Swords of Waar Read Free

while Delia put some coffee on, and we all moved out to the back deck to watch the sun go down over the San Fernando hills.
    “So,” said Eli, and left it at that.
    I knocked back my shot and held out my glass for another. He filled it and I settled back in my lawn chair, looking up at the stars that were just starting to come out overhead. One of those little lights might be where Lhan was. I didn’t know which one to wish on, so I wished on ’em all. Take me there now. I need to go back .
    Nothing happened. I downed the second shot and sighed. “You’re not gonna believe me. It’s National Enquirer kinda stuff.”
    “Try me.”
    I opened my mouth, but I still couldn’t get started.
    Delia put a hand on one of mine and squeezed. “I believe all kinds of things. Go on, sweetheart.”
    I nodded. “Well, I’ll start from the beginning, then. The part you know about—punching that guy outside the Fly By Night.”
    So I told it. How the cops had chased me up into the Tarzana hills, how I’d hid in the cave, how I’d touched the stone. I could see them tense up a little bit at that, but I was drunk enough now that I just kept going, and when I told them I woke up on Waar, I could see the nervous smiles start to form on their lips, but they let me go, at least until I got to the part about the Aarurrh—the big tiger-centaur guys that captured Sai and me almost as soon as I got there.
    I’d just finished describing One-Eye, the big alpha male Aarurrh who had been the leader of the hunting party, when Eli burst out laughing.
    “Tiger-Taurs? Are you—?” He laughed again. “Shit, sweetheart, you really had me going there for a while.”
    I blinked at him, pulling myself out of my memories. “What do you mean?”
    “I’m sayin’ you picked the wrong guy to tell somebody else’s story to.” He motioned toward the bookcases in the living room. “I have read all of those, y’know.”
    I still didn’t get it. “Somebody else’s story?”
    Delia was frowning too. “Be nice, Eli. Jane’s been through a lot. Don’t—”
    “Yeah, but she ain’t been through this!”
    I balled my fists. I didn’t expect them to believe me. But I didn’t expect them to be so bare-faced about it either. “Are you calling me a liar?”
    Eli held up his hands. “Now now, don’t get your panties in a twist. I’m not saying you’re lying. Maybe you got knocked on the head and you dreamed a book you read once.” He laughed again and shook his head. “I’ll give you credit for picking an obscure one, though. Most people haven’t even heard of that one, let alone read it.”
    He hadn’t calmed me down one bit. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t hit my head, Eli. I didn’t read about it in a book. It all happened. To me . Where do you think I’ve been for the past six months?”
    Eli looked me in the eye for a long second, then sighed and put down his drink. He stood up. “Wait here.”
    Delia and I watched him go back into the house, then exchanged a glance.
    “I’m sorry, Jane. It usually takes him to the second bottle before he’s this ornery.”
    I shrugged. “It’s fine. I didn’t think you’d believe me. I just had to tell it is all.”
    “Well, when he comes back you can tell the rest of it. I want to find out what happens next.”
    There it was. I could hear the pity in her voice. She was being kinder about it than Eli was, but she didn’t believe me any more than he did. She thought I was sick or something. I drank off another shot and turned away from her, looking up at the sky. There were a lot more stars out now. I had a lot more to wish on.
    After about five minutes of silent sitting, Eli came back through the door.
    “Here it is.” He held out a book. “Knew I had it somewhere.”
    I took it and looked at it. It was battered old paperback. The title didn’t mean too much to me— Savages of the Red Planet by Norman Prescott Kline—but the illustration made my heart do a