From Part 29 ...
Her mouth joined with his and her life flowed through him – restoring him, asserting that he still had life, filling him with hope ... a hope his mind knew was impossible, but a hope his heart could not be deterred from daring to believe.
She lurched from him, her alarm in sharp contrast to the elixir of their kiss. “I hear footsteps,” she said in a tight whisper. “Someone’s coming.”
“Who?”
Lois broke into a relieved smile. “It’s Tek.”
Kal gently butted his forehead against hers and sighed with relief. “You looked?” he asked.
“I didn’t need to,” Lois said. “I can hear his limp.”
Part 30
The sound of someone’s arrival coaxed Eb from the lean-to.
Tek was there, breathing heavily.
“What’s happened?” Kal-El asked him.
“We’re in lockdown.”
“Why?”
“I have no knowledge,” Tek said. “There are many rumours and much speculation, but I quickly left the courtyard and went to my residence because I knew they would hunt for you and I knew where they would look first.” He stopped to haul in more breath.
“Are Riz and the children all right?” Lady asked.
“Yes,” Tek panted. “Many came – both soldiers and civilians - but soon realised Kal-El was not there.”
“What’s a lockdown?” Lady asked.
“When the Supreme Ruler commands everyone to remain where they are,” the former Supreme Ruler answered.
“Or?”
“Or risk being shot by the patrolling soldiers.”
Lady’s mouth dropped open. “So why are we going now?”
Tek straightened from his hunched-over stance. “Because if we go now, the only danger will come from the soldiers.”
“Oh,” Lady said, barely audible.
Tek looked to Eb. “Dav is safe,” he assured her. “They are together in the courtyard. As soon as the lockdown is lifted, they’ll be home.”
Eb felt her tension ease. “That is good,” she said.
Tek turned back to Kal-El and Lady. “You must come now,” he said. “We have very little time.”
Kal-El and Lady both faced Eb. “Thank you, Eb,” Lady said. “Thank you so much.”
“I … I hope …” Eb stopped, wondering how she could say so much in just a few words. “I hope you can be together.”
“We will never forget what you did for us, Eb,” Kal-El said, his brown eyes lingering in hers for a moment.
“Come now,” Tek insisted. “You must come now.” He went through the door. The alien woman followed. At the door she turned to Eb, her mouth slightly stretched.
“You will have a beautiful baby girl,” she said.
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Within yards of Eb’s door, Tek had settled into an uneven gait that covered the ground with surprising speed. They crossed field after field, slowing only to negotiate the scant fences. Tek led them with single-minded purpose, although his chosen path regularly deviated to avoid the scattered farmhouses.
“Where are we going?” Lois asked.
“Can’t talk,” Tek wheezed. “We have to be there in time.”
In time for what?
The fields afforded no cover of any sort. Too easily, Lois could convince herself there were vague shapes in the distance … shadowy figures with weapons trained on Kal. Her eyes searched unceasingly. She realised she was listening too.
Listening for the loud explosion which would be followed by the sickening whirring sound indelibly etched into her memory.
She stayed close to Kal, her body coiled in readiness to jump to his defence.
Eventually they reached a gritty beach similar to the one she had walked with Kal. Tek stopped, crouching in the meagre cover offered by a small sand dune. “We have to go ... via the coast,” he said, sucking in prodigious lungfuls of oxygen. “It’s longer ... but we can’t risk ... going near the town.”
“Where are we going?” Kal asked. He too was breathing more heavily than normal.
Lois, however, felt only impatience at the delay.
And frustration at Tek’s inability to answer her throng of questions.
“The cliffs,” Tek replied.
Lois scanned a full circle, checking everything … above ground, below ground, under the ocean, across the waves. She saw no one.
Tek stood. “Come on,” he said, his breath still ragged.
They ran along the rough beach. To her left, Lois noticed the land rising, steadily increasing the drop to the water’s edge. It gave them some cover – although Lois realised grimly that for anyone on the land above, they were the easiest of targets. She looked ahead, sure now that Tek was taking them to his hideout in the cliffs. In the distance, the sand butted into a rocky point that protruded into the grey ocean.
By the time they reached it, the last twenty yards of sand was underwater.
The shallow water didn’t slow Tek’s progress. Ahead and to their left the rugged rock climbed five yards above the water. To their right lay the ocean. Periodic swells swept in behind them, ramming against their calves before crashing into the rock and rebounding onto them.
