by Laurie Roma
She nodded, looking around at the group. “Shall we walk a bit? You do not look as if transporting again would agree with you.”
“Dying won’t either,” Reva said dryly. “Can you even do that again so soon?”
Amari shrugged. “If I must. It would be easier for me to see the mountains before I transport us again. I had to redirect the group before I brought us here, else we would have ended up inside the mountain. Usually, we cannot transport to a place without having been there before or we have at least seen it.”
Darius went pale at that, too. “We were an experiment?”
“Nay, I have done it before, just not with so many people.” Amari smiled as she added, “When I have to redirect, it is harder on all of us. Shall we take the path within the trees, or the open land?”
“The trees can eat us, right?” Kahla frowned as she looked out over the land and pointed. “Wouldn’t that be more dangerous than that way?”
“Aye, the trees are dangerous, but the open land would allow for the Dinos to attack, and there are vines coming out of the sand. We will need to avoid them. Stay on the light colored areas. That is solid, while the dark spots are sand. You may sink if you step there.”
“Great…” Malik looked out over the land. He didn’t see any Dinos in the area, but there was always the chance they would come soon. “How do you kill them?”
“The vines? You cut them. For the Dinos you must sever the spinal cord at the neck, or strike between the eyes on the ones without spikes. Those are their only weak points. Or cut their heads off.”
“Shit.”
“I can make you a sonic device,” Amari offered. “But I fear that might hurt you as well, unless you wore something over your ears.”
Reva put her hand on Amari’s arm. They had been asking the Dragon Warrior to use magic on every turn. They could do a bit of walking on their own since they had insisted on coming when she’d wanted to do it alone. “Why don’t we worry about that if and when anything happens.”
Three hours later, Matt, Rob, Lazio, and Darius were still glaring at her as they trekked through and over the purple sand. Reva didn’t care about their ire, and Malik and Kahla seemed to understand why she hadn’t wanted to ask Amari for another favor.
They needed to give the Dragon Warrior a break.
So far, they hadn’t encountered any Dinos besides a small cluster of hatchlings. Still, where there were babies, the mother would probably be somewhere close by. Reva had to talk Amari out of taking one of them, and when she wouldn’t listen, Kahla and Malik had joined in to express just how bad that idea was.
They’d hurried to put some distance between them and the hatchlings, and an irritated Amari had gone ahead to check out the mountain range.
The group was nervous without her, and they had a close call with some vines about a half an hour later. Matt had gotten too close to one of the vines, and it had shot forward, winding around his leg. It had dragged him down into the sand before he could pull his blaster out of the holster on his hip. He reached for his dagger, but two more vines had wrapped around Matt’s torso and neck, pulling him down quicker and choking the breath out of him.
Malik, Darius, Lazio, and Rob had severed the vines with their swords to free him, while the others hauled him back above ground. Several more vines had gone crazy after that, telling them that they were all connected to something they couldn’t see under the sand…and no one had wanted to see what it was.
When Amari returned, she’d sighed when she saw how frazzled they were. “I told you not to touch anything, and to stay away from the sand.”
“It wasn’t my fault. I didn’t walk on the damn sand. You didn’t tell us those things could sense us, or reach this far,” Matt accused.
She considered that. “Perhaps they could hear you. Last time I was here, they never attacked or moved unless I touched them.”
Matt grumbled to himself as he looked down at the pieces of vines still on the ground. He kicked one of them, then took a few hurried steps back when another vine appeared and pulled the severed piece into the sand.
There were veins of blue running through the almost translucent white vines, and when asked, Amari told them, “The blue is the blood of the Dinos. This must have fed recently.”
That made the group stay far away from any vines as they continued on.
No wonder there were no Dinos in the area. The vines had probably sucked them down into the sand.
Once they were closer to the mountain range, Amari transported them to a large ledge a good distance off the ground. They were enclosed in a small area that was protected by the rocks just like the site they had been on when they had arrived, but this one had a path that led up to a higher area on the mountain, and another that led down.
Amari held up her hand for quiet. After she stood there for a few silent seconds, she ordered them to, “Stay.”
Then she disappeared.
“Damn it, why does she keep doing that?” Kahla complained. She looked over the edge of the shelf they were on, and gulped. “I didn’t realize we were so high.”
“I didn’t know you were scared of heights,” Reva commented.
Kahla glared at her. “You look down there and tell me that’s not freaky.”
Reva did, then said, “Point taken.”
“Where did she go?” Darius asked Malik as they both kept eyes on the pathways.
Malik frowned. “She must be searching the mountains for caves. If not, at least she put us somewhere safe again.”
“Umm, guys…do you see that?” Matt whispered, pointing down toward the water on the other end of the ledge.
“Holy nova!”
“Shh!” Reva hissed at Rob.
Two huge, neon-green Dinos stood near the water, and their heads had lifted at Rob’s shout. They had a row of sharp spikes down their backs, with smaller ones on their legs, and their long tails had jagged spikes on the club at the end. They had massive jaws with rows of pointed teeth that Reva could see even from high up on the mountain.
