Yamara

Then I realized that he could do the same thing to me, and I quickly stopped searching through his mind and returned to my own. I sensed his consciousness and realized he had been so intent upon what he was doing that he had no idea what I had done. Slightly comforted, I wondered what could fascinate him so much to make him oblivious to my actions. I linked up with him and realized that in spite of his proclamations of good will, he was rifling through my own memory. Enraged, I demanded that he relent. He fought against me, striking out like a starving beast denied food. I refused to let him run rampant in my thoughts, however.

Our minds linked as they were, I drew upon not only what I had learned by sifting through his mind, but also his mental strength. Stealing it from him surprised him, for he suddenly found himself floundering and my own rage was magnified. I lashed out at him, a poorly harnessed blast of psionic energy that drove him from my mind and severed our link.

With the link severed, I suddenly felt weak. Gone was the power I had tapped into. Gone was the warmth of a shared mind. I still had what I took from him, in terms or his memories and knowledge, but I felt empty otherwise. Fighting back the depression that threatened to overwhelm me, I realized there was more. I could feel my own mind was somehow stronger. More powerful. I realized that the procedure had been a success then, and that while I had not the range of talent that Keeden had, I was a psionic threat. The extent of my powers had yet to be determined, for at the moment I knew that I might be in danger.

Rousing myself from my trance, I saw Keeden laying on his back with Sarya crouched over him chanting healing mumbo-jumbo. Sandala and Brina were near me, one to either side. Everyone was uncertain of what had happened, except for Keeden and myself, and neither of us was talking about it. Keeden was unconscious and I was not going to share until I had to.

Finished with her chant, Sarya turned and glared at me. "What did you do to him?" She snapped angrily at me, her tone conveying a threat.

Before I could answer, Keeden groaned and tried to sit up. He shook his head lightly, then winced at the mistake of doing so. He looked around blankly for a moment, then his eyes settled on me and understanding rushed into them.

"I'm sorry," He muttered after taking a deep breath and pondering a course of action. "I was stunned by what I saw is all. This woman came from another world! A world with more water in a desert then we will ever see in our lifetimes!"

Sarya gasped, turning to glare at me again as though I was personally responsible for denying her access to a place that had so much water. Brina and Sandala seemed surprised as well, more so then they were at my explanation of how common steel was on my home world.

"He rifled through my thoughts and would not relent when I asked him to do so," I said through grated teeth. "The agreement was that he would do no such thing, yet he did it in spite of that."

"Don't feign such innocence," he angrily retorted. From apologetic, his expression had turned. He had seen to much in my mind, and I knew that the next few moments would be dangerous.

Before he could continue, I crudely thrust out with my mind at him. Still greatly weakened from the link we had, I established full contact with his mind easily and instantly, in spite of my fumbling about. Taking what I had experienced - through his memories - and changing it about, I then dominated him.

"She knows how to get water!" Keeden growled. In spite of his weakness, he thrust himself up from the ground then and came at me. Easily escaping Sarya's protective grasp, he rushed towards me before anyone could react. In less then a moment, he was on me, growling like an animal and muttering, "Water!" over and over.

His thoughts did not appear to be on water, however, for he thrust me back to the ground and ripped at my clothes. My latest halter top was gone quickly, the flimsy material easily shredding under his strong fingers. The loin cloth tore off next, and I have to admit, that stung a bit as the fabric dug into the flesh of my more sensitive areas. Before he could go any further he was stopped. Kryl's gauntlet crashed into the side of his head, knocking him off of me and shredding any traces of consciousness from him.

Sarya howled then, and leapt at Kryl's back. She sounded like a wounded animal herself, trying to bite and claw at Kryl from where she clung to his back. I shook my head, now that my thoughts were free to control my own body and not the unconscious Keeden. Just in time, for Kryl had managed to throw her free from his back and she landed in front of me, still facing the Acathian.

Kryl spun about to face her, ready with a cocked fist to send her to dreamland as well. He was to late thought, for her coiled up body slumped to the ground then, and I pulled my shortsword out from between her ribs. I wiped her blood off of it and sheathed it quietly.

