Chapter 9: Voice

Tina knew better than to expect help. The people who lived in this town knew to stay out of the way when these five got involved in something.

That meant it was three against five and she did not think they would let them reach the dock where help would be close by.

“How many can you take?” Tina asked as Dallas moved up beside her.

“Judging by size and the machetes at their hips, no more than two.” he said.

Tina hadn't even noticed the large blades they carried with them. She cursed. Her fighting skills were rusty and if they had blades? She wouldn't be able to take more than one which left two for Crispin.

She looked over at him, the apology for her own weakness on her face.

He smiled back calmly, assuring her without words that it was okay. He was more than capable of taking on the two.

Tina could only count on the fact that she knew her father would not allow someone who worked with him so closely to be unable to fight if they needed to.

She gave them a nod and all three of them turned to confront their attackers head on.

The men had been expecting them continue their attempt at escape. They had not been prepared for their sudden turn to initiate the attack. Their surprise lasted only a moment but it was all they needed.

As fast as Tina could blink, Dallas had isolated the two on the left and Crispin had captured the attention of the two on the right.

Which left Tina with the biggest man. The leader of the bunch.

She was on him before he knew what was happening. Instead of going in for an attack, she used her temporary advantage to take the machete from his belt and knock it away.

The loss of his weapon put the two of them on more even ground but Tina's surprise advantage was lost as the metal blade clanged away.

Then it was just the two of them. He was stronger, she was faster. He was bigger, she was smarter.

He kept reaching for her, attempting to grab her so he could use his brute strength. Tina kept dancing just out of his reach.

Every now and again, she was able to get in a quick jab but her fists did little damage against the wall of muscle that was baring down on her.

She pulled him backwards, away from his allies. Distantly, she noticed that Dallas had opted to meet strength with strength while Crispin was doing a strange dance of his own that had the men before him doing more damage to themselves than to him.

Deciding her fists wouldn't do much good, Tina switched to attacking with her more powerful legs.

The first, unexpected kick landed square on his gut, her knee digging into the flesh there. He grunted loudly from the impact and doubled over slightly. However, the kick hadn't done nearly as much damage as she hoped it would.

He threw a solid punch.

She deflected it and slammed her elbow into his nose. It bled only slightly when she pulled back and she muttered an oath. Was the guy made of stone?

A few yards away, Dallas was fighting both of his men with his bare fists. He wasn't as trained with bare handed fighting but he was passable and the two men before him weren't much better. Mostly, he was just trying to keep one or both of them distracted long enough to grab for their machetes.

He turned on one, a stiff blow landing across his face. He turned to the second, his other fist blocked by a quickly lifted arm.

So it went. They danced around each other. Dallas took more than a few blows but landed a great deal of his own.

He saw his chance when he broke the second one's nose and he reeled back, grabbing the bleeding feature. He jumped forward and wrapped his hands securely around the machete handle.

He pulled back and swung hard at the other one. However, he had taken the moment that Dallas was grabbing his partner's blade to unsheathe his own and metal met metal in a loud clang.

Dallas didn't let that give him pause. He continued his onslaught. The clash and clang of metal echoed around them.

The second man took Dallas's focus on the first to grab for the leader's machete which had fallen nearby.

Then Dallas was fending off both of their strikes but he was far better with a blade than either of them.

Across the dirt street, Crispin was ducking and dodging the flash of swinging metal with ease.

His breathing hadn't even increased with the effort. He made the dodging and ducking look natural and easy. His calm demeanor only served to further enrage his opponents who increased their onslaught.

Crispin didn't need to land a blow. He only needed to wait until his enemy tired themselves out trying to hit such a quickly moving target. His swiftly shifting body was both unpredictable and beautiful. It might have just been the siren in his blood, but even his movements were slightly hypnotic.

Though he was a great deal faster than both of them, he made sure he kept his movements as close to speed as theirs as he could. He made sure he danced just on the edge of their blades. It was more dangerous for him but they didn't get so easily discouraged. It always felt like he was just a hairsbreadth away and, in their frustration, they kept coming at him.

