The Lawgivers: Gabriel Part 3

It wasnat his place to approve or disapprove of the laws, though, he reminded himself. Head been given them and ordered to enforce them.

It made him uncomfortable, however, to find himself questioning the unyielding nature of the law, to have it even flicker through his mind that there could be circ.u.mstances where it might be wrong to uphold the letter of the law.

aDo you have a name youare known by, human?a Lexa sent him a look of surprise. aWhy?a she asked suspiciously, more unnerved by the thought that he could use it to identify her than flattered that head apparently condescended to consider her an individual worthy of being called by name.

Annoyance flickered through Gah-re-al. aIall need it for my report,a he hedged.

aThatas what I thought,a Lexa muttered.

He sent her a look that was a mixture of surprise and irritation. aYou understand report?a Not exactly, but she wasnat about to admit it. The comment seemed to bear up her suspicion, though, that he just wanted to be able to identify her. Shead seen posters here and there in her travels offering rewards for bad people that had done very bad things. It always had a drawing of the personas face and a name when they knew it. aBecause of the boots?a He stared at her blankly for a moment. aI havenat ascertained what crimes you have committed a yet. Thatas why Iam taking you for questioning.a Lexa felt her belly cramp at that. Shead seen the way Ralph questioned people that had information he wanted. She tensed all over, scanning the terrain for any possibility of escape.

aSo you are guilty of something,a he commented coolly.

aHow the h.e.l.l would I know?a Lexa snapped crossly. aI donat know your laws!a aBut you thought about running as soon as I mentioned questioning you.a aI seen the way Ralph questioned people. Didnat make no difference what they said, he just kept right on torturing them till they died or he got tired.a aWho is Ralph?a he asked sharply.

Lexa felt her heart jerk in her chest and cursed herself inwardly for giving him something to identify her with when shead been determined she wasnat going to. aA man I ran into once,a she said reluctantly.

aRan in to? So brief an encounter and yet you know his name?a Jesus! She didnat need to talk to him at all! She couldnat open her mouth without giving something away! She decided to keep her mouth shut. She needed to focus on figuring out a way to escape, not giving him more stuff he could use against her to figure out a penalty.

He said nothing for a time. aI could simply a.s.sign a name.a Lexa wasnat entirely certainly she understood, but she thought he was saying he was going to name her. She considered it, trying to decide whether it would be less of a threat, and it occurred to her that very few people knew her name. She kept to herself as much as possible because it was just plain safer to do so, but she had been seen each time shead been forced to trade for goods and none of them knew her by name. They might remember what she looked like and they might not. Shead always dressed as a young man when shead gone to trade, because there was less chance of catching some manas eye and ending up under him with him grunting and sweating all over her.

So how much did it matter whether he knew her name or not? He knew what she looked likea"in disguisea"and he could describe her for any posters they might put out.

aLexa.a He didnat actually smile but she had the sense that he was pleased with himself. She felt like kicking him.

aSir called me Lex.a aWho is Sir?a Pain lanced through Lexa unexpectedly. She didnat know if it was because his asking reminded her that Sir was dead or if it was because Sir had never allowed her to call him father as he had the little ones. Shead never completely understood why she wasnat allowed to call him father when her sister and brothers were supposed to but it had always hurta"always made her feel left out and unwanted. aThe fathera"my little sister and brothersa father.a He glanced at her, frowning slightly. aHe shortened it to Lex because a?a aBecause it sounds like a boy and he always had me dress like one so no men would try to take me until he was ready to trade me.a Gabriel halted abruptly. aYour father sold you to a man?a aHe wasnat my father. And he didnat get the chance to. The raiders took me.a She thought about that incident in a different light for the first time. aGuess it was just as well King Ralph wasnat fooled. He might have killed me instead of taking me as his woman.a aHow old were you?a Lexa lifted her brows at the anger that seemed to permeate his voice, but she didnat see how he could charge her with anything Sir had donea"particularly when he hadnat actually gotten around to doing it. Even so, it was hard to provide information she didnat know. She shrugged. aI donat know. Iad got the curse.a aCurse?a he echoed blankly.

