Terri’s brow furrowed. The pirate liked her. “I’m afraid I’m going to need a little more assurance than that. Where exactly does that put us now?”
The pirate shrugged, her expression relaxed and almost bordering on friendly. “It means a truce. I am still an opinionated, crude pirate who would sooner shoot someone than make pleasantries with them. But I will have your back in truth and do my best to make sure that you get out of this alive if I can, and not just as far as it serves that pompous ass Egbor’s interests.”
Terri nodded. “That sounds pretty fair. And what do you want in return?”
Yellow eyes widened at her in mock surprise. “I am not sure what you mean. Is my admiration and general amusement at watching Egbor fail to impress you or bring you under his thumb not enough?”
“Not really,” Terri replied, a smile twitching at the corner of her own lips.
“Smart female. Another reason I can tolerate you breathing the same air in this room with me. You are correct. There is something more…”
“And what would that be?”
Azan leaned forward, her eyes cutting to Garswal, who had occupied himself with Azan’s broken datapad. His rail thin body hardly seemed to take up any room on the bed as he hunched over it, his small, blunt claws tapping on the screen. Her voice lowered to a hiss.
“I want Egbor dead. Call it intuition, but I think your mate is going to be the only one who has a chance of accomplishing it, and that you have the strength to see this all to the end. That you will make certain that your male destroys him rather than letting him flee this planet. One way or the other, I do not want the captain leaving the planet’s surface with the treasure of the Evandra,” she whispered, her breath brushing Terri’s ear in a lethal hiss.
At Terri’s wide-eyed stare, the female rocked back on her heels, her voice returning to its normal volume as she brushed her hair over her shoulder with one of her hands. “Like I said, a truce. We throw our fates together on the planet.”
“But you’ll still kill me if you’re ordered to—if you can’t see a way around it?”
The pirate shrugged. “It would not be personal. But I have a feeling that the captain will know it is in his best interests not to give any such order, so that chance is small.”
“I’m guessing this is the best offer I’m going to get, isn’t it?”
“The best I can offer, I am afraid. No one on the ship will offer you better, that is for certain. I certainly wouldn’t trust any of the males on this ship.”
“But I can trust you?” Terri murmured doubtfully.
“Not really, but I will vouch for myself that I am the better bet.”
Azan’s expression continued to remain open and almost friendly in the face of Terri’s concerns. In the end, the female was honestly giving Terri all the information she wanted to make an informed decision—and it was obviously in her favor to accept. In any case, despite the pirate being…well, a pirate, she hadn’t been all that bad. Just annoying, more often than not, and occasionally amusing. More than anything, though, she had kept anyone from approaching and potentially harassing her. Hard as nails, she would make a good ally on the planet when she no longer had the buffer of private quarters.
“Very well,” Terri said.
Azan’s lips curled in a wicked grin as she threw an arm around her. “Good decision. You, me, and Garswal here are an excellent team. We will watch each other’s backs on that death pit of a planet we are headed to.”
The male glanced up, delight lighting up his face to be included as he eagerly nodded. Terri’s stomach sank at the idea of the boy being at risk on a dangerous planet, but she knew that in the end neither she nor Azan would have any choice. Garswal was everywhere the captain was unless the captain wanted some time alone, in which case he was sent to their quarters. He would be going down to the planet, and no objection was going to change that.
She prayed that this alliance with Azan might spare all of them.
10
The air was wet. That was Terri’s first thought as she exited the ship several days later when they finally arrived at their destination.
At first, she had been glad that they had finally arrived. Her mind had been filled with the anticipation of seeing her mate and some relief from being cooped up in her room with Azan for days. Even having Egbor hovering threateningly at her side as Veral was brought into the cargo bay had done little to dim her pleasure at being reunited with her mate.
She had wanted to run to his side, yet they were kept forced apart by Egbor’s private guard and Azan as Veral was forced to fly a team of twenty pirates down to the planet surface to the nearest safe clearing. Still, she had been able to tell just from the way his eyes roamed eagerly over her that he had missed her just as much.
