Free Hunting (The Nine) by Viola Grace Page A

and he will be requesting that you lead them in their education. From what Emharo has said about you, there is no one better on all of Gaia.”
    She blushed and looked from side to side to see if anyone was paying attention to the praise she was getting from her cousin’s new alien husband.
    “Contact the ambassador or his wife when you are able, and they will have your next course ready to go. Again, I look forward to meeting you. Emharo speaks of you every day. She misses you.”
    Niika swallowed. She missed Em as well. It was part and parcel of the residue of the Tokkel attacks that kept her moving through the woods, learning and seeking out whatever random idea sprang through her mind. She had sought out minerals, rare plants, animals that no Gaian had imagined, and she had done it all for the sheer joy of movement and life.
    After all, she had almost lost everything with that one blast to the spine.
    When the folk who wanted to take her course had been forwarded to the organizer, she made the call to Daphne Leoraki. “Hiya, Daphne.”
    Daphne was wearing a lovely shirt embroidered with layer upon layer of vines and leaves. Her dark hair swung heavily down her back and over her shoulder. “Hiya, Niika. You look disgustingly fresh after your three weeks in the wild.”
    Niika shrugged. She knew how to keep herself tidy. If her student’s couldn’t figure out how to shower in the woods after she had explained it to them three times, they could return home stinky but alive.
    “Thank you. I do try. So, I hear you have a group for me?”
    “Yes, some biologists and historians. Stone and Wilders for the most part. Are you free?”
    Niika cocked her head. “Not free but reasonably priced.”
    Daphne groaned. “That joke was old before you said it the first time. I will have the money transferred to your account immediately. I am guessing that two weeks in the wild will suit them. Will that suit you?”
    Niika mentally grunted. “As long as I can have one day to shower and get a change of clothing, I should be fine. What are they looking for?”
    “They will have to tell you. There are some things that even the Nine don’t admit to.” Daphne winked.
    They finished their pleasantries, and Niika spoke to the coordinator, completing the reports on her students before getting her air-cycle out of the shed and heading for home.
    The wind in her hair tasted of summer. It should be easy to find whatever the Nine needed, but first, she needed a tune-up.
     
     

 
     
     
    Chapter Two
     
     
    The moment she was in her small home, she powered up the lights and headed for the shower. Just because she could survive without a hot shower didn’t mean that she didn’t enjoy them.
    When all her outside gear was gone and her underwear was in the hamper with everything, all that was left on her body was the Tokkel torture straps that kept her upright.
    She stepped under the hot spray, breathing in the mist of the steaming water as she ran soap over every inch of her before she lathered her hair.
    With the straps wet, she could twist in them, getting water under them to clean off any grime or oils. They were a prison and a memory of pain, but they were also the only way she could get around.
    The bands held her upright, restricting movement but going around her spine and giving her the movement that the blast to the spine had taken.
    Five years. It had been five years since she and her cousin had discovered the wreckage of the Tokkel ship and the crewmember still alive inside it. Emharo had gone for help, but the remaining thug had come out of stasis and shot her in the back before binding her in the torture harness to control her.
    As she towelled off, Nik bet that the Tokkel had not had any idea his little sadistic game would cost him his life. It wasn’t the first throat she had slit, but it had left her with a body to destroy before her cousin came back with reinforcements.
    Ularica had taken in the harness and modified it