Pirate's Gold (Argurma Salvager Book 2)

by S. J. Sanders

  Somehow, their restrained proximity to each other created an invisible barrier between them that everyone seemed to feel and acknowledge. The crew gave them their berth. Everyone except an upper crew Blaithari, who attempted to shove him out of the way with the intent to approach the captain, but he was unsuccessful. Veral’s arme snapped out and with one fast move pushed the male into the loose sediment of the bog. The Blaithari’s bellow had everyone on dry land scrambling to pull him out, but Veral barely shifted an inch the entire time that the crew hastened to save their own, his eyes fixed on her as if he couldn’t bear to move them away for even a moment.

  “Looks like everyone is here. We will keep moving until sundown,” Egbor called out, his flinty stare sweeping over his crew. Wisely, no one protested. “Mind where you step so that you do not end up like the fools who were eaten, and stay away from the Argurma unless you want to take an unexpected bath.”

  Several weary chuckles rose in response to the captain’s remark as eyes turned on the soggy Blaithari male. He snarled at them all before directing a look full of hate at Veral. Her mate, as usual, did not appear concerned with the threat issued. Just the opposite. His lips curled in a chilling smile of anticipation. Casting one more glance full of promise to Terri, Veral strode over and leaped to the next dry mass.

  A small group of Turogos watched him with blank stares but nodded their wide heads in a sort of silent agreement among themselves as they proceeded to navigate together over the ground a short distance away. They kept close, moving as a team in a practiced manner that suggested that they were perhaps more familiar with this sort of environment than any of them.

  As they followed after Veral, the rest of the crew trickled forward. The captain was surrounded the entire time by his personal guards and no others, though the crew moved like a wall as they crossed the bog nearby. Terri felt a small hand slip into hers as she stared after them. Startled, she looked down and met the concerned gaze of Garswal. She squeezed his hand reassuringly as Azan stepped up to his opposite side. The female handed both of them a hydration pod. Terri gratefully placed it in her mouth and bit down it. Bursting with a small pop, it immediately dissolved, leaking cool liquid down her throat.

  “Stick close by my side,” Azan said quietly. “I don’t trust any of this.”

  Terri nodded, her jaw tightening, as they kept pace with the crew. Nothing about this place could be trusted. Ultimately, she knew that included Azan as well.

  11

  High in the branches, Veral watched the crew slump with exhaustion in whatever small hollow or groove they could find among the tight network of roots. Though they stumbled around, half-blind, led by the handheld lights they carried, Veral’s vision was unhampered, eyes glowing with perfect night vision. From his vantage point, he knew that the roots were perhaps the safest place to rest that they could hope for without constructing a shelter.

  The massive trees grew so close together that their long branches would block out most of any rain that might fall overnight. The roots themselves offered further shelter. At some point, they had forced each other up from where they were anchored in wet earth, creating natural beds amid the dips and hollows they formed above the wet ground. Everyone was all the more eager to seek shelter among the roots as they scoured the area for any sign of predators.

  His eyes slid over them all, coming to rest on the form of his mate as she stretched out the kinks in her back. She tilted her head back as if sensing him lurking above her, smiling as she met his gaze. Discreetly, she pressed her fingers to her lips—blowing him a kiss, she called it.

  The corners of his mouth quirked in response, his heart warming at the gesture. He touched his own lips, fingertips sliding between the gap between his mandibles in silent communication of his returned love. Her smile widened, but then she ducked her head, her attention turning abruptly to the female at her side.

  He understood why, but he ached with disappointment. It was ironic for a male who spent so long ignoring every emotion that reminded him of how flawed he was in the eyes of his species. Yet now he acknowledged the need that boiled inside of him to be joined with her again.

  Skimming over the other males, his eyes fell at last on the source of his current problems. Egbor strutted below with his personal guards as he sought the best sleeping accommodations. Coming across a spot that he wanted, he ousted the male who was already occupying it in order to make his own bed on the green plant life that covered the expanse of the bog lodged between two curved roots. Even as he lay there among them, the ridiculously expensive weave and stitching on his robes made him stand out among his crew. He looked like a pampered idiot. It was a deceptive and cultivated appearance.

  And at that moment, there was no one that Veral hated more.

  This planet should have been a private place where he could leisurely explore with his mate while they worked side by side. Instead, he was forced to see her under constant threat. He did not doubt that the second-in-command—Azan, she was called—would do all that she could to keep Terri from harm. Whenever she stood near his mate, her bearing had an attentive protectiveness to it, daring anyone to approach.

  But he also knew that the female had iron in her that had been fashioned and tempered by the fires of pain and cruelty. He could see it within the depths of her eyes, cold and merciless.

  Right now, she was biding her time, waiting for some sign of the advantage she sought. He knew that she wanted to kill the captain. It burned within her eyes whenever she watched Egbor unnoticed. She hated the male even more than Veral did, of that he had no doubt. But to preserve her life and position, much the same thing for a female in a pirate crew, she would kill his mate if ordered. If that happened, then Veral would be forced to slaughter her along with everyone else.

  Although sometimes it was easy to forget when he was with his mate, he too was a cold, merciless killer, after all.

