On the Road Again
“All clear onthe Thirteen.Goldilocks, come back.”Cha tapped the path box to the opalite channel, the one she and Dy had agreed upon for this mission—at least until something changed, like finding out the fae authorities had found more ways to crash it—and waited for her partner’s reply.
“Hiya Bandit.Goldilocks here and flying smooth.Normie and I’m here for it.”
Cha nodded and tapped off.As she’d expected.The first leg of this trip shouldn’t arouse any interest from the authorities.They weren’t just surface legit at the moment; they were on the up and up.Big Betty was stocked up with a cargo of agnicurna, all invoiced and licensed for sale in Sheenatown.Nerd Girl had come through with not just the stockpile, but the paperwork, too.As for Cha, no need for her and Katu to play decoy unless something untoward happened.In the meanwhile, they were out for a joyride so far as anyone else was concerned.
Things would only get interesting once Big Betty crossed into Obsidian, where the fae probably might care about a truckload of agnicurna, but they’re care a lot less once it was mixed with black dust.But that was hours away.So long as the two of them kept to the posted ley-line speed maximums, nothing eventful should occur.So they’d do that, even though it was boring.Katu growled a little, adding slight impatient surge before returning to his cruising along the black ley line with his characteristic smoothly muscled glide.
“I know, baby cat, I know.”She patted the dashboard.“I want to go fast, too.But not yet.Time enough for that.Today we’re just normal people out for a nice ley ride.”
“Bandit, that you and Katu just passed me?”The path box lit up on the general channel with someone’s broadcast call.
“Bandit here,” she answered.“Who dis?”
“Vomit trolley, here.I can’t believe you’re showing your face on the leys again.I heard you and Goldilocks got skunked good.Otto fucked you girls harder than a gang bang in fae prison.”Vomit Trolley hooted with glee.
“Ha ha, Puke Boy,” Bandit snapped.Not her wittiest retort, but…
“When you retire, Bandit, you gotta stay retired,” he replied.“You and Goldilocks are the cautionary tale now.Leave the leys to the younger pros.Grannies go home.”
Oh, ouch.Now that was low.But she could take the high ley.“Not working like the rest of you miners,” she replied.“Katu and I are just out for a little sightseeing.”
Several ley riders chimed in, agreeing that the weather was lovely for a joy ley ride.One thing about the ley-riding community, legit carriers or smugglers, everyone covered for everyone else.The fae authorities didn’t need to know their business.
“Then how come I saw Big Betty, huh?”
Silence greeted that faux pas.What a shithead.He deserved what he got, so she said it.“You’re just mad I wouldn’t do you at the last ale festival, Puke Boy.”
Several other voices chimed in with agreement.Cha and Dy had more friends than enemies among the ley riders even now.Still, it was a bit disheartening to have Nerd Girl’s dire assessment verified.Everyone did know about this last debacle.
“I wouldn’t have you, Bandit,” Vomit Trolley shot back.
“That’s not what you said when you begged me for just a little taste.”She spotted a fleet of rhino carriers in the slow lane.“Nero was there and saw the whole thing.”
“Yes I did, Bandit,” Nero drawled.“I also saw Vomit Trolley living up to his handle that night too.”
A chorus of raucous sneers lit up the path box, all of them taunting Vomit Trolley for his inability to hold his ale and please his sexual partners—with wild speculation on the depths he might sink to in the search for someone, anyone, to give him some.
“Bitch,” Vomit Trolley snarled.“You give it away to everyone but me.”
“No sparkle, no pussy,” she sang out.“I don’t make the rules; I just follow them.She decides who she sparkles for and I’m only along for the ride.Her instincts are infallible.”
“I can vouch for that!”Tourqe chimed in, eliciting a number of salacious jokes and a grumpy flounce from Vomit Trolley.Good riddance.“Been a minute, Bandit.Missed ya.”
She’d seen Tourqe on the last run and she knew he hadn’t forgotten that.So, he had something on his mind.“Always glad to chat up an old friend,” she replied.
A lesser used channel, tourmaline, lit up and Cha tapped it live.There were no private conversations on the path boxes.They operated with a version of telepathy enchanted by the fae into communication devices anyone could use, which meant anyone could and did use them.The best you could do for discreet was pick a little-used channel, which usually meant less robust and reliable, like the opalite channel Dy and Cha had agreed to employ for this trip.Until circumstances forced them to change it.The tourmaline channel was favored by most of the ley riders for the next best thing to private, most everyone observing the courtesy of not parachuting into one-on-one conversations, though that didn’t mean people couldn’t and didn’t listen in.
For the other ley riders, eavesdropping was fun and alleviated the boredom of long ley transport runs.For the fae authorities, it was data mining.That’s why everyone used handles, lingo, and outright coded language.Sure, playing with the slang was fun, but a big part of the charge came from confusing the very literal fae.
“Hiya,” she said to the tourmaline channel, figuring she knew who it was.
“Heya sweet thing.Good to see you on the leys.You can sparkle for me anytime.I got time today, in fact.”
Hearing Tourqe’s complimentary invitation gave Cha a flush of pleasure, no lie—who didn’t like being invited back for a reunion bang?Surprisingly though, the idea gave her zero pussy sparkle.Concerning realization.
Once upon a time, she absolutely would have taken him up on the offer—and had, more than once.Even thinking back to Tourqe’s truly excellent performance in bed did nothing for her.Instead, Azul’s indigo blue eyes loomed in her mind and her skin tingled with the memory of the way his soft, sensitive wings had caressed her, and those deft wing-fingers… She shook the erotic haze away.They say once you go fae, you never go back, and she was deeply worried about the truth in the old saw.She had been fae-dazzled and now she was ruined for human men.