The Quest (Sanshlian Series Book 1)

by Dani Hoots

“I wanted to know if he found anything,” I clarified.

  He gestured to the door. “He went to take a break. I thought I would come and make sure you’re all right.”

  “Good,” I sat up. “I wanted to talk to you.”

  He half grinned, “I knew you would.”

  “Why did you bring me here?”

  Jack fiddled with my hair with his fingers. “Because I know you. You can’t leave a mission unfinished. I don’t care what you were thinking on Recar, you just can’t.”

  “I needed to, Jack. I needed to let them go. I had the perfect excuse and you ruined it.”

  “I saved you, Arcadia. He would have killed you.”

  I shook my head. “No, he wasn’t going to kill me. He needed me for something. He mentioned getting paid.”

  “Paid? It wasn’t just for revenge for what you did last time you were there?”

  “No, someone paid him to capture me.”

  He rubbed his chin. “Interesting.”

  “To say the least,” I took a deep breath, clearing my mind. “Why are you still here? You should be back on Recar. I didn’t want you involved and you knew that.”

  “You think I would leave you alone with these people? They didn’t want you on this ship. If I didn’t stay, they would have let you die.”

  “I wouldn’t have died; it just would have taken a little longer to heal.”

  “I know, but they didn’t know that. They would have thought they were letting you die.”

  I stood up. “What about your city? What is going to happen while you are gone?”

  “Ryan can take care of it. He is my right hand man and my successor. If anything happened to me, he knows what to do.”

  “You mean like a full out war with Nyct?” I said. He knew the repercussions of what he had done.

  “Everything is fine. I had a clean-up crew deal with Damian. Besides, he was on my turf,” Jack tried to reason with me. He knew I was right; he shouldn’t have left that mess with Ryan.

  “He knew where to find me,” I mentioned to see his reaction. Damian shouldn’t have known I was there.

  Jack stood up and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I know.”

  “How?” I carefully questioned.

  He shrugged. “Beats me. He must have had men checking on everyone who landed in Himeo.” He knew more than he was letting on. I needed to know why he was hiding things from me, but he was as good at holding a secret as I was.

  “Thank you,” I finally stated.

  Jack looked at me cautiously, as if he never thought those words would escape my lips. “What?”

  “For saving me,” I explained. “Even though you almost killed me in the process.”

  “My pleasure. You know, if you ever wanted to pay me for my heroics...” he gently traced my back with his hand as he wrapped his arms around me.

  “Don’t push your luck. Speaking of payment, my watch?”

  Jack pulled out the watch. “This shiny one right here? I would really hate to part with it.”

  I grabbed it from his hand. “Well then, I guess you will have to stay with me.”

  “If you insist.”

  My eyes caught something on the watch I hadn’t noticed before. “Huh.”

  “What is it?”

  I hurried to the table. Placing the watch with the case facing up, I realized the lines that decorated the case were the same lines that were on the map. A dot on the watch did not appear on the map. The location of the book.

  “Get David,” I ordered. “We just had a major breakthrough.”

  Chapter 16

  As I waited for Jack to retrieve David, I studied the pocket watch Father had given me in more detail. I didn’t realize when he gave it to me how important it was to all of this. I always thought he gave it to me because it was something passed on from his father and such. Now I knew why he wanted me to have it. Good thing I got it back from the Kamps and Jack or all of this could have been a lot harder. I looked down at it, examining the slight indentations of the lines carved into it. The watch had lined up perfectly with the map, giving us the exact bunker where the last book would be hidden.

  It didn’t give the location in the bunker, but knowing which bunker the book waited in was enough. Although they were quite large, it did narrow it down from twenty-one bunkers to one. The bunkers were about the size of four Class Three ships. Splitting that up, each of us would have to search the area of a ship and then some. All of that in an hour, at most. We would be cutting it close, but hopefully we wouldn’t have too much of a problem finding the book. Then again, this whole mission had been filled with problems after problems. I debated who was going to try to kill me this time around when the door to the lounge slid open.

  David rushed into the room, rubbing his eyes awake. “What? What did you find?”

  I placed the watch to where it lined up on the map and let him examine it. “Genius, isn’t it?”

  David gasped. “The watch had the answer? So Jack still had it on him?”

  “Yup. Lines up perfectly. Can’t believe I didn’t notice before,” I took the watch back and marked the map where it had indicated the book would be.

  David examined where I marked. “It still doesn’t give us the exact spot, but nevertheless this is a major breakthrough.”

  I nodded. “Yes, it only points us to which bunker it is in, but still. We have an hour for three of us to search the entire bunker. That should be enough for a pretty thorough search.”

  “So now all we need to do is plan out exactly where in the bunker each of you will be searching and we will be ready.”

  “Well, ready as we can be,” I added. “There may be things we aren’t expecting.”

  David shot me a glance. “Like what?”

  “Like us never knowing what the Empire is going to do. Other things that could happen. Knowing me, I’ll probably run into some old enemies, although there really shouldn’t be any on Ttkas since they’re all Imperial,” I ran on.

  “You’re part of the Empire,” David commented.