Lexa felt her face reddening, although she wasnat sure why it made her so uncomfortable discussing something that was, after all, not only perfectly natural but as mundane as breathing. Everybody did it. Everything did it as far as she knewa"well, that was female. Unless it was because he wasnat human and she got the feeling that his interest might not be a good thing for her. aYou know. The woman thing.a aSo you reached maturity? Youad just reached maturity? Or this was some time after that?a He was starting to make Lexa really uncomfortable. She felt guilty and she didnat even know why, felt like his probing questions meant that there was something about what had happened that broke one of his laws and she was going to be in trouble for it. She didnat see how. It wasnat like shead wanted to do it. But his ideas of wrong didnat exactly mesh with hers shead already discovered, not closely enough for her comfort, at any rate. She shrugged, trying to act nonchalant about it. aI donat know. Actually, I guess it was a while after. A few months, at least, I guess.a She glanced at his face, trying to read his expression and decide if that sounded acceptable to him, but it was really too dark to tell much beyond the fact that he seemed angry. On the other hand, he didnat exactly have a sunny disposition from what shead seen so far.

aMight have been a year or two. It was a long time ago,a she added a little lamely.

Outrage suffused Gah-re-al and it was all he could do to keep it to himself. Primitives! Savages! He doubted his superiors had any inkling of just how backwards the humans were, but as far as he was concerned nothing more surely labeled them as backwards savages than their tendency to prey upon the weak of their own kind! Small wonder they were growing in numbers so rapidly if it was commonplace to begin breeding the females as soon as they were capable of being bred! He was no longer convinced, as a matter of fact, that they even waited to see if the females were old enough to be bred before the males took them.

It wasnat as if he hadnat known, or at least suspected, that women and children were regarded as little more than bartering goods. For that matter, Lexaas story didnat necessarily prove that his suspicions were correct. Her situation might be unique, and yet the way that she spoke of it certainly seemed to indicate just that. At least, as far as she knew, it was the norm not the exception.

The urge to simply drop the subject smote him. He was a lawgiver, however, he reminded himself. As distasteful as he found it, it was his duty to be as certain of his facts as he could be. aYour father planned to sell youa"trade you to a man knowing what the man wanted with you?a he asked, keeping his voice carefully neutral.

Lexa frowned, confused now. She supposed it was splitting hairs to remind the angel that he hadnat been her father. He didnat seem to care about that. aUh. I guess he figured it was for breeding. Thatas what he said, anyway. He caught mother to breed on her. He didnat have n.o.body to help him with ch.o.r.es, but then I donat guess he counted on it taking so long for them to get big enough to help, acause he complained about that.a aSo this is common practice? Bartering females for breeding purposes?a Lexa blinked at him. It occurred to her that she didnat know, for certain, if it was common or not. It seemed to her that they werenat that keen on trading for women in general. Sir hadnat and Ralph hadnat. Theyad just taken. aI guess. Ralph didnat a not to get me anyway. He just came with his raiders and took everything. Later, though, he said he was going to trade me off acause I wasnat no good for breeding.a She regretted that statement almost as soon as shead said it. It certainly didnat make her look particularly valuable, she realized, to admit she hadnat been able to produce. She didnat know why it was important to a.s.sure him that she was of worth. She didnat examine it too closely either. aI never believed that, though. I got three babes. They just died. I figured it was acause Ralph had a nasty habit of kicking me when he got p.i.s.sed off and he did it. But he said it was me so I donat know.a aWhat happened to Ralph? Did somebody else kill him to claim you?a Lexa sent him an uneasy look, wondering if it was safe to admit that shead run off, but when it came right down to it, Ralph had stolen her and head been pretty clear that stealing was a punishable offense. aNo. I just ran off. He was talking about giving me to his man, Clarence, and Clarence was worse than Ralph.a He studied her for a long moment in a way that made Lexa distinctly uneasy, made her wonder if shead figured wrong. aWell, he didnat pay, you know!a she pointed out defensively. aHe didnat really own me. So it wasnat stealing. He stole me!a He didnat respond and that made Lexa even more uneasy, but she was just too tired to worry about it for long. His legs were longer than hers and he didnat slow his stride that she could see to allow for her shorter one. She thought they made better time heading back than shead managed heading out. She was all but staggering with fatigue when they finally reached the packed dirt streets of the village and too exhausted to question what he had in mind for her, tired enough she was beyond caring at that moment.