One of the Dinos had a fish the size of a person in its mouth, and after chomping down a few times and tilting back its head, and it swallowed the entire thing.
“Those things are huge,” Malik whispered.
Reva nodded. “I seriously do not want to see any of those up close.”
Suddenly, Malik turned as Reva and Kahla grabbed at their heads with both hands. He caught Reva before she could fall to the ground, while Lazio, Rob, and Matt hovered around Kahla as she curled into a ball on the rock ledge. Darius fell to his knees next to where Malik held Reva in his arms, and he pulled off his water pack, ready to provide if needed.
“What is it, Reva?” Malik asked, worried about her. “What’s wrong?”
Reva’s head felt like it was going to burst, and she put her hands over her ears, trying to block out the pulses of sound that were causing the pressure. She saw more than heard Malik speaking to her, but couldn’t focus on what he was saying. Not when the pain was so huge, so debilitating.
Then, it stopped as quickly as it had begun.
“What…the…fuck was that?” She remained where she was as Malik wiped at the blood trickling from her nose that she hadn’t known was there. Darius shoved the water nozzle at her, and she drank deep, then nodded gratefully at him. Looking over at Kahla, she saw her slapping at Matt when he tried to help her.
“What happened, helicca?”
She looked back at Malik. “Didn’t you hear it?”
He frowned. “Hear what?”
“Ahh—!” Lazio almost fell over the side of the cliff when Amari appeared next to him. She gripped the belt he was wearing, and pulled him back to safety without looking at him. Reva and Kahla got to their feet, and by the expression on Amari’s face, they knew she had found something.
“The sonic pulse. I found their hidden base within the caves, and I destroyed the pulse machine. It was how they were keeping the Dinos away.”
Malik na
rrowed his eyes. “Is that…do you have blood on you?”
“Aye. It is not mine.” Amari looked down in disgust, and a heartbeat later, was clean again.
“I didn’t figure it was.”
“There is a very large cache of weapons in the back storage area, so I would assume this was Quilla’s group, but she was not here.”
“Hellfire,” Darius muttered. “Where in the worlds is she?”
“Not here,” Amari repeated bitterly. “Reva and Kahla will come inside with me. The rest of you will—”
“No. They are not going without us.”
Amari’s glowing eyes burned bright with rage as she glared at Malik and growled, “There are three Tarin females that were held captive in there. You will remain here while I take Reva and Kahla inside to deal with them. They do not need males around them at the moment, particularly not Tarin males.”
Malik nodded his understanding. To those females, they were the enemy.
“Fuck,” Matt breathed out. “Are they okay?”
“How would you be if you were kept in chains while eight males hurt you?”
“Gods,” Reva breathed. Her heart hurt thinking about what those three females had gone through. “There are three females and eight males in there?”
“Nay, the males are dead. The females need aid.” She paused before saying, “I believe they are frightened of me after witnessing what I did to the males, so I am leaving them to both of you. I told them I was bringing you in to help them.”
It was the first time Reva had ever seen Amari look uncomfortable since she’d met her. The female Dragon Warrior could fight and kill without hesitation, but Reva couldn’t imagine her consoling three traumatized females.
“We will do our best to help,” she promised.
“Hold on,” Matt ordered. “You killed all of the males? We needed to question them and find out what they knew, damn it.”
“I found out what we need to know, and they have not heard from Quilla since she left Tartarus. That was when she contacted them, and told them to stay here and guard their stash. I read four of their memories. One was their leader, and he was very evil.” Her eyes glowed brighter. “I arrived when they were whipping one of the females for fun. I would not let those males breath any longer than necessary, not after what I saw in their minds.”
“I would have done the same,” Reva growled honestly.
“As would I,” Malik agreed.
“We will return. Do not worry, nephew.” Amari smiled. “I will not let anything happen to your female.”
Then, Malik blinked as Amari, Reva, and Kahla disappeared.
CHAPTER NINE
I wish she would stop doing that.”
“Yeah…” Matt breathed out. “She was right, though. If I had seen those male hurting the female, I would have done the same thing. But we wouldn’t have gotten any information from them. Did she…did she just call you nephew?”
“Shut up,” Malik grumbled.
“What are we going to do with three injured females?” Rob asked. “And how the hell did she read their memories?”
Malik remembered when he had watched one of Katra’s brothers bite someone with his fangs. As he’d drunk the Tarin male’s blood, he had been able to read every thought and memory that male had ever had in his life.
And that was how they had discovered his sister was Korsek.
After explaining how Amari had read the males’ memories, Rob cringed, and he lifted one hand to cover his neck.
Matt rolled his eyes. “Do you really think that would stop her?”
“We will bring the females with us,” Malik ordered. “We are close to Alpha Station: X21, aren’t we? Perhaps we can take them there.”
“The Krytos that run the sanctuary there will protect them. That would be better than taking them with us on this suicide mission.”
Darius glared at Matt. “If you believe we will all die, why did you come?”
“Because Quilla needs to be stopped. I know you guys would find her on your own, but having elites with you eases the way on Alliance stations. Plus, you needed more people. Well, that was the thought before Amari joined the group. Still, I wanted in.”