Forgotten until now, the lion that had been Sarya's pet jumped towards us. I stumbled back barely dodging its pounce. It landed and turned to face me, intent upon protecting its master. An arrow slammed into its flank though, making it take a step sideways in surprise. Another thudded home before it could assess its new threat, which happened to be Sandala. It prepared to jump at her then, but the arrow in its thigh prevented it from doing more then limping along on three legs. It roared angrily and still tried for her, but the next arrow she sent into its chest silenced it.

I rose up from where I had fallen on my now naked butt. I stalked over to where Keeden lay comatose and before anyone could stop me, I dropped to one knee beside him and slit his throat with a dagger. Rising back up, I spit on his corpse and cleaned the blood off my blade before sheathing it.

I glanced at my companions to see their reactions. All of them had drawn weapons and adopted a ready pose, and only know were they relaxing. Brina and Arktan showed the most surprise, having been taken completely off guard by the events. Kryl looked at where Keeden lay and then looked at me. He nodded once, briefly, and began the grisly task of going through his belongings for anything of use.

"Did you have to kill him?" Brina asked, a little surprised at my ruthlessness.

I knew then that the moment of danger for me was not over, it had merely changed forms. I looked back at Keeden's body and then to my own. I had red scratches on my thigh and chest where his fingernails had scraped while tearing off my clothing. It had been under my control of his body, and carefully orchestrated as well, but I did not want them learning what he had discovered about me.

I let myself shudder then briefly, and adopted the look of trying to fight back tears. Brina saw the anguish in my face and came to me, hugging me tightly. "Of course you did," She justified. "He was a psionicist, and clearly an evil man. Even unarmed he would be dangerous, and more so if he had it in for you."

I nodded and hugged her back thankfully, pressing my nude body up against hers in a way that communicated my need to be close to her. Inside I was congratulating myself on another job well done. It would not be until later that night, after Brina had fallen asleep from the powerful lovemaking that I had showed her that I wondered if I really needed to go to the extreme measures to protect myself. Later I would wonder if perhaps these new companions I had made would actually have accepted me into their midst anyhow, regardless of the spying, whoring, thieving, and even murdering I had done in the past. Then, a few moments later I decided to stop second guessing myself. What was done was done.

Chapter 6

None of my companions brought up the incident on the following morning. They acted as though nothing was out of the ordinary, though I did catch Sandala studying me a few times. Brina seemed more friendly then before, but I attributed that to the prior nights intimacy. I had to admit to myself, she was pretty good in the sack. From my own past, I knew a night with me left an impression not soon to be forgotten - or at least, that's what virtually all of my partners expressed in one fashion or another.

I caught myself then, realizing that Brina was not as simple as she seemed. I was amazed that I kept falling for her act, and reminded myself yet again that the beautiful girl was perhaps the most dangerous of all my companions. At least to me.

While we were resting from the hottest rays of the suns at midday the question was finally broached. "What now?" Sandala asked, looking at everyone but me.

"What do you mean? We look for treasure like we always do," Brina said from fairly close beside me.

The others had surely heard our passion in the night, but they pretended to ignore it. For the time being, at least.

"She means more then that," I guessed, glimpsing at the hidden undertone of Sandala's question.

"Aye," She admitted, catching my eyes and staring at me for a moment before breaking away. "I mean both that and more. Treasure we always seek, that much is true. But there is more here then we thought, I think."

"What?" Kryl huffed, anxious to be on with things.

"Yeah, what?" Brina seconded.

"Keeden," I said, barely loud enough to be heard by them all.

Sandala smiled warmly at me. "Yes, Keeden. He was here for a treasure we knew nothing about, but I think that perhaps we should search for it nonetheless."

"What kind of treasure?" Brina asked, the thought of plunder overcoming everything else for her.

"Yamara?" Sandala asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly.

I nodded and took a deep breath and let it out before speaking. "He told us all of some psionic presence he sought out here, but he didn't elaborate. When our minds merged, I saw a lot of things in his, most of them confusing or strange or just messed up. Some were more clear then others though. I suspect his obsessive madness is what caused many of those visions and memories to be disjointed and confusing.