That state didnat last. When he took her to the local saloon and up the stairs to a room and told her to lie down on the bed, fear zoomed to the forefront of her mind again and she looked around a little wildly for a route of escape. His look of disgust didnat soothe her any.

aSleep,a he growled.

Like she could sleep with him hovering over her! aYouare leaving?a she asked hopefully.

aSo you can climb out the window again? No. Iam not through questioning you. But the rest can wait until tomorrow.a She stared at him in dismay. aIam too tired to think up any lies right now. Donat you want to go ahead and finish?a That time there was no mistake. He didnat try to hide the fact that he was amused. aGood point, but it can wait. Iall take my chances that I can discern the lies from the truth.a She blinked at him uncertainly, but there seemed no hope for it. And she was too tired to object anymore. She thought if he did decide to rape her it couldnat be too bad anyway. She might actually manage to sleep through it and even if she couldnat she was too numb with exhaustion to feel much.

The bed was almost as hard and lumpy as the ground she usually slept on, but there was no chilly night air to deal with and the cover on the bed was thicker than the one she had. Curling up into a tight ball beneath it, she emptied her mind without much difficulty at all and dropped into oblivion.

Gah-re-al settled on the floor since there was nothing else in the room that looked comfortable and studied the lump Lexa made on the bed. He couldnat see her. Shead curled into a tight ball under the cover, but head had time enough to examine her fairly thoroughly and his mindas eye had no trouble producing the image.

Well, the face and that hair.

It was the hair that had first caught his eye. As dull as it was with dirt, the dying rays of the sun had caught fire in it when shead scurried away. He supposed it was the furtive movement that had first caught his attention and then the glint of hair, but, whichever way it had happened, the hair had definitely snagged his interest.

Head been patrolling the sector for almost a year and in all that time he hadnat seen hair the color of hers. Head seen a wide variety of hair and eye colors and skin tones, but nothing like hers.

He was almost inclined to wonder if she was even the same species as the others, but she wasnat that different when all was said and donea"just colored a little differently than the typical primitivea"oddly pale skin with spots, eyes as green as new leaves, and hair the color of fire.

Shead gotten the genetic traits from somewhere, so she wasnat the only one. Just the only one head seen.

The facea"reluctantly he admitted that that was alsoa"unusuala"in the sense that he found it strangely appealing. Of course, he wasnat actually in the habit of examining the faces of the females. The males were the dangerous ones and usually the culprits in every crimea"at least the most violent which was his primary focus. In any case, he didnat see many females. Maybe one out of every fifteen or twenty humans he came across was female.

That was small wonder if what shead told him was truea"that the females were traded off for breeders as soon as they reached the capability of breeding. That alone was enough to account for a higher than normal mortality rate. When one added the fact that they were smaller and weaker and less capable of defending themselves and the scarcity of food a.

He redirected his mind to sifting through what head learned from hera"far more than head learned from any of the others head encountered and in a much shorter length of time! She was like the rare songbird of her world, quiet when she sensed a predator and chirping the moment the threat pa.s.sed.

He narrowed his eyes, realizing there was more about her that reminded him of the small creatures he thought one of the few things of true beauty their world boasted.

Of course the males were far more vibrantly colored than the females when it came to birds a.

Theyad found no images of the people whoad built the great civilization of this world. Apparently their technology hadnat been such that that sort of thing could survive for long, but it was clear enough from the things theyad built and left behind that they were physically similar to the udai. In size, perhaps somewhat smaller, but with two arms and legs, and similar handsa"flightless as the primitives were.

He wondered for the first time if the khabler were right in their a.s.sumption that the primitives were descendents of the builders. Head always been inclined to dismiss that theory, but a.

Lexa was clearly intelligenta"old in the ways of her world, far more experienced than she should be given the fact that he was as certain as he could be that she was very young in years.

It was a shame that the old ones hadnat considered themselves when they were so busy collecting, cataloguing, and saving the flora and fauna of their world. The first colonists had discovered huge, well protected vaults of the seeds of plants long gone and used those to begin the task of replacing the natural vegetation. Later arrivals had discovered the genetic codes they needed to begin replacing some of the extinct animalsa"such as the birdsa"but theyad found only the technological remnants and the great, crumbling buildings of the people themselves, and very little at that.