Theirs wasn’t the only reunion denied that pained her.
The entire flight down, Krono could be heard throughout the ship snarling and digging at the metal door of the captain’s quarters where he had been trapped. She was unsure how long he had been sedated, but she hoped that it was for a few days. She didn’t want to think about him trapped and hungry in there, fed scraps of gods know what during the voyage. The captain hadn’t wanted such a valuable animal dying before he could turn a profit from it. She hated hearing his cries and sounds of rage, being helpless to free him. It was almost a relief to leave the ship she had called home as she exited onto the planet surface.
Now, however, her first experience of the planet was a hell unlike anything she had imagined. Why was there water in the air? Her lungs burned as she labored to breathe. All her life, she had wondered what it would be like to live away from the desert and be somewhere lush and green, but nothing prepared her for the heavy drag on her lungs with every forced breath. She gasped and wheezed beneath her mate’s concerned gaze. She could tell that he wasn’t breathing comfortably either, but he seemed to be controlling his reaction better.
“What is wrong with her?” Azan demanded, her blaster leveling on Veral.
“She has never breathed such humid air before,” he hissed impatiently. “She is a native of a desert environment like my species, and you thrust her out here without anything to make her manner of breathing easier. The humidity levels here are excessively high, even compared to the most humid places on her planet.”
Egbor grimaced from where he stood off to the side, scouting the area as his chosen team from among the crew formed a perimeter around them. “I do not have anything like that, unfortunately. She will survive,” he assured Azan. “You can see that, despite looking grotesquely wet and red, she is getting enough oxygen.”
The Blaithari female did not look convinced, but Terri nodded. Breathing was uncomfortable, and the wetness in the air felt like it forced her to draw deeper breaths instinctively, but she was not suffocating from it.
Why had she ever thought that this would be a paradise?
The greenery was beautiful, especially laden as it was with strange, exotic flowers she could never have imagined. The centers of the flowers were brilliant pinks and reds and pushed out in frills and spirals and strange shapes that were hard to look away from.
Yes, despite everything, it was most definitely beautiful. She had to admit that.
It was just incredibly miserable, too.
Not only in terms of breathing comfortably, but her sweat beaded on her skin and dripped from her. She was hot, sticky, and sweaty. There was little doubt in her mind that if her suit wasn’t self-cleaning and helping to regulate her body temperature she would have felt even worse.
Not that it helped with her general comfort level exposed to the elements. She hoped she got used to the humidity soon. She cast an envious look at the scaled assholes who didn’t seem to have much external reaction to the conditions. The Blaithari and Turogo looked almost comfortable. Only the Igwin seemed to struggle a little, but even they didn’t seem quite as uncomfortable as she was.
With a flick of his blaster, Egbor met Veral’s eyes. “Lea
d the way, Argurma.”
Veral snarled but looked away, his eyes searching out hers. As their gazes met, something within him relaxed as Terri gave him a reassuring nod, confirming that she was, in fact, okay.
His lips peeling back from his teeth, Veral gave the captain one more lethal glance that promised all manner of death and pain, before turning away to stride forward into the dense forest. Egbor stared after him with a self-satisfied smile as he shoved his pack into Garswal’s arms at his side—his son, Terri had learned from Azan. Her disgust at the way the male treated his own offspring had clearly bothered her enough to satisfy Terri’s curiosity about the relationship between the males.
The boy was always at the captain’s side, tending to everything the older male wanted. She just hadn’t expected him to be a son.
Who treated their own child that way?
Garswal struggled under the weight of the pack before he managed to get it looped securely around his body. Steadying himself, he looked up for approval just as the captain walked away, barking orders to the rest of the crew.
“Come on, ozu,” Azan muttered to the child, nudging him forward. “The captain will be displeased if we fall behind. Are you going to be able to manage that?”
