The man who must have been the leader raked his gaze over them. His eyes hardened as he noted her dress, but Alix didn't think he'd seen their gyve.
"Yeah," he said at last. "We saw the crash and were wondering if you're the ones who fell."
"Yes, sir," Devyn said.
The man's gaze became stone. "What race are you?"
"Kildarion," Devyn lied, and Alix stared at him in disbelief. "We were attacked by pirates and our ship destroyed. If you have a space port, we'll gladly be on our way."
The three men huddled together and whispered.
"Why did you say Kildarion?" Alix asked under her breath.
Devyn glanced up at the men, then leaned down to her. "They hate Postulationals. If I told them I was Gelfarion, they'd never help us. Besides, my mom's Kildarion; it's half true in my case."
She shook her head, a smile curving her lips. Half true indeed.
Slowly, warily, the men came forward. Suspicion darkened their eyes and their reluctance was more than obvious. "We don't have a space port, but the Emir has a shuttle for emergencies. I'm sure he won't mind. . . ."
The man's gaze focused on Devyn's medal.
Alix sneezed and the gyve jingled. Without thinking, she reached up to rub her nose, only to realize she'd used the wrong hand.
"Uh-oh," she whispered.
Panic contorted the man's features, drawing his brows together. Widening his eyes, he looked at her, then at Devyn. "Dear Lord preserve us. He's the Chaldese!"
"Dear Lord, no!" the man with the gun said an instant before raising the gun with his trembling hands and aiming it at her head.
Devyn pulled her into his arms and threw her to the ground behind a clump of bushes. The gun fired, deafening her to everything except the frantic beat of her heart.
Devyn scrambled up, then quickly fell when she didn't follow.
"Damn it!" he yelled, pulling at the gyve.
He looked up, stopped, and listened.
Alix couldn't hear anything other than a sharp ringing. She pushed herself up beside Devyn, but was too frightened to look for the men. If she had to die, she didn't want to see the shot coming.
Rising slowly to his knees, he looked over the bushes and scanned the area. He drew a deep breath. "They ran, but I'm sure they'll be back."
Alix sat back on her heels and allowed her stomach to unknot. She shook all over. Her nerves would never be the same. "What happened?"
Bewilderment covered his features. "I honestly don't know. He looked at my chest, then you, then . . ." Devyn pulled up their joined hands. "Chaldese," he whispered.
His confusion melted under a grimace of rage. "Somewhere up there I know you're laughing, Sway. But this isn't funny!"
"What are you—"
"They think we're the Chaldese!"
Alix frowned, not understanding any of this. "The what?"
He clenched his teeth, his features furious and frustrated. "The Energumen have a prophecy that a destroyer will one day fall from the sky and claim their souls and those of their children."
It still didn't make any sense. Did they kill everyone who crashed on their planet in fear of one stupid prophesy? "Why would they think you're this Chaldese?"
Devyn sat for a moment, gazing into the forest as if searching his mind for something.
Finally, he looked back at her. "If I remember my lessons, the passage is something like, 'From the sky shall fall one of man and one of woman. Joined together to appear as one, the beast of light and darkness shall claim the souls of all true believers. Marked by the sign of our enemy, it will portend the end of time.' Or something like that. Hell, my aunt used to taunt me with it as a kid, telling me she'd call the Chaldese to take me if I didn't obey."
He shook his head. "If only I'd known then that I was the Chaldese, I could have stayed up long past my bedtime and eaten all the cookies I wanted."
Alix didn't find his jest amusing. "I still don't understand why they think we're this destroyer."
He looked at her as if she were a slow-wit. "Falling from the sky. Joined together, one of man—"
"I get that part," she said, her voice heavy with sarcasm.
Devyn smiled. "All right, light and darkness could be our hair color, and this"—he pulled at his medallion—"could be interpreted as the sign of their enemy, since the Postulationals persecute them."
The knot returned to her stomach. "Oh, no," she breathed, disbelief filling her.
Devyn shook his head and groaned. "Leave it to me. I lose my ship, my best friend, my future, only to crash on a planet chained to the point I can't even relieve myself." He raked his hands over his face and grunted. "But that's not enough. Oh, no. Now the planet's entire population thinks I'm the beast who'll eat their souls."
Despite the seriousness of the situation, Alix burst into laughter. She laughed so hard, she thought her sides would explode.
"This isn't funny!"
She sobered to small laughs. "Sure it is. Come on, it's not every day you get to be someone's dire prophecy."
He smiled and pushed himself up. "I guess not."
Looking back into the forest around them, he sobered. "Come on, we need to get out of here. I'm sure they'll return with a group of priests and locals. And all of them will want our heads as a trophy."
She rose.
Devyn tugged at the gyve, his jaw clenching. "We've got to find some way to separate. Maybe if we can get to the Emir, I can explain how this happened. Maybe."