Which meant that, so far, there was no actual proof one way or the other about the primitives. They could be the remnants of that civilization or, as others had concluded, another species entirely.

He shook his head. Apparently, theyad felt like their achievements were of more importance than they were themselves. Either theyad never succeeded in completely mapping their own genetic code or they hadnat managed to preserve the records and the udai hadnat found remains that would allow them to extract DNA.

His mind wandered back to the lump on the bed and he found himself trying to estimate her age from the things shead told him. He wasnat surprised that she didnat seem to know herself. None of the primitives that head had contact with to question seemed to have any notion of agea"theirs or anyone elseas. He supposed that wasnat surprising when they seemed completely focused on survival. Not much mattered besides food and water and they were constantly on the hunt for that and fighting over it and slaughtering one another over it.

Although, apparently, they were also preoccupied with breeding if he could believe what Lexa had said, and he did. It was the way shead said it as much as what shead said that sounded completely convincing, and he thought he could extrapolate and consider it widespread and not simply her personal experience.

Her personal experiences still bothered him. He wasnat certain why he felt so disgusted and outraged by it beyond the pure barbarism of it so he dismissed it.

It was for the thinkers, the scientists and politicians, to decide what to make of the behavior of the primitives. His job was merely to dispense justice, eliminate the worst of the savages, and deliver the aredeemablea to his people for arehabilitationa. Maybe they were right and head been wrong all along. Maybe all they really needed was a little guidance and disciplinea"and someone to prevent the strong from preying upon the weak.

And maybe head been right all along and head merely stumbled upon one primitive that seemed more intelligent than the others and could be civilized?

In the end, he didnat see that it mattered a great deal to him or his mission. It was likely to take generations to civilize them if it could be done at all.

If Lexa was the most promising example head founda"and he considered her thata"then the people whoad taken it upon themselves to arehabilitatea the natives had a long, hard road ahead of them, because she was a little savage!

Chapter Five.

aGet up.a The order was delivered in a calm, evenly modulated voice, but it might as well have been an angry bellow. Lexaas subconscious reacted to it as a threat, pumping a flood of adrenaline through her system so abruptly that she shot upwards toward consciousness too fast for the reasoning part of her brain to catch up. Fear contributed to her confusion when she discovered she was trapped by something she wasnat currently in any condition to identify. Struggling with panic, she fought her way out of the cover she was tangled in and fell off the bed.

The only good thing about that circ.u.mstance was that it seemed to knock her closer to real awareness and helped her free her arms and legs even while it sent throbbing pain through every point her body made contact with the hard floor. Through burning eyes she stared at the dark form bathed in brilliant sunlight standing little more than a yard from her for many moments before her sluggish brain finally began to a.s.semble the situation into something comprehensible.

aNow we talk.a His expression was grimly determined and set off more alarm bells in Lexaas head even while it threw her into deeper confusion. She felt her jaw go slack. She blinked at him, trying to clear her vision and gather her wits at the same time.

aWhat are you doing here?a Completely at sea, Lexa blinked more rapidly and glanced around the room, trying to figure out where aherea was. Slowly, her memory returned. She frowned. aYou brought me here.a His lips thinned. aI brought you back. What were you doing here before that?a Lexa furrowed her brow, wondering if shead dreamed half of what had happened even as the images flickered through her mind. It seemed to her that she remembered him asking her that the night before. aDonat you know?a Irritation flickered across his features. aTell me.a She was sure she already hada"she thought. aI came to trade for supplies.a aSo you donat live in this village?a Lexaas confusion deepened but began to clear as she recalled head said something about questioning her. This was the interrogation shead been so fearful about the night before?

That didnat seem right, though.

Interrogations were generally proceeded by knocking someone around to asoftena them up and make sure they knew one meant business and, quite often, the questions were punctuated with blows if the answers didnat come fast enough or werenat satisfactory.

At that thought, she shook her head. aNo. I stopped for supplies.a He asked her everything head asked her the night before and when shead answered all of his questions, he asked them all over again, merely posing the questions in a different way. She was afraid to lie, but she began to get the sense that he wasnat satisfied with her responses and wanted her to say something else. Uneasy despite the fact that he didnat seem inclined to beat the information he wanted out of her, she began to search her mind for answers he might like bettera"short of saying anything that might make her sound guilty of something.