The look of disappointment fled from Garswal’s features as he beamed up at her. “Yes, Azan, I will do good. I will keep up.”
“Good,” she muttered before tugging Terri along less than gently.
Even though Azan occasionally showed softer moments, she didn’t let anyone forget that she was a ruthless pirate.
The spongy ground beneath their feet made walking a bit more awkward, and it had too much give to it for Terri’s comfort. A thin layer of water seemed to cover everything. The rough, craggy trunks of the enormous trees surrounded them on all sides. She attempted to place her feet on their protruding roots when she caught sight of them, but they were sometimes spaced out too far apart. When there weren’t roots nearby, she aimed for fluffy, dry patches of grass that occasionally rose above the water. The pirates picked their way with slow uncertainty ahead of her. That made Terri feel a little better, affirming that she wasn’t the only one worrying about sinking into the wet muck.
“I had not anticipated this from the scans. The forest floor is similar to a bog. Step only where it is dry, or if you see green grass or flowers growing from the water. Anywhere dark or sandy, do not walk,” Veral called back to her.
Swallowing nervously, she hopped over to a patch covered with tiny, delicate pink flowers just as a panicked screech rang out. Terri paused and glanced back, her mouth parting with horror.
An Igwin stood in the middle of a large section of ground that Veral had cautioned them about. Or at least he had been standing. Within the seconds between his bellow and Terri turning to glance back at him, he had sunk to his waist. His panicked shrieks and howls filled the air as his claws dug at the wet ground churning around him. He struggled to break free, but with every attempt, he sank deeper, faster.
Nausea swelled up into her throat, and Azan nudged her until she was forced to turn away. Garswal was safely tucked in between them, unable to catch sight of what was happening no matter how much he turned his head. It was just as well.
“You do not wish to see this,” the second-in-command whispered.
Terri nodded. She most definitely didn’t want to see it. His screams grew louder, but she tried to shut them out, her heart hammering. His death was going to be terrible.
She didn’t take more than a handful of steps when the ground shook, and a deep hiss filled her ears. Jerking back around, a scream lodged in her throat. From a couple of floating masses of some sort of mossy substance, a giant serpentine head with a long, narrow snout rose from the murky water. Murky yellow-green eyes fixed on its prey.
The Igwin’s limbs worked frantically, only his arms and head still free of the bog. He wailed again as the serpent’s head lifted higher, its mouth gaping wide as an impossibly long tongue flicked out, tasting the air. In the blink of an eye, its head whipped down. Long jaws closed around the male, and he let out more pitiful scream as it yanked him out of the mud and pulled him back down into the water between the floating masses of plant material.
Silence fell among them, and everyone seemed frozen in shock until two more serpents pushed up from the water.
“Run!” Veral roared.
In a panic, everyone surged forward. Everyone except Veral. Though he was a short distance ahead, he was barreling back toward them, his eyes pinned frantically on her. He didn’t stop until the captain stumbled to a halt, raised his blaster, and pointed it at her. Egbor’s breath wheezed out him fearfully, but his hand did not shake as he kept the weapon leveled in her direction.
“Lead the way to safety,” the captain snarled. “If you do not save us, you will not be saving her either.”
The sound of rushing water and scraping was getting louder. Terri didn’t have to look behind her to know the creatures were heading in their direction. Azan’s arm suddenly banded around her, lifting her up over the larger female’s shoulder. Terri swayed as the Blaithari stooped to snatch up Garswal in her other arm.
“Hurry!” she shouted as she began to hop from one patch of ground to the other, hauling both charges over the terrain as fast as possible.
Veral let out a roar of frustration, his mandibles stretching wide and his vibrissae, which seemed to be in moving in a highly agitated state since they stepped out onto the planet, whipped faster. Craning her head around, she watched as his eyes narrowed on Azan before he spun around and sprung forward.
