the tree line when he saw the blood. He came running out of the woods and said, “It took her. There’s nothing left but a lot of blood.”
The guard on the hill laughed and yelled, “Does anyone else need to visit the trees?” Then he laughed even louder. Two Humans working in the middle of the field continued to pick pods and wept at the loss of their daughter. They cried quietly, and mourned the loss of another child. It was much later before they could hold each other and rock in each other’s arms as they wept.
Scotty ran out of the trees and ran up Vring’s arm to the binding. The female was regaining consciousness. She moaned and Scotty said, “Are you able to hold on?”
Julie opened her eyes and didn’t see anything, but felt something in front of her. “Can you hold on?” she heard.
She said, “Who are you?” and Scotty remembered his dream. “We’re going to get out of here, but you have to hold on to me and throw the cape on my back over you.”
She felt around and found the loose fabric and said, “What’s going on?!?”
“I’ll explain later, but if you want to live you’ll do as I ask. I’m not going to harm you.”
She put her head under the fabric and wrapped her arms around the being in front of her. She was surprised; it was another Human. Suddenly, she felt the ground under her start moving. She looked and saw she was flying about ten feet off the ground at a very high velocity. “Where are you taking me?”
“To freedom.”
She heard the word and wondered if her prayers were being answered. For the moment, she held on tight and whatever she was on accelerated and flew away from the fields.
After a few moments she realized she was on a living thing. She felt the wings flapping and the muscles under her flexing and moving. Then she heard, “Vring, are they doing anything?”
She heard in her mind, “No, Jingo says the guard looked in the woods and backed out quickly. It appears you were right. They think she’s dead.”
“What about the guards on the hill?”
“Your favorite is laughing at her apparent death. You might want to hang on tighter; I’m going to make a pretty hard left turn in a moment.”
Scotty said over his shoulder, “Lean to the left when he turns, and hold on tight.”
Julie leaned left and held on to the rider in front of her. She still couldn’t see anything but shifting colors that hid everything. Then she heard, “All right, the land goes up from here and I’m going to go higher.” She felt the wings catch air and they went up quickly. She saw from under the cape that trees were far below.
“Vring, we need to make a stop.”
“Why?’
“I stopped our passenger from finishing what she came in the woods to do.”
“That’s ok. I don’t think I’ll be able to do that for a week.”
Vring started laughing.
Scotty tried not to, but started shaking with his suppressed laughter.
Julie felt the one she was holding on to laughing. She shook her head and said, “Who are you?”
“My name is Scotty Robbins. The one we are riding is Vring. And you are?”
“My name is Juliette Larson. You pack a mean right hand.”
“I’m sorry. I couldn’t think of any other way to get you out of the trees without being seen.”
“You could have asked.”
“Would you have come with an invisible voice?”
Juliette thought and said, “You’re forgiven. You did what you had to do.”
Scotty wondered at how quickly this woman adapted to her situation. “Vring, are we far enough away now?”
“Yes, we’re over the horizon from them.”
Scotty reached up and pulled his hood back off his head. “You can come out from under the cape.”
Juliette pushed the cape aside and saw the one that had knocked her out. She was stunned by what she saw. It was him. She felt her heart start beating faster. It was him!
Vring said, “Him, who?”
Juliette jerked and Scotty said, “Vring is telepathic. He can hear your thoughts. What does he mean?”
“I’ve seen you in my dreams.”
Scotty looked over his shoulder at her and took a deep breath, “I saw you in a dream yesterday.” Scotty looked out over the land below them and said, “We’ll figure this out when we can stop. Until then we need to put some distance between us and that camp.”
“You can’t put too much to suit me. Why did you take me with you?”
Scotty said, “Because it is my intention to free everyone being held prisoner there and remove the oppressors from ever doing it again.”
Julie felt her heart stop. She thought, “Please don’t tell him my thoughts.”
She heard, “Your thoughts are troubling. How long have you been having this dream?”
“Can he hear us?”
“No, they are directed only at you.”
“Since I was five years old. He is the one in my dream.”
Vring looked over his shoulder at the young Human. This should be discussed with his father. Then he decided that he would wait until he could discuss it with her.
They flew until night was falling, then Jingo sent a message through Vring, “We need to stop for the night. I’ll have Cezee pick a place.”
Scotty said, “We’ll follow you down.”
Julie said, “Who are you talking to?”
“There are two of us. We’ll be landing shortly, so hold tight. I’m going to turn off my color shifting so you can see me better.”
Julie suddenly saw the blonde haired young man in a light green uniform riding in front of her. She wrapped her arms around his waist and held tight. He was very handsome, even more so than in her dream. She thought about the implications of that dream being real and again her heart beat faster.
Scotty felt her holding him and he could feel her closeness. She aroused him and it shocked him. No one had ever done that before! He turned red and looked straight ahead so she couldn’t see his embarrassment.
The ground came up quickly and Scotty said, “Isn’t that the Torg we shot yesterday?”
Vring chuckled. “Never waste, never want.”
Scotty sighed, “Jingo again?”
“Nope, Samuel.”
“Boy, you are the nosey one.”
“Learned from a certain rider I know.”
Julie listened to the back and forth and wondered just what it was she was sitting on. She could tell it was big but it also possessed a sense of humor. She held on as they landed.
Jingo jumped off Cezee as Scotty helped Julie down from Vring. Vring said, “Our guest is trying to determine what I look like, so I’m going to show her.”
Vring turned off his color shifting. Julie jumped back and fell on her backside. “Holy land of my fathers! What is that?!?”
Scotty gave her a hand and pulled her up as Jingo arrived. “That is a Zord. He has graciously allowed me to travel with him.”
Vring ran into the woods to join Cezee, and Julie was stunned at the quickness of such a giant beast. Jingo said, “It takes a little getting used to.”
She turned, saw the four-armed being approach, and said, “There are some of your species at the farm.”
Jingo started and said, “I didn’t see any.”
“The Magrum force them to wear shirts with only two sleeves. It seems they fear them if all of their arms are out.”
“As well they should.” Jingo looked at Scotty and said, “We could have retrieved one of them.”