When their bodies would start to tire, that's when he could move in for his own attack. It took them out with minimal force so long as he managed to stay just one step ahead.

And though it all, he kept that calm smile on his face. Nothing disturbed Crispin, not even these two. He would prove it by smiling and furthering their rage. Their rage would fuel their movements and tire them quicker. It was, to Crispin's way of thinking, the easiest way to take them out.

The hardest part was focusing on his own fight and not worrying about Tina. Every time he caught a glance of her out of the corner of his eye, he could see that she was doing fine. She fought the biggest of the men and she was holding her ground beautifully.

He forced himself to pay attention to his battle. Keeping just out of their reach required concentration. If he lost it, he could find himself paying dearly for that mistake.

He simply had to trust Tina.

Tina snarled at the mountain of a man in front of her. Her blows were doing damage but not nearly enough to satisfy her. It was like she was an insect for all the damage she did.

His size advantage meant she had to keep constantly out of his reach. If he got a hold of her, he would do a lot more damage to her than she could ever do to him.

She just needed one opportunity, she thought with a growl as she dodged his ham handed attempt at a punch. One chink in the armor. Even the biggest of boys had a weakness.

He had his advantages and she had hers.

She swung her leg in a wide arc and landed the point of her toes directly in his groin. It was a low bow, she agreed. But a man his size taking on a girl hers wasn’t exactly fair either.

He collapsed in on himself with a groan of agony. Her knee came up into his nose. Where her elbow failed, her knee succeeded and she was rewarded with the hard crunch of breaking cartilage.

Down the street, Crispin easily swung his body out of the way of an increasingly slow blade swipe.

It was as good a moment as he was going to get.

The next slash came, slower than the previous.

Crispin spun away, grabbed the man's wrist, and pulled it with him as he turned. The sudden, powerful jerk into such an unnatural position had the man crying out in pain. His fingers went slack on the hilt of the blade and it fell to the hard packed dirt with a resounding clang.

Crispin didn't pause. He kept pulling, stretching the man's joint far out of place. There was a sickening pop as his shoulder was wrenched out of socket.

Then he was down, roaring as his shaking hand reached up hesitantly to the dislocated arm.

Crispin already had his eyes on the second on his opponents who was eying him much more cautiously now. Crispin remained smiling.

Across the street, Dallas was swinging his hard won machete expertly. The other two men remained on the defensive against him.

“Tina!” he called out as metal clanged against metal. “Not that I doubt our abilities, but we might want to get out of here soon.”

“Any particular reason?!” Tina asked loudly, punctuating her sentence by climbing onto the big man's back and wrapping her arms around his neck in a stranglehold. She yanked cruelly against him, pulling him backwards and making him cry out.

“Just that-Woh!” Dallas paused to dodge an attack, “We've only taken down one and we're still outnumbered!”

“We can handle these four!” Tina snarled as the big man dropped to his knees. The hold starting to gray out his vision. He began spitting as his brain cried out for oxygen.

“But we can't handle those four!” Dallas said. He swung his machete and sliced open the forearm of the man closest to him. The tendons in his arm severed, his fingers dropped the weapon. He collapsed, grasping at the bleeding wound with his good arm.

Tina turned slightly and swore when she saw four men running at them from down the street.

“Dallas!” she yelled out, making her decision. “Get to the boat! Have us ready to cast off when me and Crispin get there.”

Dallas was too much of a soldier to argue.

He swung the blade of the machete up, in a direction his opponent wasn't expecting. The dull side of the knife collided with his wrist and sent his arm flailing.

Staying only long enough to kick the man into the dirt, Dallas turned and ran towards the docks.

“Here!” he yelled out as he passed Tina. He threw the machete close enough that she could reach it when she climbed off the big man but still far enough away that he couldn't reach it.

Not that he was in any condition to wield it.