Terri didn’t know what unspoken message passed between them, or what he saw in the Blaithari female in that moment, but whatever it was, he had decided to trust the female to get Terri away.
Flopped helplessly over Azan’s shoulder, Terri dropped her head. Her neck ached from the angle at which she had held it. It had the unfortunate side effect of providing her with an unhampered view of the creatures hunting them.
Their long bodies seemed slowed down a little as they whipped themselves in a rapid glide over the top of the mossy surface. Their mouths, full of sharp teeth, opened wide. Webbing fanned from both sides of their head in intricate, boney fins as they neared, preparing to strike. Terri did scream that time when one shot forward to snatch a Blaithari, a male she didn’t recognize, off his feet. His scream joined hers, but was cut off as the serpent slipped back into the water.
Her scream didn’t have time to quiet when the second serpent snapped up a squealing Turogo, ripping him away from his companions. They tried to fight the creature for him, each with one of their hands gripping him tightly while the other hand fired their blaster upon the monster until the very last moment when the creature yanked him away, breaking their grasp on him. The serpent didn’t waste time. Its body careened back, splashing into the water, the male’s shocked gaze burning into Terri’s mind as he disappeared with it, his torso caught in its mouth.
The other males of his group did not even try to catch up after that. Even as they shrank in the distance, Terri watched as the three other males of his group dropped to the ground in grief. The anguished cries of the males continued long after he vanished into the water. They were nearly out of sight when they cried out again as the ground of the floating plant matter near them pushed up and away once more, and she was able to make out more serpents rising to put the grieving males out of their misery.
She didn’t even realize she was crying until Azan’s voice met her ear.
“Save your grief. The Turogos are spawned in symbiotic packs. They would not have lasted long without their brother. They waited for their souls to be carried to rejoin him. This is their way,” Azan whispered fiercely. “If you must, direct your emotion to the male who leads them and let it burn. Many will die in this place, between the creatures of this world and your mate’s vengeance. I am certain of it. But not me.”
The assurance in the female’s voice reminded Terri of just how much of a surv
ivor Azan was. Everything could burn down around her, and regardless of what she might feel for the plight of the others, she wouldn’t allow herself to go down with it. Terri understood. She had been there herself. If not for Veral, she would still be looking out only for herself. But she had more to worry about now.
They had to survive. There was no other option.
At least there were no further sounds of pursuit. Whatever those snake creatures were, they had given up the chase to consume their prey. It made her ill to consider that it could have been any of them who ended up in the bellies of the creatures. It sickened her further that her belly growled now, of all times.
To her surprise, Azan’s body shook with her quiet chuckle.
Of course that would amuse the pirate.
Eventually, Azan came to a stop, depositing Terri and Garswal on the small stretch of firm ground that the crew was clustered nervously upon. Terri wanted nothing more than to push her way through everyone and find Veral, but the warning look in Azan’s eyes kept her in place. The female was drawing deep, ragged breaths and shook her head. Terri understood why as she turned and met the cold gaze of the captain fixed on her.
Egbor was always watching and could retaliate on anyone for the smallest infraction to his rules.
Giving the captain her back, she settled for peering among the crew, searching for a glimpse of her mate’s dark head. A gasp of relief left her lips when she caught sight of him. Just beyond the milling bodies, Veral, standing nearly a head taller than everyone else, was also scanning the small crowd, scowling until he caught sight of her. His glowing blue eyes flared, and he pushed through the bodies separating them, his gaze moving over her anxiously.
Once assured that she wasn’t injured, he calmed as he stood the few feet that he was allowed near her. His fingers stretched out before fisting tightly at his side, his mandibles clicking at a distressed tempo. His eyes cut to the captain, who tapped his blaster meaningfully. Veral growled but turned his attention back to Terri, his gaze piercing her with such intensity that she knew without a doubt that he would slaughter every one of them if he had any assurance that he would be able to escape with her.
Pirate's Gold (Argurma Salvager Book 2) Page 8