  Not sure where he was going with that, I answered. “I am.”

  “Are you going to betray us?” he questioned sincerely.

  I paused for a brief moment, and then said. “No.”

  He slammed his fist on the table. “You paused, why did you pause? That indicates you had to think about what you were going to say. How am I supposed to believe you?”

  “Because I dumped the tracking device that has been on me since Anosira on Recar,” I revealed. He hadn’t known I had a tracking device and I figured telling him now may regain his trust or lose it for good.

  He examined me, debating whether or not that was a good sign or a bad one. “Which is why you were struggling to turn us in or not?”

  “Now you know my choice.”

  “Do I now? How many times have you lied to me about your choices? How many times have you gone back and forth on your choices? Why do you think I can trust you after what you said on Recar?” he questioned.

  I watched him, wondering if I had lost him completely. “Look, you don’t have to believe me. I just thought I would tell you. Up to you to trust me again or be like Will and fear I will betray you all any moment I can.”

  “I’m starting to think Will had it right all along,” he stated coldly.

  I had really messed this mission up. He was an easy mark and I blew it all on Recar. Why I let myself mess it up, I didn’t know. This mission was getting worse and worse by the day. At least if all went ugly, I had Jack to back me up now, though he had been acting strange in his own right.

  “Suit yourself,” I changed the subject. “Meanwhile, I will be planning on the best way for us to search for this thing on Ttkas.”

  His eyes didn’t move from me. “And then what?”

  “Then we find Sanshli,” I finished.

  “We will? Or will you just find the location and report it to the Empire? That was your mission wasn’t it? To find whatever we were looking
for and then stop us?”

  “At one time it was. Now I want to find it.”

  “Why? I presume it’s not for your father as you have led me to believe.”

  “You know why I want to find it; I don’t have to explain it.”

  “No, Arcadia, tell me why you have gone against the Emperor, against that which you serve so blindly.”

  “So the dreams will stop,” I said quietly.

  He didn’t say anything, as if the thought had never occurred to him.

  “You know how persistent they are? Every night for the past six years. Can you imagine? A beast chasing you through the jungle, waking up as it’s about to tear you into pieces night after night? If this thing is true, it will stop haunting me and I can walk away, free of this burden I have been carrying.”

  He could tell I was telling the truth. I never said I wouldn’t betray them in the end; I just needed to find Sanshli so the dreams would stop. It was completely true. It was completely selfish. Something he knew I would say.

  “Fine, shall we take a look at this then?” David turned his attention to the map. I grinned, knowing I got some of that trust back.

  David and I went over the map, figuring out the best place to land in order to get to the bunker fastest. We didn’t want to press questions with the officials for where we land nor did we want to travel a far distance and heighten our chances of getting caught. After a while, Rik came in and we let him know what we had found. We agreed to plan the rest together.

  The last of the trip went by with us planning exactly what each of us was going to do on Ttkas. We ran through it again and again, making sure there was no doubt in anyone of how it all would play out. Of course there could be things that could happen that we didn’t plan for, but that’s what backup plans were for. We had a good number of those as well.

  We planned for each place we could be found at and what we were to do once there. The plan was pretty much grab the book and run for the ship. I debated whether they knew we were coming or not. Theoretically, they shouldn’t, but the Emperor liked surprising me with what he knew, even though there was no possible way he should have known.

  David never mentioned anything to Rik about what happened on Recar and what I confessed to him. I didn’t know if it was because he thought I would kill him or if he figured Rik wouldn’t take the information too lightly and throw me out the airlock as soon as he could. I supposed the latter. It was alright by me, I didn’t need Rik hating me anymore than he already did, nor did I need Jack defending me against them anymore. All was good as it was, or at least, as good as it was going to get.

  At last we had come upon Ttkas. The cold chill of the icy planet mocked us as we approached. Before we could land, the owner of the ship had to present himself and explain why he wanted to land. I leaned against the walls of the corridor, waiting for Jack near the entrance to the bridge. Hopefully Jack would answer all of their questions to their satisfaction and we would be given permission to land. If not, well we had a backup plan that I didn’t quite agree with or think was going to work. I just hoped we wouldn’t have to use it.

  Jack came up the corridor, seeing me waiting for him. “Arcadia, are you nervous? That’s something new.”

  I straightened up. “I’m not worried; I just wanted to make sure you still wanted to go through with this. You are risking your life, you know.”

  “Anything for you, Cadi,” he winked as he started to enter the bridge.

  I grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “Not so fast.”

  He turned to face me; his normal friendly smile sprawled across his lips.

  “Are you sure you are willing to risk everything for this?” I asked.

  “I know what the consequences are. Don’t think I don’t. If you are willing to do this, then so am I.”

  I shook my head. “But I wasn’t willing, you made me come onboard. I wanted them to leave without me.”

  “No, you didn’t, stop saying that.”

  “You don’t know the full story about any of this,” I argued, trying to get him to listen to me.

  “Sure I do.”

  “Jack, please listen to me,” I began.