His grasping, scratching fingers were weak as he began losing consciousness.

Tina cried out as his enormous form slammed into the ground, trapping her arm between his heavy neck and the dirt.

“Crispin!” she hollered over her shoulder. “Take those five!”

He didn't say anything but she could practically feel him telling her that he couldn't fight five men at once.

“Use your voice!” she ordered as she yanked her arm out from under the fallen man. The dirt of the road cutting open her skin as she did so.

She heard a thud as Crispin took down the second of his combatants.

Tina grabbed for the machete Dallas tossed her with her good arm and stood.

The four men were nearly on top of them, the one Dallas left was climbing back to his feet, glaring between them in anticipation of a victory.

Crispin spared her a glance. She nodded, an order to do as he saw fit. It was too late for her to get away from the power of his voice now.

Crispin said that a force of will wasn't a stagnant, never changing thing. Certain emotions weakened it, others strengthened it. Tina could feel the adrenaline rushing through her system and urging her to fight on no matter the cost. The will to live was the strongest will of all. If she couldn't resist his voice with that coursing through her, she never would.

Crispin stepped out into the center of the road, facing his challengers unafraid. They didn't know what he was, it was almost impossible to tell at a glance. They didn't know what they rushed into.

Tina took a steadying breath, steeled her will for whatever she would hear.

Crispin opened his mouth and yelled simply, “Drop!”

Tina's knees weakened so quickly that she had to catch herself before she fell. She was so focused on keeping her legs from obeying that she didn't notice her fingers had done so until she heard the machete crash into the dirt.

From all around her, she heard a collective thud as every body within hearing distance did as commanded and fell to the floor. The men who had been charging them, unable to fight against the power of his call, collapsed immediately.

Tina gritted her teeth so hard her jaw hurt. She could hear Crispin's voice ringing in her head. Trying to take over her body.

Drop.

The word echoed so many times, so powerfully in her mind Her brain didn't know that the command hadn't come from her. It couldn't tell the difference. It was struggling to obey even as she defied him.

Her knees were bent, shaking with the effort to keep herself up, but she hadn't hit the ground.

Crispin spared a look for Tina. He was surprised to see her fighting against his order. He hadn't spoken the word gently. The loud shout had been filled with hypnotic power. Crispin at almost full power hadn't taken out Tina at full power. They were as evenly matched as he could ever hope to be.

He smiled at her proudly but she didn't notice.

However, his job wasn't done. He turned back to the men who were trying to pick themselves up from the ground. The command didn't have any permanence to it. The effect would fade after only a moment. He needed a little more time than that.

He took another breath and lowered his voice. Without as much power, he said clearly, “Stay there for one hour.”

The men before him, even those out of sight, suddenly found themselves unable to move. Their lungs, their eyelids, their basic functions remained untouched. But their bodies were locked in place. It was the best he could hope for.

He turned back to Tina.

She had pushed herself up to full height and was panting with the effort from it. However, the command was already losing power and her shaking had stopped. His second command, no where near the power of the first, hadn't affected her nearly at all. She wanted to stay where she was, but it was an easily ignorable desire.

“Come on.” she said, forcing herself to turn. “Back to the boat.”

Crispin ran to her, grabbed her hand, and ran them both to the docks. It was easier to run, she found, with him pulling her along. Every step she took seemed to throw off his power even more.

By the time they reached the Eden, she was back to herself and was jumping from the dock to the deck without any help.

“Full speed ahead, Captain!” Joe called up to Kai as soon as they were both on board.

“Let's get out of the dock before we open her up.” Dallas laughed, panting slightly even as Kai pulled the boat away slowly and expertly.

The three of them looked each other over.

The fury of the battle had blinded them to their aches and fatigue. Now that they were back to safety, now that the adrenalin was flowing out of them, the sensations began making themselves known.

They were each breathing hard, the thrill of battle taking its toll on them. Tina and Dallas had a goodly amount of damage, Crispin was the only one who had escaped without a scratch.