  Movement in the distance attracted his attention, and he stilled. One of the Blaithari males was moving away from the safety of the trees. Veral’s eyes tracked him, following the male’s unsteady movement over the solid mounds in the bog, his hands trailing along the sides of trees to stabilize himself whenever he came within reach of one.

  Veral leaped down from the tree, taking to the shadows. Most of the pirates had already drifted off to sleep. The few males who had been left on the first shift of guard duty were easy enough to avoid as he silently stalked after his prey.

  Drawing nearer, a hard smile pulled at his lips. It was the Blaithari who had attempted to shove his way between Veral and his mate. Right now, however, he was looking around furtively while he made his silent escape.

  Where was he sneaking off to?

  The male still smelled of the bog water and bits of sediment that clung to him. At some distance from the camp, he stopped and ducked behind a tree. Veral climbed into the tree to give him a better vantage point as he watched his target dig into his bag and pull out a long narrow pipe and a folded white cloth. Sitting down at the base of the tree, the male set the cloth on his thigh and unfolded it review a pinch of tangwal gum.

  Veral tilted his head. Tangwal gum was an expensive—and highly addictive—drug and aphrodisiac. It was known to be difficult to obtain except by those who knew the right contacts. It explained why the male had crept away under darkness. The smoke had a distinctive spicy scent and, if one didn’t smoke it regularly and build up a resistance to its side effects, would stimulate an intense sexual arousal.

  A plume of smoke rose in the air, and Veral wrinkled his nose at the overbearing stench. This was the perfect opportunity to catch the Blaithari unaware. His muscles tightened, preparing to drop on the male…

  “Status report,” Kaylar broke through, interrupting Veral as their private frequency opened in his mind.

  Catching himself, he snarled silently as the branch beneath him creaked, making his target jump to his feet and scurry away from the tree. The male’s uncertain eyes flicked around; his pipe cl
enched firmly in his mouth. Veral stilled among the foliage, glad for its thickness that obscured him as he watched and waited for the male to let down his guard again.

  “Stable. We arrived planetside. As expected, the captain, lacking a suitable ship to land in these conditions, had me pilot my own ship down to transport his crew.”

  “That is fortuitous. It will make the situation easier. Disable transmissions between the landing team and the pirate vessel, kill the pirates, disable pirate ship, escape. This will be so easy it will be like a vacation. What is your plan?

  “We are taking the scenic route.”

  “Repeat?”

  Veral chuffed to himself. He had already began integrating some of his mate’s more peculiar and colorful phrases.

  “Something my mate says that refers to intentionally taking a longer route.”

  “That is nonsensical. What does the view have to do with plotting a route?”

  “I believe it originally refers to taking routes designed for pleasure rather than expediency.”

  “Your humans are an absurd species,” Kaylar scoffed.

  Veral could not argue that absurdity was a big part of human culture from what he had gleaned.

  “Regardless, going the longer route over the region’s hazardous terrain has been successful in delaying the pirates.”

  “Casualties?”

  “Only the four males who fed the local wildlife.”

  “I am beginning to question whether or not we had the same warrior training, cousin.”

  Veral bared his teeth at the open mockery in his cousin’s transmission. His vibrissae whipping around him, he moved through the branches, sliding back toward the opening above the Blaithari who had settled once more against the tree. The pungent smell of the tangwal gum still hung in the air, but it was joined by the overpowering scent of male musk that offended his scent receptors. Glaring down in disgust, he curled his lip at the pirate eagerly stroking himself.

  The male began to grunt, his thighs quivering, and Veral’s muscles coiled, his vibrissae sliding through the air as they vibrated. The mate at least had the opportunity to enjoy one last pleasure, though Veral saw more than he ever wanted to of a Blaithari’s genitals.

  Dropping down to the pirate’s side, Veral landed in a crouch and slammed back the thick horn jutting out from just above his elbow into his target’s neck. Thick streams of ejaculation splattered on the twitching thighs just barely within Veral’s line of vision. Though the sounds of the nearby nocturnal creatures went silent, the wet, gurgling sound that followed was quiet as the pirate choked on his own blood as he exsanguinated.

  Veral yanked his arm forward as he stood, the slurp of the flesh detaching from the horn preceding the soft thump of the body as it fell to the ground. Turning, he glanced at it dispassionately before propping one foot on the side of the corpse and kicking it into the dark, wet soil. He lingered at the edge of the treacherous earth only long enough to watch as the remains slowly sank. Only when it was completely obscured from sight did he turn away to begin his trek back to camp.

  “Five down,” he growled to Kaylar.

  “Be certain to practice some restraint and not kill them all before I arrive,” his cousin said.

  With a snort, Veral rinsed the blood from his body in a pool of water, his internal scans searching for any sign of approaching lifeforms. That accomplished, he turned away and left the pipe and cloth abandoned at the base of the tree among the splatters of blood.

  The evidence remaining would be enough to convince Egbor that the male had been killed by something in the forest while he was attempting to enjoy what he had pilfered from the captain’s cabin.

  It did not take him long to return to camp. Though the guards had shifted positions to spread out further, eyes fixed on darkness of the surrounding forest, no one had noticed his absence nor marked his return.