Alix nodded and followed his lead.
Within a few hours, they found the walls of the city. As they stayed within the forest's shelter and out of the guards' view, Alix swallowed at the sight before them. Staring up at the twenty-foot wall, she couldn't believe her eyes. "Why do they wall themselves up?"
Devyn shook his head. "I don't know, but my guess is there's something on the outside they don't want in."
She studied the wall and the guard posts that were situated every few hundred yards. "Or maybe there's something inside they don't want out?"
He laughed. "All right, play the optimist. But with our luck, I'm sure there's some kind of monstrous beast roaming out here in the woods and no doubt we'll find it right about its dinnertime."
With her luck, he was probably right.
Alix considered their situation. "Maybe we ought to go on in. Surely there's someone in the city who doesn't believe we're the Chaldese."
Before Devyn could respond, a gate opened. Several hundred feet from them, a military fleet rolled out: three armored vehicles, followed by six hovercraft bearing soldiers, a craft full of priests, and a number of civilians all chanting, "Kill the Chaldese!"
Devyn looked at her and cocked his right brow. "You were saying?"
"Do you think we'll give the big beastie out here indigestion?" she asked flippantly, then allowed a wave of impotent frustration to roll over her. "What are we going to do?"
"Despite the irony, I suggest we pray for a miracle." A pained expression lined his brow.
"Is something wrong?"
"No," he whispered, leading her deeper into the woods. "We need to find someplace safe to sleep, and I'll have to have some food in about an hour. Unless you think you can carry me."
Hmm, a prone Devyn could lead to interesting developments. Then again, with her luck, he'd just pass out right about the same time the locals showed up to burn her. "I think we'd best keep you fed."
Devyn paused and scanned the area. The soft breeze blew through his hair, giving him an almost mystical appearance. His finely sculpted features didn't belong to the real world, but to that of dreams. White-hot desire set her heart pounding. How could she have thoughts like these when they were being tracked by maniacs? Then again, if she had to die, shouldn't she be enjoying her last few moments of life?
Unaware of her thoughts, Devyn started walking again. "Okay, since I don't know their military habits, I'm going to assume they follow HAWC tactics. Which means they'll probably take a little time to invest
igate the pod, then spread out and search the area from there to the city."
"With the vehicles and numbers they have, how are we going to escape them?" she asked.
"I have no idea."
"Wonderful," she said with a small laugh. "Why not just sit here and wait for them to find us?"
He stopped, then moved so close to her she could feel his breath fall against her cheek. "Do you know how they execute?"
She shook her head.
"It's not like the HAWC, where they knock you unconscious, then administer poison. Instead, they give you parphinerol, which renders you paralyzed, but keeps all your nerve endings functioning. Then they take lason knives and start methodically cutting off pieces of your body."
Alix's heart hammered. Who could think up such horrible things? And what kind of person could perform such an execution? "Maybe we should try the east."
"Maybe we should."
* * *
They traveled for the next hour, stopping every so often so Devyn could scan the area around them and listen for sounds of their pursuers. At last, they stopped in a small clearing and Devyn opened up the survival backpack.
Sitting beside him, Alix wrinkled her nose at the wide selection of condensed food that had been pressed into dull, gray tubes. Her experience with such compressed food told her that each tube would be nothing more than a tasteless blob of vitamins and nutrients.
"If the natives don't kill us, this stuff will," Devyn muttered as he grabbed a tube and squeezed it into his mouth.
Alix repressed a shudder, then grabbed her own tube. "Who makes this stuff?"
"Someone without taste buds," he said, curling his lips.
She laughed. At least his old humor was coming back. She'd missed that most in the past few days when he'd avoided her.
He stared out into the forest and she took the opportunity to study him. Even with dirt smeared down his cheek and his hair tousled, she doubted she'd ever seen a man who could compete with him.
How would things have turned out if Irn hadn't interfered? The thought of Irn brought a lump to her stomach. Worried over the natives, she hadn't given a single thought to him in quite a few hours. "Do you think Irn will land here?"
A slow, evil smile curved Devyn's lips. "I should have thought of that and told those guys to watch for my minions. Damn," he said, snapping his fingers. "Missed that opportunity."
He met her gaze and she saw the resignation in his eyes. "I'm sure he's already here and probably helping them track us."
His eyes darkened as he watched her.
Alix shifted uncomfortably, certain that dirt and sweat only made her look repulsive. Her eyes widened at the thought. Twitching her nose, she tried to see if she stank.
Devyn pulled back from her, his own gaze searching around them. "Do I stink?" he asked.
"No," Alix assured him. "I was afraid I did."
He smiled. "You're fine."
Suddenly, a loud growl sounded nearby.