When the water had reached their knees, Tek stopped. He was heaving so violently, speech didn’t seem possible. He pointed forward to the junction where the spur of rock met the cliff face. “Through there … tunnel, to the cave,” he said. “You’ll be ... safe there.”
Lois could see no gap in the rock - no place which beckoned her forward. “Aren’t you coming?” she demanded of Tek.
“No. Tide rising. If I go any further, I won’t get out until the water drops.” Tek turned back and brushed past Lois and Kal. “Go,” he urged. “Go, now.”
Lois locked eyes with Kal. They reached tacit agreement and she clasped two fistfuls of the back of Kal’s rough jacket. He waded forward. With each step, the swirling water climbed higher.
They rounded a protruding rock and saw the small, craggy opening behind it. As they watched, a wave sloshed into it, then, half a second later, gushed out like a mini-waterfall. Kal paused. “I think you should go first,” he said. “The water is rising so quickly and I’m taller than you.”
They didn’t have the time to argue. Lois trudged through the now-waist-deep water until she reached the cliff face. The cavity was shoulder-height. She felt Kal slide down her leg and hook her foot into the stirrup he formed with his hands. With lift from him, she heaved herself into the hole.
Lois wriggled forward, then turned and gripped Kal’s hand as he found unseen footholds and clambered into the space next to her. Ahead she could see a low tunnel. “I’ll go first,” she said.
He hesitated, racked with indecision. “We have no idea what’s ahead.” He brushed a lock of damp hair from his forehead. “But the water will come up behind us and it would be easy to slip and be swept away by the back flow.”
They heard the roar of a wave as it crashed into the rock. It sprayed into the hole, drenching them.
“I’ll go first,” Lois decided. “You hold my ankle.”
He took her ankle with a firm grip and Lois twisted onto her hands and knees. She crawled into the dimness.
Despite the upward slope of the tunnel, they continued to be regularly doused from behind by the unrelenting waves. Lois began to wonder if they would ever crawl beyond its reaches.
As they continued, the air became mustier, the light became dimmer and the waves became less persistent. After what seemed like a long time, the tunnel stopped abruptly at a ledge about two feet in height.
“What’s wrong?” she heard. Kal’s voice echoed, springing at her from multiple directions.
Lois looked straight up, craning her neck. Ahead, the top of the tunnel rose sharply. “We have to climb up a level,” she said. “Get onto the ledge before you stand or you’ll hit your head.”
She scrambled forward, then stood.
Before her was an open area about the size of a basketball court. The floor was sandy and dry, the walls jagged rock and the ceiling high enough that Kal could stand comfortably. The air had a salty tang, but wasn’t as stale as she would have expected.
The muted roar of the waves blended with the irregular rhythm of the droplets of water as they loosed from her gown and plopped onto the sand.
She felt Kal stand next to her. His hand knocked against her hip, found her hand and pushed into it.
“Did you know about this?” she asked in a hushed voice. Even at such low volume, her words hurtled around the cave.
“No.”
“We’re safe here. The sand is dry; the water doesn’t come this far.”
Kal’s fingers tightened around hers and his other hand gripped her elbow. “Lois?”
“Uhm?”
“Can you see?”
“Yes. It’s dim, but I can see enough.”
“I can’t see anything.”
She turned to him, her panic rising. “Nothing?”
“No. It’s total blackness.”
“You’re blind?”
He cleared his throat. “I don’t think I’m blind ... I think maybe you can just see really well.”
“The tunnel got gradually darker?”
“Yes.”
“When couldn’t you see?”
“About half way along.”
Lois turned to him, placed his hands on her hips and slipped her arms around his neck. “Kal," she said, "That must have been awful. It was unpleasant enough being able to see a little. Why didn’t you tell me?”
His hands slipped from her hips to her back and eased her closer. “You had enough to worry about,” he said gently.
Lois could see the outline of his mouth in the dimness. She buried her fingers into the damp strands of hair on his neck and reached up to meet him. She kissed him – a series of light, almost playful touches to his mouth.
His hand left her back and ducked through her hair to land on her neck. His mouth chased hers, captured it and kissed her with rapidly escalating intensity.
She responded, meeting him, as her tongue demanded release to explore his lips. Then his fervour lessened and she felt him smile, breaking their kiss, but not their close proximity.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said very low.
