones still standing or build new ones. The fields have been fallow since the attack so the soil is rich and ready for planting in the spring."