WashedUp Read Free

she suddenly realized that that was precisely what she had been feeling in the city, the press of minds all around her.
    She looked back the way she had come, and only the vague glow in the dimness gave her the location of the city. With the current above her to give her a path to follow, she started kicking back to the place she was doomed to die in.
    Hours of swimming past schools of fish, wild pods of the riding beasts, and the shadows of the occasional large predator gave her time to think. What if she simply picked one of her suitors at random? She was sure that she could grow to love one of them eventually.
    Safi mentally kicked herself. There was only one of the men of Nasfron that she wanted and he had not given any indication that he wanted her.
    Ajax was everything she wanted in a man, strong, funny, gorgeous and he had a body temperature that made her want to cuddle close.
    Etiquette be damned, she was going to make a pass at him the moment that she was back at the city, if she managed to make it back before she died. With the way her pulse was stuttering, she wasn't sure how long she was going to last. She wanted to get back with a vengeance now that she had formulated a plan for her last act.
    A wild pod of riding beasts surrounded her and before she knew what was happening, one snaked up between her legs and hooked her into riding it. It was the most peculiar feeling, but the moment that she snugged herself into place the entire pod raced for the city.
    They seemed to have caught on to her urgency and it wasn't until she heard a child cry out in her mind that they deviated from their path. The moment that she heard the little girl scream the entire pod turned as one to race toward the psychic sound.
    Safi looked through the gloom and a tense fury filled her as she saw a small child in a blue bodysuit trapped inches away from a huge fish. The size of the head was the only thing that was keeping the beak of the fish from nipping the child into bits.
    "Stay calm and keep still." She had never spoken to someone she hadn't made eye contact with, but it was out of the question.
    The child sniffled and kept still, tucking her arms and legs against her body.
    The riding beasts attacked the fish, slamming into it with pointed heads and darting out of reach when it reached for them. They kept going, pushing the fish away from the hollow in the coral that was protecting the girl.
    The beast that Safi was riding shot forward and she leaned down to grab the little girl before the fish could realize that it was being distracted.
    The little girl hung on to her with desperation and then whispered, "We have to get the man. He got hurt trying to take me home."
    "Where is the man, sweetie?"
    "Over here. He tried to bring the fish away but it followed me. I wasn't supposed to play in the current but I did and now the man got hurt."
    The girl was sobbing, but underwater, Safi couldn't tell if tears were the result.
    "We will find the man and the beasts will take us all home."
    "Okay. You are really nice, not stupid at all."
    Safi raised her eyebrows at the young girl. "Why would you say that?"
    "The man told me he was looking for a woman who looked like you do and that she was stupid." She nodded with a child's logic.
    The man in question was barely visible, but one of his legs was sticking out of a small hollow and Safi's beast zeroed in on him without hesitation.
    Safi dismounted and floated over to find the man of her dreams bleeding and exhausted. "Ajax. What are you doing out here?"
    "Looking for you. Why did you leave?"
    She pulled him upright and hauled him toward the riding beast. "I wanted to spend my last day alive in thought and quiet contemplation. Then I turned around determined to propose to you."
    He blinked in surprise, his mind clearly not that focused. "You were?"
    "Until I heard from the little miss that you were looking for a stupid woman, I was. Now I am going to die just to spite you." She snorted at his