“You do?” His mouth hovered tantalisingly above hers.
“I do.”
She slid her tongue along the inside of her lip, tasting the saltiness. “How do you know?”
“Because I was thinking it too.”
Now she was smiling as well. “Tell me what you were thinking.”
“I was remembering how you told me that kissing with tongues is further along than just kissing.”
“Really? You remember that?”
He grinned at her tone. It really wasn’t fair that she could see his face and he could not see hers. Then his humour dissolved and he looked up as a long breath discharged from deep in his chest. “I remember,” he said soberly.
“But this isn’t exactly how we planned it, is it?”
“No,” he sighed.
Lois dropped her arms from his neck and quickly undid the buttons of his jacket. She pushed it back and slid her hands between his jacket and undershirt until they crossed behind his back. She laid her head on his chest with a sigh. “Just hold me, Kal,” she said.
His arms encircled her and she felt his head lower onto hers.
They stood for a long time, content in their togetherness.
It was Kal who spoke first. “I’ve been thinking.”
“About what?”
“Tek obviously comes here. He knew the times of the tide. He probably can’t see any better than I can, so -.”
“So there must be a light,” Lois concluded. She unfolded from him and pushed her hand into his.
At the far end of the cave, a head-high mass of rock protruded from the wall. Lois led Kal across the sandy floor. Behind the rock was a niche. At the end it narrowed to a tunnel that burrowed further underground.
“Can you see anything?” Kal said.
“There’s another tunnel heading away from the ocean,” Lois said.
“Anything that may provide light?” Kal asked hopefully.
Lois looked back to the tunnel from which they had come. Above the ledge, hung from a projecting rock, she saw a bulky, glass-covered object that reminded her of the gas lanterns she’d seen in period movies.
“I’ve found something that may be a light,” she told Kal. “It’s on the other side of the cave.”
“Take me with you,” Kal said.
They crossed the sand. She took it down and placed it in Kal’s hands. “Does it need matches?” she asked.
“No,” Kal said. His fingers moved over the glass. “There should be a switch. It’s battery-operated.”
Seconds later, the cave flooded with soft, muted light. Kal looked around, blinking rapidly, but his smile was close to the best thing she’d seen all day.
“Thank you, Lois,” he said with deep appreciation.
In the light, she could see things she had missed in the gloom. Kal’s jacket and pants hung loosely on him, misshapen by their wetness. “Are you cold?” she asked.
“Not really. Just very wet.”
“Me too,” Lois said. Again, she scanned the walls and ceiling of the cave but there was nothing other than rock and sand. “I’m going into the alcove at the back of the cave to try to wring some of the moisture from my clothes. If you want to do the same, I won’t come out until you’re ready.”
He glanced down at his waterlogged pants. “Good idea.”
“You take the light,” she said with a smile.
Once behind the rock, Lois stripped the wet, clingy gown from her body. She scrunched it and was about to wring it out when it occurred to her there might be more effective methods available to her.
Available to someone whose body had acquired a bewildering range of weird abilities since arriving on New Krypton.
She could move abnormally fast ... this morning, she had overtaken a bullet.
What if she were to flap her clothing? Very fast?
She was about to do just that when she visualised her gown – torn to shreds by some over-enthusiastic flapping.
Her mom had liked windy days because the laundry dried quickly.
What if she blew on her gown? That should dry it nicely.
Lois took a deep breath and exhaled energetically.
The skirt stiffened to an aberrant rigidity.
Lois poked it experimentally.
It had frozen.
Inexplicably.
Frozen.
Lois stared at it.
Wet, it was wearable.
But frozen?
She would drip for hours as the water melted.
Her composure disintegrated. She’d been through too much today to be able to cope with a stupid, unfashionable, ill-fitting gown that had frozen itself solid just because she breathed on it.
It had just become the embodiment of everything that had gone wrong.
She wanted to punch it and belt it and kick it into next week.
But if she did that, it would probably disintegrate into a pile of rags, just to spite her.
So, she glared at it.
Slowly a puff of steam lifted from her gown.
Before Lois could decide if this were a good thing, a small flame flickered on the sleeve – hesitantly at first – then it flared to life before her eyes.
Lois flung the gown to the ground and stomped the flame into submission.
“Lo-is?” she heard from across the cave. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, Kal,” she said airily. “I’m ... ah ... trying something.”