  Veral slipped easily back into the tree, resuming his place over where Terri slept. As he crouched once more upon the limb, he saw Azan’s eyes open as she met his gaze. She gave nothing away of her thoughts, nor did she make any attempt to alert anyone. She inclined her head to him before rolling on her side and dismissing him.

  He frowned at her back until his attention was pulled once more to his mate. Terri’s face was relaxed in slumber, so he was startled when her eyes opened. Relief spread across her face. She must have noted his absence and had been worrying while he was away. Although her human vision was terrible, he had no doubt that she was able to pinpoint his presence by the glow of his eyes.

  Not wishing his mate to feel further distress, Veral crooned softly down at her as he stretched out on his belly on the branch to lie over her.

  “Anastha, sleep,” he whispered. “I am here.”

  “Veral,” she sighed, her eyes drifting shut once more as she curled against the youngling burrowed between her and Azan.

  Lifting his head, his eyes narrowed on an animal slinking through the branches, enormous wings angled at its side. It must have flown into the tree while he was away. Its head dropped down, wings unfurling as it prepared to fall upon the females, likely targeting the youngling between them.

  Hissing, Veral snapped to his feet and yanked it from the branch. It snarled, twisting in his arms and attempting to dig its claws into the tough material of his armor. Veral gripped the underside of the creature’s jaw and snapped it viciously. When the animal dropped to hang limply in his grasp, he threw it a short distance from the tree, where it would doubtlessly be discovered. He stared down at its corpse, his mandibles clicking as he wrestled his aggression back under control before returning to his place on the branch.

  Dropping once more above his mate, he lay there, watching over her, until sleep claimed him. They would both need their rest.

  12

  The missing male from the upper crew was on everyone’s lips as they cast cautious glances around them. Even Egbor seemed to be more on edge, though he had publicly denounced the male as a traitorous creature who deserved to be eaten.

  That was the official consensus after the team returned with the damning evidence of all that remained of the Blaithari. It had been little more than a scrap of fabric that reeked like the stuff that the captain enjoyed smoking and another long smoking tube. At the sight of them, the captain had flushed red and spat upon the ground with a string of curses. As far as he was concerned, it was clear that the male had stolen from him, and had snuck off to enjoy it when he was eaten for his trouble.

  That was the accepted version of events, and it wasn’t far from the truth—though Terri knew the true creature that killed him, and it was nothing that came from the forest. She had been afraid when Veral disappeared, worried that something terrible would happen to him. When he returned, she had been too relieved to care where he had been.

  All that mattered was that he made it back safe.

  She understood now exactly where he had been. He had stalked the male and killed him. Terri had no tears to shed over the pirate, but worry plagued her ever since the call of alarm had gone up that someone would suspect him.

  To her surprise, no one voiced outright suspicion against Veral, though the pirates seemed to give him a wider berth. It hadn’t escaped their attention that the male who had angered the Argurma was the one among their company who had ended up dead, even if his reason for leaving the safety of their numbers had been unrelated. The males whispered among themselves about the Argurma, spinning together what they knew of the species with wild speculations. Among the more farfetched of them was that Veral had the ability to enrage wild animals and summon them into attacking by the use of some implant or another.

  No one, however, pinned it directly on him.

  As far as anyone had seen, the Argurma never moved from his tree, not even when search parties scattered over the surrounding area. He watched everything from the branch where he reclined, unconcerned. In fact, a large predator with pale marbled skin and long leathery wings that lay dead nearby reinforc
ed the perception that he worked hard to keep the crew safe—and in turn keeping his mate safe in the process. Therefore, by their reasoning, ill fortune would only fall upon any who directly offended the male.

  Terri had no doubt that he heard everything because every now and then his lips curved in a slight show of humor. The expression was so small that she might have missed it if she weren’t looking directly at him. If any of the pirates had happened to glance at him, they would have been greeted with the sight of a male disdainfully ignoring them, his eyes for no one but his mate.

  As flattering as that was—and it warmed her heart to know that she was the most important thing on that planet to him—she wasn’t stupid. His gaze tracked her, but she had no doubt that he was listening to the pirates and monitoring everything they did from his position. As of yet, no one had seemed inclined to leave the tight cluster of trees, and Egbor’s attention was directed toward rallying the crew. A number of males were shouting to return to the ship and leave the cursed world and the tomb of the Evandra behind.

  “That male is an idiot,” Azan muttered from where she leaned against a nearby tree, her attention focused on the captain as he waved his blaster around. “They know he will not fire just yet. Unfortunately, he will kill someone as an example soon if they push him hard enough, despite the fact that he cannot afford to just throw away the males who do all of his dirty work for him. Not that he isn’t working hard to get us all killed anyway, ever since he took the Argurma hostage. This venture is the errand of a fool,” she muttered as she shoved away from the tree to join Terri by her side.

  Terri’s lips thinned as Egbor drew near his limit and fired into the air. The crew, who had been shouting over each other, fell into silence as the captain sneered. Though his other five hands were currently free of weapons, they hung tense at his sides in a show of aggression and dominance.