"One in particular though stood out though. It was of him descending into the silt to find a strange building made entirely of something that looked like steel. He saw a sealed doorway with a glowing light next to it that looked like a release for the door." I paused a moment, struggling to remember it properly before continuing.

"He wasn't actually there though, just his mind, so he could not open the door. Instead he walked through it in his dream traveling. Inside were strangely designed and lit passages through the building, all of them looked the same. Still, he somehow knew where he was going, because in his memory he moved with a purpose and never faltered at any intersections. He came to a great open pit in the floor and floated down it. There were no ladders or stairs or anything, so we will need to bring rope if we try to find this place. Descending forever it seemed, past many other openings into other passages, he finally reached the bottom. A tunnel there took him to a room with another sealed door. Inside of it was a great many strange things. Machines, I think, yet made so intricately and serving what purpose I have no idea. No smith I know of could have fashioned the things down there, but it is there that the treasure he sought rests."

"What treasure is it?" Brina asked, caught up in the thrill of it.

"I don't know," I admitted. "And neither did he, I don't think. But it's down there, a glowing nimbus of some sort of energy or power or magic or something, hidden in that room."

"Down there? Any idea where or how deep in the silt?" Kryl asked, clearly intrigued at the prospect of a difficult task but trying not to show any interest in it.

I thought for a moment, sifting through what remained of Keeden's memories in my head before responding. "Yes, I think I could figure out where if I walked along the edge of it. I'm not sure how deep it is, but I don't think it was too far down."

Kryl snorted derisively but held his comments back. Sandala looked lost in thought as she pondered what I had said. Arktan looked on calmly, ready to support whatever decision was made. Brina appeared excited at the prospect of a new treasure. But then again, she always acted that way.

"Well, what do you say? I can tell Brina wants to try for it, but what of the rest of you?"

"How are we supposed to get under the silt without suffocating?" Kryl asked. "Especially when you don't know how deep it is!"

"It's simple, my friend, we just go and find out," I said to him, smiling encouragingly.

"Yeah, and if we can't find it, then we give up! No harm done, right?" Brina said, sounding excited.

He grunted after a moment and threw up his hands. "Alright, fine. But if I die under the dust, it'd damn well better be a quick death!"

Arktan chuckled, his voice as deep as I remembered it being. "Arktan will help," he said, and I saw the humorous look in his eyes that made me wonder if he meant he would help us find the treasure, or if he would help make sure Kryl died quickly if it came to it. I appreciated the dry sense of humor, and cracked a faint smile.

"Good! It's settled! Let's go find it," Brina said, grinning widely.

Sandala chuckled and stood up. She brushed the sand off of the back of her legs and put her cloak around her shoulders. "Yamara, do you think you can find it from here?" She asked me.

I thought for a moment before responding. "Yes, I think I can. Any ideas on how we make it through the silt if it's buried?"

She smiled at me and replied, "Do you really need to ask?"

I did, since I had no idea what she had in mind. Then it dawned on me from her calm behavior. "You're a psionicist too!"

"The blood of my ancestors runs strong in me," she said, as though that explained it. "I can do some things with my mind, though I am no match for Keeden nor, I suspect, even you now that you have found yourself."

I hate surprises. Always have, always will. "I'm certainly not much of a threat right now, I barely know anything about this mental magic."

She raised an eyebrow curiously and said, "I wonder if Keeden would have agreed with your self-assessment."

Did she know more then she let on? I found myself forgetting to breathe for a brief moment. The pudarin wench had caught me off guard. I came out of my corner quickly though, and tried to change the subject while I tried to figure out what, if anything, was going on with her and I. "So how can you protect us from the dust?"

"It is a trick that many of the more gifted members of my tribe possess. During sandstorms those of us with the power can create a bubble of air around us that repels the blowing sand. I have never tried it in a dustbowl before, but I think it might work, though not as well." She replied without missing a beat. Maybe I was being paranoid. Then again, when wasn't I being paranoid?