“I thought I smelled -.”
“No ... no, you didn’t.” Lois picked up the gown. It now had a burn hole to go with the bullet hole.
The material had a scratchiness that probably reflected its lingering grievance at having been frozen, then rapidly reheated.
But, it was *dry*.
She dried her underwear – being *very* careful not to burn them.
Then she put on her warm, dry clothes with more than a dash of smugness.
“Kal?” she called.
“Yes?”
“How’s it going?”
“I’ve wrung them out, but they’re still very damp.”
“I’ll turn my back, Kal,” Lois said. “Bring your clothes and put them at the entrance to this alcove.”
She sensed his hesitation. Then she heard his bare feet skim across the sand.
“Leave them there and go out of sight,” she said.
“You can turn around,” he called a few moments later.
Lois turned and saw the pile of his clothing. She glared at it. Gently.
The steam began to rise and she stopped.
“I’ll turn around again, Kal. Come and get your clothes.”
She heard him pick them up, heard his small gasp of surprise at their dryness.
She heard him dress, forcing her imagination to neutral. “Are they dry?” she called.
“Yes,” he replied. Then, a minute later, “You can come out now.”
Lois rounded the rock a little sheepishly. “I guess you have questions,” she said.
She saw him take in the black-rimmed hole in her sleeve. “More powers?” he asked, with gentle understanding.
She nodded, not sure whether she wanted to laugh or cry.
Kal gathered her into his arms and held her snug against his warm, dry body. “I love you,” he said. “We’re together. Nothing else matters.” He led her back to the main area of the cave, found a relatively smooth portion of wall and helped her to sit down. “Are you hurt at all?” he asked, as he sat next to her.
“No. Are you?”
“Nothing much. A few scratches.”
“Do you want me to check them?”
“No.”
Silence fell.
Lois took a deep breath and laid her head against Kal’s arm. She felt him brush a kiss on her hair, but he said nothing.
The serenity released the dam and her mind was immediately deluged by a raging flood of memories and questions.
The awful moment when the soldier raised his rifle and pointed it at Kal.
The sound of the bullet through the air.
The silent eeriness and lurking suspense of their journey through deserted fields with Tek.
Why had Nor called a lockdown?
The beauty of Kal’s words to her – the words they had both thought would be his last - spoken in the language only they shared.
Being hit by a bullet ... and only her gown had a hole.
The rupture of Kryptonian decorum that had allowed them the means of escape.
Breath that froze and eyes that burned.
The existence of the cave ... and Tek’s easy familiarity with it.
Why did Tek come here?
Za and Ching ... together for less than a minute.
What was Za’s future as Nor’s concubine?
Kal’s marriage ... annulled.
Last night, they had fought because she couldn’t accept Za’s place in Kal’s life.
Now, only hours later, nothing remained.
Except her love for Kal.
And his love for her.
But what was their future?
To live in a cave?
To have to be on guard every time the tide receded?
Nor ruled New Krypton.
Did the people know just how bad that would be?
Eb seemed to realise.
Nor *must* have destroyed Kal’s sample – all those years, he had plotted and waited.
Now he had his dream.
And the people would pay.
When would Tek return to the cave? How long until the next low tide?
Was he the only one who knew they were here?
What if, in Nor-ruled New Krypton, Tek was captured ... or killed?
They had no fresh water.
No food.
And Kal?
What was he feeling?
Thinking?
He must feel completely numb.
His mind must be racing even more than hers.
He must be reeling. From Supreme Ruler to condemned outlaw in just a few hours. He must be shaken to the core.
Lois reached for his hand and lovingly took it in both of hers. “How are you?” she asked gently.
His chest lifted with a deep sigh. “So much happened,” he said.
“And so quickly,” she said. “You must feel overwhelmed.”
“We both do.”
She shuffled away enough that she could face him, arranged her gown over her crossed legs and reclaimed his hand. For a moment, she caressed it, assembling her thoughts. “Kal ... about last night.”
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Kal watched the play of Lois’s fingers on his hand. Her touch still had the capacity to mesmerise him. “What about last night?” he asked.
It seemed so long ago.
And so much of it was irrelevant now.
“We need to talk about it,” she said. “I need to apologise.”
He lifted his gaze to her face. “There is no need,” he assured her. “I understand.”
“You do?”
