The Thief Of Mardu Part 9

Tears threatened and Isa blinked rapidly to maintain some dignity. She'd be d.a.m.ned if she'd cry for the halfwit.

"I'm sorry, sweet," he repeated and embraced her in a tight hug.

The movement, thought comforting, brushed her shoulder and she couldn't contain a gasp of pain.

He quickly sat her back and held fast to her forearms, studying her. "Isa?" His eyes glowed and she knew he used that odd sense he possessed to enhance his vision. His gaze lingered on her shoulder and he cursed, loudly and creatively. "Why the h.e.l.l didn't you tell me you'd been wounded?"

He sounded panicked, completely opposite of the arrogant warrior who battled and defeated five security guards. "Isa? I need to see the wound."

He handled her with the utmost gentleness, but still she shrieked when he peeled the jacket from her arm. No longer encrusted with blood, the wound oozed and throbbed painfully.

"Isa, this has the beginnings of an infection." His voice calm, Catam worked to force the worry from his tone. Her arm didn't look healthy, and the wound held a distinct stench of decay that his keen senses detected. Only two hours had pa.s.sed since she'd received the laceration, but every second in their less than sanitary surroundings counted.

He needed to take her to a physician. But they had at least another few hours before they reached civilization. And considering the incident with the guards at the Klin estate, by now he, along with Isa, had a bounty on his head.

By Flor's dagger! He fumed as he studied her arm and knew it had to hurt.

"I wish you had told me about this earlier," he muttered as he studied the deep blast. The phaser should have seared the wound, burning any infection. But he recalled Isa rolling on the ground in her haste to duck the guards, and who knew what now contaminated her blood?

"It'll be fine. Leave it." She tried to take her arm back but Catam refused to let go.

Worry gnawed at him, an unfamiliar emotion he'd only recently experienced with his brother Gar. Gar, he reasoned, just needed time to deal with his grief. But if Catam didn't do something for Isa, he feared she might not have the time to deal with her troubles.

Coming to a decision, one he prayed he wouldn't regret, he decided to turn to those he trusted. He reached into his jacket and retrieved his com device.

"What are you doing?" Isa asked.

He ignored her and waited for someone to answer his signal.

"Mara's Light," Lurin Vez's voice returned over the com device. "How may I help you?"

"Lurin, it's Catam." He ignored Isa's whispered oath to disconnect. "I have a situation here and I need some help, some discreet help." He paused and nodded at Lurin's suggestion. "Fine. I know the place. We'll be there as soon as possible." He hung up to find Isa looking livid.

"How could you do that? I'm wanted by everyone in Mardu. I'm worth ten thousand beks to anyone who brings me in! Do you really think your friends won't succ.u.mb to that kind of temptation?"

Catam grinned. "Sweet, you have no idea the temptation Lurin lives with on a daily basis. Captain Mara is, well ... you'll see when you meet her."

"Captain Mara?" Isa's eyes shot green fire and Catam delighted in the possessive streak curling her fingers into tight fists.

"Relax Isa, she's my boss, my real boss."

Isa's eyes flared to a darker green and she cursed him to eternal impotence. He flinched at the thought.

"You're bringing bounty hunters to help us? You must be crazy!" she continued to rage when he dragged her in a new direction.

Yeah, crazy, he thought glumly as he toted the screeching woman, crazy in love.

Nu, Set and Lurin stared with approval at Isa marching stiffly in front of Catam, a long jacket folded over his arm. When she saw the three men waiting by a shuttle outside the pleasure club, she turned and colorfully cursed the Mardu to eternal d.a.m.nation.

"I like her already," Nu murmured, earning a grin from his brother.

"She's got a mouth on her as nice as that body," Set commented with a sly wink.

Catam's head shot up, surprising Lurin that at such a distance the Mardu heard the comment. Catam glared at them and dragged the woman the rest of the distance to meet them.

"She sure looks tasty," Lurin drawled and felt a surge of furious possession emanating from Catam, as the Mardu s.h.i.+fted to stand protectively between the men and his "gracious" companion.

"Thanks for coming," Catam said in a growl. His voice sounded harsh, but his hands were gentle on the woman. "This is Isa, and she needs some help."

"I need my head examined, traveling with you," she grumbled.