I nodded, glad to have that cleared up. I rose as well and put my own cloak on. The added warmth was unwelcome, but the protection from the sun would be. In spite of a few days spent under it, as well as the magical healing I had undergone, my skin was still nowhere near as darkly or deeply tanned as my companions. I could not imagine what it would be like to wear only a loin cloth as Sandala did. My breasts and nipples were always sensitive, in spite of childhood abuses and their subsequent toughening as I grew up. A sunburn on them did not sound like my idea of a good time.

Brina hopped up beside me, and a glowering Kryl and still ambivalent looking Arktan followed. I waited a moment while everyone prepared themselves to leave the shelter the ruined building we had found provided us, then closed my eyes and tried to remember what I had stolen from Keeden's mind. Relatively sure of my path, I set out then, weary of any other aggressive inhabitants of the ruins.

It took nearly two hours of winding through the ruins and backtracking through rubble before I managed to lead them to the shore of the Sea of Lost Souls. No sign of any other indigenous life showed itself to us, which pleased all of us except for Kryl. Once there, it was another half an hour before I found what I believed to be the correct place along the shore.

"From Keeden's mind, it lies out there some 100 feet and then down into the silt," I said, pointing directly out from the shore. "Now I'm guessing here, but this reminds me of a dried up ocean where I'm from, filled with dust and sand instead of water. If that's the case, then this building we're looking for must be some type of a ship. If it's a ship, then I'm willing to wager there's a dock nearby that would take us out into the silt without risking falling into it."

They looked at me blankly. I sighed and said, "Ship... that's a large vessel that floats on water and carries people. Kind of a like a wagon built for water. A dock is what the ship is tied up to so that people can get on and off of it, or load or unload cargo from it."

"If there is water enough to float wagons that carry people on them where you are from, then truly it must be a wondrous thing to behold," Sandala said, grasping the concept the quickest.

"I hope we can find a way to get to your world, Yamara," Brina said earnestly. "I want to go there too!"

Kryl just huffed rather quietly, unimpressed. Arktan did what he always seemed to do, which was stand there and wait for something better to do.

"Arktan, can I borrow your great sword?" I asked the faradwim after studying the strange shoreline for a moment. He looked at me blankly for a moment, head tilted thoughtfully. Finally he shrugged and grinned a very toothy grin. I was reminded of an alligator I had once seen kept as a pet by one of the Ornithrym's senior members. I smiled thankfully to him as he handed it to me.

I very carefully walked along the edge of the shore, dragging the tip of the two handed sword in the dust to see how deep it was. My suspicions were all but confirmed as I noticed that it sloped gradually away from the shore, just as a lake or sea filled with water would. With each pass along the shore I stepped a little deeper into the silt, until it was up to my knees and walking became quite difficult. It was not unlike wading through snow. I chuckled at the thought of explaining snow to my companions.

Finally, I found what I had been searching for. Unfortunately, it was much deeper then I thought it would be, up past my waist in fact. Nevertheless, I then proceeded out on it, walking very carefully and testing each step before taking it. I glanced back and saw my companions staring at me with a mixture of shock and wonder. Here I was, nearly a hundred feet out from them in the silt and still above it.

"Follow me out!" I called to them. The air was still and my voice carried louder then I'd intended to them. I wondered how I was ever going to get the dust out of my clothing. Then I snorted and realized I virtually had no clothing. A groan followed, for that meant I would spend some serious time trying to get it out of places I really did not want it getting in.

Probably because I was thinking about it, by the time my companions had begun venturing out single file towards me, my womanly areas were itching furiously. I vowed right then that I would stop at nothing to get off of this hot and barren world. My vow actually contained quite a few other choice expletives, but since I am the one telling the story, I have chosen to try and preserve what small amount of good taste that I can.

"It's right here," I said when the finally reached me. My nether regions still felt quite chafed and irritated, but I knew that trying to do anything about it right now would only compound matters. See, more good taste. I could have referred to it as a broad selection of less then gentile terms, but I chose to go with something a little less vulgar. Just because I can make a sailor blush does not mean I have too. That is what being - or at least knowing to be pretend to be - a lady is like.