She snapped her head toward it. "What the—"
Devyn pulled her up.
The growling moved closer. Retrieving a stick from the ground, Devyn held it awkwardly in his left hand. "I just hope this thing has eaten."
"Me, too," Alix said, standing just behind him so she wouldn't block his swing. "Maybe we ought to feed it tube food. That should kill it."
Devyn gave her a look that told her how little he appreciated her humor. Twigs snapped.
Alix held her breath, her blood pounding through her veins. With one loud scream, the creature broke into their clearing.
"Ah, jeez," Devyn said disgustedly as the small furry rodent caught a whiff of them, then dashed back into the forest. "It's nothing but a verrat."
Alix took a deep breath to steady her frayed nerves. "Do they always make that much noise?"
"I guess. I've never been this close to one before."
She wiped the sweat from her brow. "Well, I hope I never get this close to another one again."
Devyn shook his head and they resumed their seats. "We need to make a few plans," he said, tossing away his makeshift club.
"I'm listening."
He took a drink of water, then wiped his mouth. "The way I see it, there are three things we have to do. The first is to avoid the locals; the second is to separate; and the last is to get into the city and steal the Emir's shuttle."
Her mouth dropped. "Steal the—"
"I didn't say any part of it would be easy."
Easy? Was he insane? How could they possibly break in and steal a shuttle? "The Emir will have bodyguards, alarm systems. All kinds of things."
"Yeah, I know," he said, taking another drink. "But my dad was the best hacker and clinch in the universe. He never taught me to hack, but I managed to get him to teach me how to clinch a few security systems." He smiled. "I even managed to clinch the one my father designed for our house. Believe me, if I can break curfew and sneak past his system, I can breach anything."
The way he talked, she almost believed they could do it. Almost.
Besides, what did they have to lose? Her life wasn't worth much anyway. Come to think of it, the last slave dealer only offered her father a hundred and fifty cronas for her. Devyn's boots were worth more than her body.
They certainly couldn't stay on the planet, not with the lunatics who lived here.
"All right," she said with a resigned sigh. "After we get the shuttle, what are we going to do? Where are you planning to go after we leave here?"
"To Paradise City, as we planned. I was supposed to meet Taryn there."
"What?" she asked in disbelief. "I thought you met him on Nera to get supplies for you to take to PC, and now you're telling me he was traveling there all along? Why did we have to exchange cargoes?"
Devyn shrugged. "He couldn't carry the cargo. His father has a treaty with the HAWC that Taryn doesn't dare break. If I get caught with illegal substances, it won't cause an intergalactic incident."
"Oh," she said, and picked up her bottled water. "So I guess from there Taryn will take you home."
He nodded.
Her heart stopped. His obvious omission slashed through her consciousness, bringing a searing pain to her chest. "And what about me?"
Devyn continued to dig through the backpack, apparently oblivious to how she felt, what he'd said. "I'll talk to my uncle once we reach PC and get the paperwork started on freeing you."
The pain eased under a surge of happiness. "You're really going to do it?"
He looked up at her, his eyes sincere. "I'm going to try."
She smiled. "Then let's get going. I have no intention of staying a slave any longer than I have to."
Laughing, Devyn packed the backpack up and they started once more on their trip.
"Wait," Alix said, pulling him to a stop. "Why are we still heading away from the city?"
"They'll be searching for us there. If we keep heading east, then make a large circle north, we should come in on a side where they won't be looking for us."
She bit her lip, scanning the area around them. "I hope you're right."
"That makes two of us."
For the next few hours they walked until Alix feared her feet would melt. She'd never been so tired. They had finally reached a wide, rippling stream and were currently traveling along it.
Yawning, she stumbled.
"You okay?" Devyn asked, catching her against him.
She nodded, her blood warming from the close contact of his body against hers. "Tired."
He looked up at the darkening sky. "I guess we should stop for the night." He set the backpack down on the ground and pulled the blanket out of it. "I don't know how safe we'll be from the animals, but I'm pretty sure the Energumen won't look in this direction for a while."
Alix rubbed her wrist under the gyve where some of the skin was chafed. "You know, I've been wondering why they haven't sent out probe eyes or flyers after us."
He shrugged. "Maybe they don't have any."
&nbs
p; "It's strange that they wouldn't."
"There's a lot about them that's strange," he said, then noticed her rubbing. He dug into his backpack and pulled out a medical bag. "Let's just be grateful they don't have any high-tech junk to scope us with."
Alix didn't comment as he rubbed cold, pungent-smelling ointment on her sore wrist. It tingled a little, but not as much as the chills that spread over her from Devyn's touch. His fingers stroked her skin, sliding under the gyve, over her hand. She licked her dry lips and remembered only too well the taste of his flesh, the feel of his hands on other parts of her.
The League 3: Paradise City Page 19
