Ezra
We stop for a brief lunch before continuing our journey. I don’t often hunt with other people and I never hunt with women, but Dagger is proving to be an enjoyable companion. She’s funny and interesting and she doesn’t seem to mind the fact that our journey is a dirty, sweaty one.
We find a lake in the afternoon and stop for a brief swim in the water. It’s small enough that I know the center is shallow: there’s no room for any large sea creatures. We don’t need to worry about being bitten or attacked. We can just relax and enjoy the water.
Dagger strips down, ditching her clothes on the small beach. Then she dips her toes in the water carefully.
“Haven’t you ever been swimming before?” I ask, surprised at how timid she’s suddenly being.
“No,” she shakes her head. “I’m not Mirroean,” she explains. “And I’ve never been there. My colony on Mars didn’t have any lakes or pools.”
“The water won’t hurt you,” I explain. “You can go all the way in.” I strip down, too, so I can join her. Maybe I won’t teach her to swim today, but I’ll be damned if she doesn’t get all the way wet. There’s something spectacular about playing in the water and I want her to experience everything she can while she’s here.
I’m not sure what Dagger’s plans for the future are.
Is she going to try to go back to Mars?
Is she going to move on to another planet and try to start a new life?
Is she going to stay on Sapphira?
Is she going to stay with me?
I don’t know and it’s not really fair to ask. She’s been through something traumatizing, something terrifying. She’s been through something nobody should ever have to go through. She’s been to hell and back and right now, I think Dagger deserves a little rest.
I think she deserves a little fun.
I come over to Dagger and take her hand. Together, we walk carefully, slowly into the water.
“It’s cold,” she says. “It’s a nice contrast from the heat of the sun.”
“That’s why everyone loves to swim in the summer,” I explain. “It’s the perfect way to cool off. When I was a kid, there was a lake near our home. My mother used to take me swimming there almost every day.”
“Wow, that’s incredible. She must have been a really nice lady.”
“She was,” I tell her. “She was the best. We didn’t have a lot of money, but she always went out of her way to make sure we were happy and content. She went out of her way to make sure my siblings and I still had fun, especially during the summertime.”
“I think this is far enough,” Dagger says after a minute. The water is barely to her knees, but she looks nervous, uncomfortable. “I don’t need to go any deeper.”
“Oh, baby,” I laugh, picking her up. “You have no idea.”
“Hey! Put me down!” She says, wiggling and trying to get down.
“Okay,” I say, dropping her in the water. She sinks below the surface. The water here isn’t deep. It only comes to my waist. This lake’s water is perfectly clear and I can see the bottom. A few tiny fish swim by. Dagger goes down, hits the bottom, and sits there for a second. Then she looks up at me.
Her hair is floating around her and she looks like a small mermaid. She looks beautiful. She also looks completely terrified, and I realize she doesn’t know she can just stand up and be out of the water. I reach down, take her hand, and yank her up to the surface.
She comes up, coughing and sputtering and laughing.
“That was incredible!” She says, and she promptly sits back down, once again sinking to the bottom of the lake and looking around.
She’s the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen and I don’t want this moment to end. I want it to last forever. I want us to last forever.
Unfortunately for me, all good things must come to an end.
It’s only a matter of time.
We splash around and play in the water for the better part of an hour. Then I lay Dagger on the beach and make love to her slowly, sweetly. We have more space than we had in the nest last night, and this time, I get to really pay attention to her body. I get to worship her. I get to love her.
Once more, she comes apart beneath my touch. She offers me the most beautiful climax I’ve ever seen in my life. She offers me herself and I, in turn, offer her myself.
Making love to Dagger is incredible, perfect.
Sweet.
We rinse off in the lake once more before dressing again. I gather my pack and check my navigation tools. Then it’s time to keep going. It’s time to keep walking. It’s time to keep moving forward toward my goal.
As we walk, every so often, Dagger looks behind us.
“Are you worried someone followed you to Sapphira?” I ask. She didn’t finish telling me about Stremon and Mrs. Finkle last night. “Does anyone know how you left the planet? How did you leave, by the way? You never actually said.”
“I, um, I stole a ship,” she says, blushing. “A pod, really. I didn’t think anyone would mind.”
I chuckle. She’s as bad as an alien. Stealing a ship? I should introduce her to my brother.
“What happened when you stole it?”
“Someone followed me,” she says. Stremon and Mrs. Finkle chased me for awhile. Then I made it to the harbor and took the ship. I have a friend who works there. They don’t know about my friend and I never told them. She’s the one who slipped me the keys for the pod.”
“That’s a good friend,” I say, hoping against all hope that Stremon doesn’t find out who Dagger’s friend is. There’s no doubt in my mind he’s the type of man who would kill Dagger’s friend just to prove a point.
“I had already lost them by the time I got to the ship. I know a lot of secret paths and shortcuts. It wasn’t hard to lose them. Once I was in the pod, though, I think they figured out what my next move was going to be because soon, there was someone following me. They didn’t follow me for long. I managed to escape their sights.”
“You’re quite the little escaping squirrel, aren’t you?”
“Something like that,” she blushes. “But when I crash-landed here, I was worried there was some sort of tracking device on the pod. If Stremon could figure out how to track my ship, he’d be able to find me.”
“Doesn’t look like he’s found you yet,” I shrug. “You should be safe enough here, sweetheart.”
“That’s just the thing, though, Ezra. He’s a bounty hunter. He’s a hunter, like you, except he hunts people. And Ezra? He doesn’t fight fair. If Stremon manages to find me, he’s going to kill me, and he’s going to make it hurt.”
She shivers, and I wish I could take away her fear.
Maybe I can, even just a little.
I stop moving and turn to her, cupping her face in my hands.
“I will protect you, Dagger. No matter what happens, I will protect you.”