Tongue Tied Episode 10

Aria’s knuckles whitened on the grip of Grant’s blaster. Bessie’s head swayed closer, and the heat from her mouth made Aria feel like a roast on a spit.

“Now what?” Aria said. “It seems you got the upper hand with this here overgrown lizard, but I sure as shootin’ don’t want to go back to them saloonies.”

“How about you lower my blaster first off. Me and Bessie would feel a whole heap better if it wasn’t pointed at me.”

Aria relaxed her grip on the weapon and lowered it to her side. She noticed a light whiff of smoke coming off her dress, and patted at its glowing embers. She glared at Bessie and said, “Do you mind?”

Bessie moved her head farther away and the heat subsided. She continued to keep a wary eye on Aria.

“Okay, blaster down,” Aria said. The rumble of pounding hooves rolling across the red desert were growing steadily louder. “Now can we get out of here?”

“Blaster,” Grant said.

Aria hesitated.

“Now, unless you’d rather deal with them.” Grant pointed in the direction of a small cloud of dust moving toward them.

She threw the blaster to Grant.

In one fluid movement, he snatched it out of the air, twisted the setting to mid-range, and dropped it into his holster. “Anything you need out of that carriage, you get quick.”

The dust cloud danced over the last escarpment, coming fast. “They’ll be here any minute,” Aria said. The saloonies were close enough Aria could hear the cadence of individual horses in the thunder of the hooves pounding the desert floor. She grabbed her bag and a blanket from the carriage and ran to the edge of the thurium dig. All she could see in the pit was dust. “Grant! Don’t you leave me here, you son of a sidewinder.”

“That ain’t no way for a lady to talk,” Grant said. Aria shielded her eyes against the glare of the sun and looked up to where his voice came just as Bessie landed next to her.

“Maybe I ain’t no lady.”

“Sad to hear that,” Grant said. And it sounded as if he really meant it. “I’m headed out of here. You coming?” He reached out his hand.

Aria grabbed his hand and he pulled her onto Bessie’s back. Bessie rose into the air just as the saloonies rounded the hill and stormed into the arroyo. She could hear them shouting and shooting as Bessie’s wings caught the wind and Aria felt herself rushing through the air. She looked back and the men on the ground looked about the size of rabbits, then chipmunks, then they were lost in the dust from the pit settling over them.

Aria leaned forward and said into Grant’s ear, “Thanks for not leaving me.”

He turned toward her. “I should have come back for you sooner.”

She snuggled her head onto his shoulder and surveyed the sky in front of them. “Grant. There’s somebody in Bessie’s mouth.”

(I’ll bet if you found this by accident you're a might confused by all this ruckus. If you want to get the whole story, and find out how this all makes sense, click for Episode 1)

(Ready to ride the dragon on the next episode? Here is Episode 11)

Tongue Tied Episode 6

Tongue Tied Episode 6

J.E. Thompson

Grant

“If you’re feeling froggy,” Aria said, “jump.”

Aria wouldn’t shoot me. Would she? I mean she could be mad at me for leaving her here. But turn me into a crispy critter? She wouldn’t. I took a step toward her.

“Give me my blaster.”

“Stay where you are, Grant. You tell me where the reward money is, and you might walk out of here.”

She was bluffing. I think. I slid my foot forward and braced myself. If I can catch her off guard… ”You put down the blaster, and I’ll tell you.”

“You tell me, then I’ll give you the blaster…” She gave me one of her irresistible crooked smiles. The kind that convinced me five years ago to drop her here rather than turn her over to the Territorial Magistrate.

“…after I have the opportunity to collect my money.”

Not gonna happen. But… dang that smile. “Two miles west of town. The old thurium dig site.”

“You best be telling the truth. If you’re having me send Tugal out on a wild boar hunt, he won’t be happy.” She dropped one hand from the blaster. “And when Tugal gets unhappy, he tends to break things — arms, legs, necks…”

She reached for the communicator on the table, and I lunged for the blaster.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Aria didn’t hesitate a nanosecond before she pulled the trigger. I saw the projection port glow, felt the blast’s searing heat and the tachyon’s sledge-hammer impact, then everything went black…

###

My head felt like somebody had it in a vise. The rest of me felt like I’d spent roast cycle in a microwave. It was dark, and Aria’s face hovered over me like a full moon in the night sky. “Am I in heaven?” I asked. The words slurred out of my parched throat and over my numb tongue.

Truth be told, I fell in love with Aria five years ago. Now to have my head cradled in her lap, I… “You shot me.”

“Where’s my money?”

My mind began to clear. “What did you do to me?”

Aria held up a hypo-spray. “Just a little gentle persuasion.”

“I can’t feel my legs… Or my arms… Or my tongue…” I struggled to sit up. “I can’t feel anything.”

“That will most likely be the horse tranquilizer.” She pressed the hypo-spray against my bare chest where I could see it. “Tell me again - where is my reward money.”

“Don’t,” I said as she reached for the trigger.

“Where?”

“I told you. Thurium dig. West of town.” The world rocked and shifted, rolling me sideways.

“We’ll know soon enough,” she said.

A dam break of light flooded the darkness, boring shafts of pain through my head.

“Miss Aria,” a masculine voice reverberated through my mental fog. “We here. But I don’t see no dragon.”

“You lied to me?” Aria said. The hypo hissed hard into my chest, and the world dissolved into night.

(Are you confused about what’s happening to Grant, and how he ended up here? Did you miss episode 5? Click here.)

(Ready to find out what's next? Here is Episode 7)