COMMAND THE TIDES - Wren Handman Page 0,62
that Leanne did, and she felt her body responding to the simplicity of it. Let someone touch her, let someone love her, let her be reminded of the power of her skin, the way her hands could make someone gasp and laugh and scream, Ashua, yes!
“Ashua,” she breathed, and they fell to the ground as one.
Chapter Twelve
WHEN TAYA AND LEANNE RETURNED to the safe house sometime later, they were surprised to see the bustle of men making food and setting out bedrolls. The final company had arrived. It was still at least six hours till dark, so everyone was hoping to catch a few hours of sleep before they set out on the next leg of their journey, and as they worked toward that goal they exchanged stories, as they had when Taya’s company arrived. This last one had suffered the least. Apparently slow and steady won the race, for they had scaled Novosk’s walls and slipped into the dark like shadows, and run into not a soul the whole way.
Leanne and Taya brought the berries in for Danielle to wash and set out, and she remarked, with a twinkle in her eye, on how few they had gathered, despite taking such a very long time. The women grinned and professed their innocence, and set about to helping make dinner. Taya wished her friends weren’t sleeping—she felt like they were wasting their last chances to be together—but even Darren had fallen into dreams, and there was no one to talk to but her hosts. They were kind, and she and Leanne chatted, but they had little in common and their conversation was studded with awkward silences.
When Taya almost fell asleep in her potato cuttings for the third time, Leanne suggested that she go and take a nap. She agreed that was an excellent plan—Oblivion take her decision to get on a normal schedule. She had, probably, months to readjust to normal life, and since it seemed like she would fall asleep whether it was on a bed or on her face, she decided discretion was the better part of valor. She clambered into the loft and was asleep in seconds.
She dreamed of fire, and of being swallowed by the weight of the sea. It pressed down against her chest, and the more she struggled the less breath she could take. She awoke sometime later, doused in sweat and wrapped up in a sheet, with someone calling her name. For a moment she sat frozen, her heart pounding, trying to remember where she was. Her bed was gone, her room…She took a deep breath as it came rushing back, and tiredly wiped her eyes.
“Taya?” Leanne called again.
“Yes?”
“I’m sorry to wake you up, but they’re getting ready to go.”
“They’re leaving? Already?” she cried, scrambling up. With a muffled curse she ran her hands through her hair, trying to tame the tangled mess, and then scooted toward the ladder. “I can’t believe none of them came to say good-bye. What asses!” she complained.
“That’s soldiers for you, no sense of common human decency,” she said with a smile. Taya wasn’t sure if it was a joke, but at that moment she agreed whole-heartedly.
She scrambled down the ladder, nodding to the family at the table. They were the only ones still inside, and as she walked out she saw that people were milling a little, but had generally finished packing their belongings. They were really about to walk away, then. She didn’t have much time.
She sought out Sarah first because she knew it would be the quickest good-bye, and she shook her hand and thanked her for the journey, wishing her good luck. She found Liam and gave him a passing prayer for luck, as well as everyone she had played cards with or whose stories she had heard around the fire.
Next she tracked down David and Ryan, who were standing among a group she recognized as the leaders of the rebellion. When they saw her coming, David smiled.
“I thought we might not see you before we left,” he told her fondly, and impulsively she caught him in a strong hug.
“You ass. I can’t believe you weren’t going to wake me to say good-bye,” she said, and he returned the hug. “I’m glad to have met you, and I know we’ll meet again once you finish winning this war.”
“Aye. You pray for us, all right?”
“Every night,” she said. And then, before she lost her courage, she took a sideways step to bring her in front