Free Huntsman by Viola Grace

 
     
Huntsman
     
     
    Harka waited in the office and fidgeted. She wasn’t used to being immobile, and it made her choice of assignment a little awkward.
    One round as a monitor would give her the money she needed to open her own shop. Her savings could only go so far. The injection of cash from the use of her mind for half a year would enable her to buy her shop outright and only have her own meals to earn.
    “Monitor Harka Tweel?” A uniformed officer came in to retrieve her.
    She bounced to her feet. “That’s me.”
    “Your station is ready.”
    She nodded and was handed over to the team in the biohazard gear. She had been assured that she would be fine. The plague that infected the Edinar was not known to infect the people of Horalthia. That did not mean that those bringing the infected out of cold sleep were stupid.
    Everyone entering the waking arena was wearing biohazard gear. Everyone with the exception of the monitors.
    Monitors were volunteers and military personnel trained to insert their minds into that of a sleeping Edinar citizen. The purpose was to keep the Edinar calm during the thawing process and the plague treatment. If they woke too early, they could compromise their treatment or even stress themselves to death.
    A Horalthian with the right training could monitor and calm the diseased alien. Harka had opted for the training, and now, she was being put to work.
    Station nine was going to be her home. The cryo chamber was already set and her station was pushed into place. The medics settled her in place and attached all the long-term life support that she needed before they sent her into a light coma that freed her mind.
    Six months to freedom. Just six months.
     
    She landed in the mind of her patient with a thud. The grass was green, the trees were tall and she had landed ass first into a meadow of wildflowers. It was definitely not a scene from her own mind.
    As Harka got to her feet, she brushed at her thighs, surprised to see skirts in the way. “This is different.”
    Her arms were clad in golden leather over long white sleeves. The slight nip in the air made her thankful that her host’s mind had such a default, though walking through grass with a long skirt was more awkward than she had anticipated.
    “Now, where are you?” She turned and listened to the sound of metal striking something very hard.
    Harka hiked through the grasses and entered the woods, following the rhythmic strikes.
    Wearing a loose white shirt with rolled-up sleeves and plain brown trousers tucked into boots, her Edinar was hacking large blocks of wood into smaller blocks.
    She looked around and found a tree stump. Harka perched on it and watched for a while.
    “If you are going to stare, you might make yourself useful instead. There is a storm coming, and we will need to get this load to the house.”
    She jumped in surprise and got to her feet. “How can I help?”
    He turned and looked at her with black eyes crinkled in amusement. “Pick up that axe and cut wood if you can.”
    It was a challenge and she clearly identified it as such.
    A second axe was leaning against a cutting block and she reached for it. It was heavy and off balance, but she guessed that was the point.
    She put an uncut piece of wood down and swung the axe. It glanced off and the log tumbled to one side.
    Harka huffed and righted the wood again. This time, she focussed her grip and tightened it for the strike. She made it three inches into the wood and lifted the two connected items, smacking them down hard.
    To her shock, the wood split into two semi circles. “Woo hoo!”
    She heard a laugh, and her host was in front of her leaning on his axe, watching her.
    “Bravo. You just need to repeat that a few dozen more times and we will have enough wood to last six hours.”
    “Then stop gawping at me and get to work yourself. I have some catching up to do.”
    He raised his eyebrows in surprise, and his tanned face split in a grin. “Yes,