“Yes. It all fits together.”
She contemplated him, then sighed. “Maybe I’m tired, Kal,” she said. “Or maybe my brain has just had too much to deal with today, but I can’t really see anything that fits together ... so I’m just going to say I’m sorry for how I behaved. I said some terrible things and I know it was unfair and I know you couldn’t have understood why I seemed so angry with you ... I’m really sorry, Kal.”
“I’m sorry, too,” he said. “I should have told you about going to Za *before* I went.”
“I was jealous of her,” Lois admitted, her eyes sweeping the wall behind him. “And jealousy is such a powerful emotion – but that doesn’t excuse what I said.”
“You have no need for jealousy.”
“No need at all,” she said with vehemence. She stared for a moment at their joined hands, then drove into his eyes. “Not after today.”
“Today?”
“It was me you offered your life to protect,” Lois said in a small voice. “Not Za. Not any of your concubines. Not your people. I hate that you were forced into a situation so horrible and I still can’t believe what you did ... but ... you showed your heart today ... and ...” A tear formed in the corner of her eye, poised for a moment, then rippled down her cheek.
Kal reached with his other hand and gently salvaged her runaway tear. “I love you,” he said. “I have little ... but everything I have ... every moment I live ... it’s all for you.”
Twin tears escaped and followed the trail of the first. “I love you too, Kal,” she vowed.
“I know,” he said with a certainty that matched hers. “As we sat here just now ... that’s all I could think about ... what you said.”
“What I said?” she asked. He could see she didn’t understand.
“You said that if I died, you wouldn’t have a life.”
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Lois swallowed around her surprise.
He was thinking about *that*?
Not being deposed? Or shot at? Or hunted? Or condemned? Or stuck in a cave?
“You meant it, didn’t you,” he said. It wasn’t a question – more a vocalisation of something he already knew.
She answered anyway. “Yes. Absolutely.”
He took in a shuddery breath. “I don’t know how to explain what I’m feeling, but I think about it and it amazes me. And then I think about it again and it amazes me even more.”
“Why?” she asked. “Why is it so amazing that I would love you?”
His eyebrows drew together as he thought. “You loving me – that was incredible. It was so new and so unexpected and so wonderful. And I never consciously thought ‘she loves me because I’m the Supreme Ruler’ because I was just so happy and grateful for everything you’d brought to my life that I didn’t think too deeply about why.
“But since you said that ... I just can’t get it out of my mind ... and I realise that on some really deep level, I believed that because I’d never been anything other than the Supreme Ruler for all of my memory, I would never be anything more than the Supreme Ruler ever.”
“Kal, you are so much more than a political leader.”
“Before you came, I wasn’t,” he said with raw honesty. “But then you found *me* and ... it was like you introduced me to ‘Kal’ the person ... and because he was someone you valued ... someone you cared about ... the person ... not the position ...”
His words wobbled to a stop.
Lois loosed his hand and claimed his face as she swung onto her knees. “I love *you*, Kal,” she vowed as she lowered her mouth onto his. She leant onto his thigh and felt his hands spread over her hips. This time, there was no gentle lead-in. She kissed him with purposeful intent – wanting to inflame him, wanting restoration for both of them. He met her intensity and set every part of her afire.
Then – with a boldness that shocked her - his tongue coasted along her top lip.
She groaned ... and abandoned every thought she’d ever had concerning the case for restraint.
Her hands slid to the back of his head, capturing him in the mesh of her dancing mouth.
His hands slipped lower and rounded to the shape of her bottom.
Her tongue ventured out to meet him ... connected ... and the roll of desire shuddered through both of them.
Her hands skimmed his undershirt and found the top button of his jacket.
As the button slipped from its hole, she heard a loud cough.
From behind her.
From the other side of the cave.
Lois flung herself off Kal, her breath whipping crazily.
And saw Tek.
And behind him, Riz.
Both grinning – Kryptonian style.
“H...how ...” Lois faltered.
Tek ditched two large water containers on the sand and stepped forward. “We’ve come to do your Marriage Ceremony,” he announced.
“Our Marr ...?” she gulped.
Riz placed the bags she carried next to the containers. “You said you wanted to get married today. We’re a little late, but we had a few disruptions.”
“We’re getting *married*?” Lois said.
“I assume you still want to,” Tek said. “Because that’s how it looked from here.”