  He grabbed my hands and kept his eyes steady on mine. “I know what I am doing; I know what’s going on. More than you know. So, please, stop worrying and get ready to land, okay? Otherwise they might think something is up.”

  “Something is up, isn’t it? That’s why you are still here,” I whispered.

  Jack ignored my comment as he let go of my hands and turned to the bridge. Whistling, he left me standing there. Jack usually only whistled while playing card games, making his opponents not know if he was bluffing or had a good set of cards. Question was; what was he hiding from me?

  Jack went through the questions with ease, as he usually did. He was a master liar, getting his way through any situation with a smooth tongue and an honest smile. The only person he had trouble lying to was me. This is why he would always ignore my questions, so he didn’t have to lie.

  I waited with Rik and Amanda in the lounge. Nothing was said between the three of us. We knew our jobs on the ground and we were prepared to do them. Rik thought I might betray him here. Frankly, I would have if I didn’t decide to get rid of the tracking device and keep the Emperor from breathing down my neck. Now I wanted to finish what I started and find Sanshli, if not for Father then for myself. I needed to stop the dreams now as they had started becoming worse, which I didn’t even think could be possible.

  Will landed the ship in a space-port not too far from the bunkers, as we had hoped would happen. Rik, Amanda and I waited a few minutes after the others left to distract the Ttkassians. They were supposed to act like they were buying equipment and sight-seeing the snowy Ttkas mountains. I was surprised they fell for it but they probably figured since he was a crime lord it wasn’t odd. They all had their weird interests and hobbies. And the money to spend on them.

  After enough time passed, we decided we better make a move for the bunkers. Wrapped in cloaks, the bitter coldness still clung to our skin. I had only been to Ttkas a handful of times but I never could completely prepare myself for how truly icy it always was here. Even with proper gear, it was said a human could only last a day out in it before he lost all feeling in his body. Gladly we only needed to be in it until we reached the bunkers.

  Arriving at the bunkers, we hurried inside to find it almost as cold as it was on the outside. Although they were a tiny bit warmer, it still had to be below freezing inside. It was dark, damp, and cold. Melted snow had leaked into the deserted buildings and smelled of dank mold.

  We pulled out our flashlights and walked down the corridors. Left over tablets and computers filled the rooms, now all beyond repair. It had been two hundred years since they were last used. Rats would have nested here if they could stand the cold. I doubted if a living soul had been in here in years. I concluded they had not. It was completely abandoned and since this side of the planet wasn’t really occupied other than the occasional tourist, just as Jack was supposed to be, no one bothered to repair any of this. They built new buildings and left it at that.

  “It’s a bit drafty in here,” I commented as we shined our flashlights on the damp walls and ground as we crept down the corridors.

  “I’d say. I wish I went with David and Will,” Amanda added without a slight look at Rik.

  “You are much safer with us, I didn’t want you to be with the rest in case they got found out,” Rik answered. He apparently made her come with us. Surprising.

  “That’s a bit selfish, sacrificing your friends in place of your wife,” I said with a slight smile. Everything he had done so far wasn’t for him, but for the Second Republic and what he had believed was justice. This was the first time I saw him selfish.

  “If you truly knew what love was you would understand,” he answered without taking offense to my remark.

  “As I said before, this is why I like working alone. I don’t have to worry about oth
ers, not that I would, they just get in the way.” I started to consider it my motto.

  “So I take it you don’t worry about Jack,” Rik inquired.

  I shrugged. “Jack can take care of himself. I have no need to worry about him.”

  “Interesting, then, that he takes the time to worry about you,” he mumbled under his breath, as if Jack was wasting his time with me. He probably was, but he didn’t care. Jack knew my feelings and he knew the limits he could go, not that he didn’t try to push farther.

  I didn’t respond to Rik’s comment though. Now that he mentioned it, Jack did seem to worry more on this mission than any other we had been on. He also got involved when he shouldn’t have. Something was off.

  I tried to keep myself warm as we ventured through the bunker, but I failed miserably. I was used to many things, but deathly cold was not one of them. Uncomfortably cold I could handle, but this was way beyond that. I glanced over at Rik and Amanda and I could tell they were thinking the same thing. All we wanted to do was find the book and get this over with.

  We came upon the fork in the corridors, just as the map said we would.

  “Well, this is where we split. Meet back in an hour. If you don’t come back in time, we will leave without you,” Rik warned.

  “I presume that is only directed at me,” I more stated than questioned.

  “Of course it was,” Rik answered without missing a beat.

  “You know,” I began, rubbing my hands together to make sure they weren’t frozen. “Jack and I are strong enough, we could both take all of you out and go search for this on our own.”

  Rik glared at me. “One hour.”

  “As you wish,” I nodded sarcastically as if I was a servant obeying his every command.

  He shook his head as he walked down his corridor, as if he was crazy for bringing me along, which he was. Amanda left toward her designated area and I headed down my own route.

  I checked my pocket watch for the time, feeling the crisp coldness of the metal as it matched the temperature around it. I quickly placed it back in my pocket, clutched my fingers together, and headed further down the corridors. I wished I had my gloves.