If that was what he wanted, she certainly wasnat going to say it because she wasnat guilty of anything that she could see and she wasnat about to give him an excuse to punish her.

But maybe the answers were just too short?

She began struggling to elaborate on her responses, throwing in any details she thought might make him accept her answers.

After a while, he ceased to question her and merely stared at her hard enough she squirmed inwardly. Straightening away from the wall head been propped against, he turned toward the door. aCome.a Dismay flickered through Lexa. Her belly tightened with anxiety. aWhere?a Gah-re-al turned his head and fixed her with a hard look. Granted, head found her pluckiness both intriguing and amusinga"to a degreea"but he couldnat allow her to undermine his authority by questioning it at every turn. He might not know the humans quite as well as head thought he understood them, but he certainly knew that any sign of weakness or softness would only encourage them to go for the throat.

Not that he was concerned that Lexa would. For all her outward bravery, he could see that she was very afraid and she was too fragile to offer much danger, but it wouldnat do for any of the others to see that he was soft as far as she was concerned.

Or think that he was, he amended.

Because he wasnat. Empathizing with her situation didnat mean he would allow her any more lat.i.tude than the others. He was a lawgiver. He was impartial.

In any case, he was in a foul humor. He hadnat slept particularly wella"mostly because the floor was d.a.m.ned uncomfortablea"partly because head spent a good bit of the night going over and over the things Lexa had told him.

And partly because head discovered he was uncomfortably aware of sharing the room with a female.

But mostly because the d.a.m.ned floor was uncomfortable.

Lexa scrambled to her feet awkwardly. aI didnat do nuthina wrong,a she said plaintively.

aNot as far as I can ascertain at the moment.a She shouldave been relieved, but she wasnat. aI can go then?a aYou can come with me.a Lexa stared at his back in dismay. aBut a you said I didnat do nuthina. Canat I just go now?a aNo.a The response was flat, implacable.

Lexa s.n.a.t.c.hed up her belongings and hurried to follow him as he stepped out into the hallway. He gestured for her to precede him. Dismay filled her. Shead hoped for some opening to escape. It had flickered through her mind to try the window, but the drop was far enough she was afraid the only result in trying that would be a broken bone. If that happened, she didnat have a hope in h.e.l.l of surviving even if she did manage to escapea"and she wasnat likely to outrun him with something broken.

Which would very likely lead to some punishment for attempting escape.

There would be a chance at some point, she a.s.sured herself as she preceded him down the hall and the rickety stairs at the end. She discovered when she reached the street that there were a good many people milling around. Surprised, she glanced around to see what might have drawn them out. She didnat see anything that answered that question in her mind, but before her imagination could supply her with anything horrific, the angel spoke loudly directly behind her, making her jump.

aIs this everyone?a The people in the streets glanced at one another uneasily.

Gabriel clapped a hand heavily down on her shoulder, making Lexaas knees go weak. aGo stand over there.a Lexa glanced up at his face and then followed the direction of his gaze and his pointing finger. Nodding a little jerkily, she obeyed with lagging steps, wondering if she dared make a run for it. She had her supplies, after all, and the street was full of people. Surely she could slip away without being noticed?

By the time shead reached the spot head indicated, she discovered that Gabriel was striding along the street, selecting people from among those gathered and sending them to stand with her. Puzzled, wondering if there was some significance to his selection, she hesitated, watching. He seemed to zero in on the women with children first. That made her more uneasy at first, but then he asked each if they had a man and, when they reluctantly pointed the man out, he sent the man she indicated with the woman.

Thoroughly confused by that, Lexaas curiosity overcame her fear sufficiently to distract her from the search for an avenue of escape.

Shead felt a threat in being singled out that hadnat dissipated a great deal when he first began separating other people out and sending them to stand with her. As the group surrounding her grew, however, instead of feeling an increasing need to act, Lexa began to feel far less threatened. She didnat know what his intention was, but he didnat merely choose women, so the idea that he was picking breeders fell by the wayside along with the suspicion that he was choosing the aguiltya for punishment. He also didnat select only men or predominantly mena"who were far more likely to be guilty of having broken some of his laws, she was surea"so she began to think punishment wasnat what he had in mind.