"We can arrange that too," Lurin said, choking back laughter at Catam's glare.

"That's Nu and Set, and this is Lurin, my captain's husband," Catam introduced them casually, a curious emphasis on Lurin's relation to Mara.

Lurin laughed, pleased with Catam's jealousy. He clapped the man on the back and with Nu and Set, led the escapees to the shuttle. "You're in luck, Isa. We happened to bring along a physician friend of my wife's."

"I don't know why we need the help. My arm's not that bad."

Lurin sensed her pain and would have merged to ease some of it if Catam hadn't proven so p.r.i.c.kly over the female. Lurin's kind, the Thesha, could control the female mind. But sensing to do so would push Catam in a direction the Mardu wasn't ready to go, Lurin left the woman alone.

"Actually your arm looks infected," Set remarked and drew nearer to study it.

Nu closed the shuttle doors behind them and within moments the shuttle left Mardu behind and entered s.p.a.ce. Lurin watched as Catam glared Set away from the woman, then led her to the physician waiting with her kit in the back of the craft.

While the doctor fixed Isa's shoulder, Lurin pulled Catam aside to learn more about the situation. The stubborn Mardu turned to face him, but refused to budge more than an arm's length from the woman.

"So Catam, is there some specific reason you called on us instead of your brother for help? Not that we mind, but this was his mission in the first place."

Catam sighed. "I didn't want to call you at all. But Isa's arm needs attention. I can't contact Sernal because I'm already late bringing her in." He paused and glanced behind him at Isa.

"And?" Lurin's eyes narrowed as he studied Catam's face. "I know when you're holding back. Let's have all of it. What else is going on that we should know about?"

"Nothing--"

"And don't tell me nothing because Mara specifically told me not to return to the s.h.i.+p without answers."

"You don't really take orders from your own wife, do you?" Catam scoffed.

Lurin raised one brow in answer. "You know Mara. You've taken orders from her for years. What do you think?" Lurin recalled the last set of orders he'd taken from his wife involving strips of silk and a jar of sylvan sweets.

"You've got that look on your face." Catam grimaced. "Forget I asked."

Lurin crossed his arms and waited.

"Fine. You win." Catam bit his lip. "But you cannot pa.s.s this to Sernal."

"Agreed."

"Lurin, you're new to the bounty hunting business but even you can see that life isn't always black and white."

"Tell me about it. I distinctly recall telling you and the others I was innocent. Yet you still put me in chains and imprisoned me aboard your s.h.i.+p."

"Exactly my point," Catam emphasized. "Certain evidence pointed to your guilt, yet Mara and myself sensed your innocence."

"Mara and you?" Annoyance crept over Lurin at memories of the harrowing experience. "My wife was the one who believed in my innocence. I don't recall your help until the very end."

Catam waved that aside and replied in low voice so as not to be overheard, "You Thesha have always been too sure of yourselves. h.e.l.l, I knew what you were the moment we picked you up. Had the s.h.i.+p not been hijacked, I'd have set the captain on the right trail to freeing you, and without giving away your secret."

"It's a moot point now." Mara knew firsthand the gifts of the Thesha. Lurin didn't worry she would ever betray him. He trusted her completely. For the most part he trusted Catam to be as trustworthy. It helped that the Mardu now needed his help, cementing their bond even further.

"Yeah, well, I'm digressing." Catam blew out a breath. "The point is, your situation and Isa's are very similar. Just as you were falsely accused, so was she. And Sernal isn't in a position as a peacemaker to open a new investigation, not without going through the proper channels. By the time he can get through those channels, Isa will be dead."

Catam sobered after uttering those words, and Lurin saw how very much the thought bothered him. Interesting.

For the past year, working with Mara's crew had been an eye-opening experience. The Fas brothers proved amusing and tenacious, strong in resolve and in physical toughness. He'd enjoyed watching them work. The Raggas normally brought their bounties in through sheer force alone.

Catam of Mardu, on the other hand, worked in a completely different manner. Using innate charm and a keen sense of wit, he cajoled and convinced his bounties to turn themselves in. His affable nature often caused others to overlook his fighting skills. When charm didn't work, however, as in the case of Rantak Borsham, Catam stalked his prey like an ancient Xema warrior. Lurin thought the man's abilities were truly a wonder to behold.