“I could hate you, you know.” she glared at him when she realized it. “How do you not have a mark on you?”

“I avoid direct confrontation until my enemy is too weak to fight back.” he signed easily. He wasn't injured, but the fatigue was heavier on him than the other two. It was a trade he thought worth making. He wished Tina had made it. He didn't at all like the sight of her beautiful skin marred.

“I've got first aid!” Ilia called happily as she held up the box and walked up from the compartment. “I'll doctor my sweet Dallas. Joe you can have the troll woman.”

“Ilia.” Joe sighed, exasperated.

Tina couldn't help but smile though. Somehow, it was a bit of normality that she took comfort from.

XXXXXXXXX

The sun had set and Tina was sitting at the stern of the boat. She was letting the chilly night air rush against her. Her blood had long ago cooled off leaving her exhausted.

Dallas and Ilia had already retired to the boys cabin for the night. Since Warren was sleeping up at the prow, she was pretty sure she knew what they were doing. Kai was up on the bridge steering while Joe handled navigation and kept him company. Crispin was sleeping in the girls room because of Dallas and Ilia. Tina thought it was quite rude of them to take over the boys cabin since more people slept there than in the girls but she didn't have the energy to get upset about it.

She was content to sit at the back of the boat watching the bright night sky as it barely seemed to move above her. The rushing of the water behind them was calming and comforting. She would be asleep in moments if she stopped fighting the fatigue but she wanted to stay just that peaceful for a little bit longer.

The rage of the battle was harsh and horrific. Afterwords, though, once the adrenaline had faded from the system and you were left tired and alive, there was only euphoria. Her body had been designed to meet such challenges and overcome them and one of the rewards of doing so was the relaxation and happiness that flowed through her now. She wanted to enjoy it for as long as she could.

A soft whistle drew her attention from the heavens and the lazy elation that dominated her at the moment and down onto Crispin.

He looked good.

Her body had been designed to meet such men in a very specific way. The feeling of victory was coupled with a sudden need for him. Her body craved the best thing humans lived for. The sweet ecstasy of two bodies joining the most primal of ways was how humans had been celebrating life for millennia.

She understood why as she saw him strutting towards her. Everything female in her purred at the sight. A strong, virile male that had survived a hard battle. She wanted him.

If only she wasn't too damn tired to take him.

Crispin must have seen what was in her eyes because he paused more than a few feet from her.

“Did you want something?” she asked. Though it hadn't really been her intention, her words rung with double meaning. She didn't want to take them back.

“Dallas and Ilia are loud.” he signed. “It was pretty much impossible to sleep.”

Tina couldn't help but laugh. “There's plenty of room next to me.”

He nodded. “That's very tempting, but I want to talk.”

Tina moaned softly as she tilted her head back to look at the stars. She felt so alive. She wanted to feel even more so. She knew how that could happen and it wasn't by talking.

“We can talk tomorrow.” she said. “If you aren't going to join me, than go away.”

Crispin chuckled silently.

After barely a moment of deliberation, he went to her side on the long seat at the back of boat. No sooner than he sat down than Tina was curling into him, getting close to his body. She left her hand on his chest, enjoying the hardness of his muscles. He put his arm around her shoulder, drawing her in.

Just a moment ago, she was prepared to jump his bones. Now, it was enough just to sit like this.

They remained that way, silent and easy, for a while.

The only sound was that of the engine and the occasional unintelligible words that floated down from the bridge as Kai and Joe conversed.

“I heard you talk today.” Tina said at last, drawing Crispin's eye down to her. She was pleased to see that calm fire, the real Crispin, back in his eyes. She hadn't even needed to coax it from him, he just fell into it naturally.

He nodded, pleased. She could read the happiness of it on his face.

“I would say 'say something' but I would probably fall to you if you even whispered right now.” she couldn't work up the energy to care about that either.

He smiled. She read his message as if he had spelled them out for her: Later.