Besides, head simply waded through the gang members and slaughtered them. It didnat seem unreasonable to consider he wouldave done the same with anyone else he thought guilty of breaking one of his laws.

After glancing toward her, or the group with her, several times, he finally turned to the others who were gathered and told them they could go about their business, that he would return for them later.

That sounded ominous but even as Lexa realized shead completely mistaken his intentions, he approached them.

aYou have been selected for relocation and rehabilitation.a Lexa wasnat alone in being completely and totally baffled by that announcement. It didnat sound like punishment, but she was no longer convinced it wasnat. She was still trying to get up the nerve to ask what he meant when someone else spoke up.

aWhatas that mean?a Gabriel stared coldly at the man whoad spoken. aIt means Iave been ordered to take you to a place more suitable to live so that my people can teach you how to take care of yourselves.a Everybody stared at him blanklya"no doubt because they had as much trouble understanding the words veiled by his strange accent as she did!

aWhatas wrong with what we got here?a a woman asked in a quavering voice.

He sent her a look Lexa found difficult to interpret. aBeyond everything?a he asked dryly.

aBut a what if we donat want to go?a aI donat recall asking for volunteers. Gather up the supplies you were instructed to bring.a Everyone stared at him blankly. aThe food and water,a he clarified, and then glanced up at the sky. aIf we move quickly, we should be able to reach the first campsite I selected before nightfall.a Everyone merely stood where they were, gaping at him with expressions that varied from angry disbelief to terrified suspicion. He pointed. aThat way. Now!a Since he punctuated the command by a.s.suming a stance that seemed distinctly menacinga"feet spread, balled fists on his hips, a dark scowl on his facea"and then lifted his wings in such a way that he suddenly seemed twice his size the entire group whirled enma.s.se and fled down the street. Lexa, a little slower to react, was buffeted by the throng and nearly mowed down. She stumbled but was able to keep her feet under her and leap into motion with the others. She was carried along with the panicked wave until theyad nearly reached the gate. She managed to spare a look back then, however, and discovered the angel, contrary to what shead expected, wasnat right behind them. Head vanished.

That circ.u.mstance puzzled her, but it was enough to prompt her to remember shead planned to escape at the first opportunity. With that thought in mind, she worked her way to the edge of the herd as the group bottlenecked at the gate. Waiting until everyone else had squeezed through, she followed and then halted abruptly when she saw that Gabriel had aappeareda outside. She jolted to a halt, gaping at him for a moment in stunned disbelief and then glancing back the way shead come, wondering if there was more than one of them.

He looked downright amused when she looked at him againa"and knowing, as if head guessed what she had planned.

Or knew because head read her mind.

He pointed toward the rest of the groupa"which was once again running although the necessity of slowing to exit the city had temporarily tamped their panic.

With Gabriel now directly on her heels, Lexa hurried to catch up to the others, too unnerved to feel much in the way of resentment that head once again foiled her plans to part company with him. When everyone tired enough to begin to slow again, Gabriel moved forward to adjust their course.

Thoroughly winded from their panicked flight out of the village, everyone dropped from a run to a trot and then to a walk and finally to trudging at a snailas pace. He waited until they reached a point of making very little progress at all and then called a halt for a short rest. There was nothing to shade them from the blistering sun overhead, but no one argued. Most of them simply dropped where they were, panting.

Lexa was fairly desperate for a drink of water by that time, but she waited until shead caught her breath before unearthing a bottle from her supplies and taking a small sip, swishing the water around in her mouth before she swallowed.

aYouad be wise to conserve your water,a Gabriel announced to the group. aIt will be two days before we reach a safe water supplya"a.s.suming, of course, that we make good timea"longer if we donat.a The announcement was enough to make everyone examine their water somewhat fearfully. As accustomed as Lexa was to taking very great care of her own supply, she felt her heart sink. She had a very bad feeling that Gabrielas estimate of the time it would take was optimistic and that it might take far longer. After all, he could fly and she doubted it would take him nearly as long as it would everyone else.

He had flown. That was the only thing that made any sense at all as an explanation for how head managed to get in front of them when theyad all run off and left him standing in the street.

Of course, he had wings and shead heard the angels could fly, but she didnat think shead actually believed they could before.