“Uh…guys?”
Matt continued as if Rob hadn’t spoken. “If Quilla is hiding in Alliance controlled space—”
“Lord Rego?”
Malik glanced over at Lazio when he heard the fear in his warrior’s voice. All jesting aside, there was little that Lazio was really afraid of, so it made Malik pay attention. “What is it?”
Lazio and Rob both pointed to something behind Malik, Darius, and, Matt. The three males turned around, and Malik’s blood went cold.
He saw three bird-like Dinos looking down at them from their perch on the rocks above. They were bright pink, and had long, sharp, black beaks, and another point on the back of their heads. The tips of their wings also had lethal edges on the bottom of each wing, and their feet were sharp talons that clicked on the rocks as they moved.
Malik’s hand moved to the hilt of his sword, and their yellow eyes seemed to track the movement. He paused there, considering how he could get his group out of the situation without a fight, but he couldn’t see any possibilities of that happening.
He unsheathed his sword just as Rob pulled out his blaster and fired at one of them. The blast stunned one momentarily, but another flapped its wings and launched itself off the rock, heading directly at Rob, but Matt pushed him out of the way just in time to save him.
And the creature landed on Matt, instead.
He screamed as the creature wrapped its talons around his body, and lifted him into the air. The Dino’s wings expanded, making it far bigger than it had seemed on land, and it flew toward the lake, carrying Matt with it.
They were unable to help him as the other Dino birds attacked their group. The one that had been stunned went for Rob as the other attacked Malik. Rob’s blaster went off over and over again, but it only gave them seconds before the creatures recovered.
The Dinos were twice their size, and Malik slashed and stabbed at it, but he couldn’t get past the sharp leathery wings as they flapped around continuously. So, he focused on ripping through the wing with his sword.
The creature screeched in pain as Malik hacked off one of its wings, then he had to struggle to keep its sharp beak from biting or stabbing him. He shocked it with energy lightning from his hands, but it was the same as the blaster, only stunning it for a few seconds.
The Dinos skin was so thick it was almost impenetrable. Darius shoved his sword into it from behind, making it screech again. The creature floundered around for a moment before it turned its attention away from Malik, then it pounced on Darius.
Malik wiped at the blood running down his face from the cuts the beak had caused, then he saw the Dino bird on top of Darius with the tip of its sharp beak close to his face. Without hesitation, Malik jumped onto the Dino’s back. It took him a few tries with the bloody thing moving so much, but he managed to thrust his sword into the creature’s neck using all his strength.
The Dino jerked under him, but it didn’t collapse. Malik twisted his sword, using his weight to pull back on the hilt. He was determined to kill the damn thing. It didn’t go down, though. It stumbled, then launched itself right over the edge of the cliff…with Malik still on its back.
And then there was nothing but air.
“Malik!”
He heard Darius and Lazio’s anguished cries, but Malik couldn’t do anything to stop himself from freefalling off the mountain. He didn’t know if the Dino had tried to fly away, and couldn’t because he only had one wing, or if it had just been confused. Either way, they were both falling, and would eventually crash into the ground.
Perhaps the fucking thing had just wanted to take him with it.
He could not die, not like this. Not on this horrible planet. Malik had so much to do still, and he would be damned if he died from a bloody fall off of a cliff. If anything, he was
supposed to perish in battle, but it wasn’t like he had a choice now. His life rushed through his mind in quick succession, replaying all of the good and bad times he’d had, but mostly the good.
And the best of all of them were the moments he had spent with Reva.
He couldn’t leave his beautiful Reva, not without telling her how much he loved her.
“What is wrong?”
Malik jerked as he heard the voice in his head. It sounded liked…Amari. What in hellfire was she doing in his head? And how?
“You are of my blood, fool. I have not spoken to you this way before because I believed you would have reacted as you are now. Tell me, nephew, what is wrong?”
Fuck, how was he supposed to answer her? “I’m falling to my death.”
“How did you…never mind.”
Then he jerked to a halt, freezing where he was…still in the air.
Seconds later, the body of the Dino bird slammed into the ground with enough force to crack the ground. Purple dust flew up in a geyser. Malik noted that he was only a few feet away from the ground himself. It made him close his eyes and thank the gods—and Amari—that he wasn’t splattered in the dirt like the Dino. Though, there might not have been much difference between the gods and Amari.
“I am no god. Did you hit your head?”
“No, I didn’t. Thank you. Really…thank you.” He tried to change position, but he couldn’t move. “You can let me down now. I am close to the ground.”
She took him at his word, because she released him from her hold and dropped him. He let out a groan as he hit the ground. Looking over, he realized he still had his black sword in his hand. Because he trained so much, it felt natural to have it in his hand. He must have pulled it from the Dino’s back when they had separated in the air.
It finally struck him that he’d been able to cut through the Dino birds wing—even through the strong bones—with the sword.
“How—?”
“Males from all races seem to fight anything they can. I did not tell you it was strengthened with magic so you would not run off trying to kill anything that moved.”