Lurin had seen the Xema train, but he'd never actually seen a Xema warrior in battle. Unlike the Raggas, the Xema relied on their stealth, on their agility and extraordinarily quick reactions. The blurring, distorting techniques Catam often used to confuse his quarry were astonis.h.i.+ng.

"Lurin?"

Lurin realized he'd been staring at Catam long enough to cause questions. "Sorry. You were saying?"

"Dammit, pay attention here." Catam's eyes narrowed in anger, an odd occurrence for the normally even-tempered Mardu. "Isa's life is on the line. She's being framed for a murder she didn't commit."

Lurin scowled. He knew that scenario only too well. "Sernal copied us on the file. If Isa didn't kill the statesman, then who did?"

"Lady Klin and Arnath Bedenzi," Isa answered in a loud voice. Her eyes burned with anger and a hint of fever.

Lurin thought the fever explained her incredible accusation. "You're kidding, right?"

"No, she's not." Catam shook his head. Then he turned and ran a finger over the blue, s.h.i.+ny material covering her shoulder. "Does it still hurt?"

"No. Meyrna gave me something for the pain. She said the quer bandage should heal the wound by tomorrow."

"Good." Catam's face relaxed in relief, and Lurin couldn't help smirking at how the mighty Mardu had fallen.

"What are you grinning at?" Catam asked, puzzled.

"Not a thing. I just think it's quite a coincidence how alike my situation is to Isa's." He turned to Isa. "That's how I met my wife, you know. She captured me and never let me go."

Lurin looked directly from Isa to Catam and waited for his meaning to sink in. Not soon after he spoke, Isa blushed and refused to look at Catam.

"I, uh, I need to ask Meyrna a few more questions." She deliberately pulled the physician a good distance away.

Catam waited until she was out of earshot. "What the h.e.l.l was that about?"

"You really don't know?" Lurin waited for Catam to refute him, but he didn't. The Mardu looked thoughtful, then he frowned.

"Things are complicated, Lurin. It's not as easy as admitting the words."

"It's a start." Lurin leaned closer. "Don't make the mistake I made. I almost waited too late to see the truth. Open yourself to the possibilities, Catam."

"But my life is on Mara's Light. I'm a bounty hunter. That's what I do."

"Why?"

"Why?" Catam sputtered. "Because I was bred to track, to hunt. I'm not like my brothers. I'm no peacemaker."

"Fine. But why can't you and Isa have a future?"

"She's a criminal, Lurin. Sooner or later she'll have a bounty hunter after her. And it can't always be me. Or worse, she'll have another peacemaker on her tail."

Lurin saw the hurt cross his face before Catam cleared his expression. "Catam, you're not thinking clearly."

"Unfortunately, I am. Look, I appreciate the help, Lurin. Now I need to check on Isa," he said and quickly joined her by the physician.

Lurin sighed and shook his head. Catam had seemed an intelligent man. Why was it the moment a woman entered the picture, rational thought suddenly vanished? Ah love, he thought as he studied the pair standing close together. True love's path might cross and even diverge, but the end state would eventually be the same.

Lurin stared hard at the woman and tempted her to see him. She continued to nod at the physician, her leg brus.h.i.+ng Catam's. She didn't react at all to his mental probe.

Interesting. Very interesting.

Chapter Ten.

Four hours later, Catam and Isa stood in Isa's new room on board Mara's Light.

"It was really nice of my captain to lend you a room while you're recuperating," Catam said calmly, willing Isa to stop her nervous pacing.

She frowned at him and continued to walk around the room, checking for listening devices, hidden monitors and anything else that might turn a dark light on his crewmates.

He sighed with exasperation. "By Flor's dagger, Isa! It's been several hours already. Don't you think if they meant to get a bounty from you, we'd have drifted closer to Jintak in the west, instead of hovering over the north?" He nodded pointedly toward the portal.

She glanced over her shoulder and stared at the outline of the northern province against Mardu's ocean.

"I'll grant you the room is nice," she said with a brief glance at the bed. "But I'd much rather be in Tekar talking to Cheltam right now."

"Instead of being cooped up in a bedroom with me?" he asked with his usual charm. He kept his tone lighthearted, but his body thrummed at thoughts of Isa and a bed.