The daevah were silent for several seconds, turning their eyes toward one another. Little changes in expression flicked across their faces; were they having a whole conversation in their heads? Oddities aside, this was a stroke of luck, a chance for Yuri and Thargen to get home—and it was real. She couldn’t stop the hope flaring inside her, outshining all else.
“However else it may appear to you, we are very good at what we do,” Kier finally said. “We will provide you passage back to Arthos, but we must ask for your aid in return.”
“What do you need help with?” asked Thargen.
“We do not need help,” said Kayl.
Kier closed his eyes, raised a hand, and caught his braid, squeezing. “I am rescinding my earlier argument. Please, Kayl, just close your mouth and let me talk.”
“Help with what?” Thargen said with a bit more gravel in his voice.
Yuri set her hand back into motion, rubbing her palm up and down his back. She understood his frustration, but frustration wasn’t going to help them here.
Kier lowered his arm, shot his brother a glance, and looked back at Thargen. “The Zulka have established a camp at a large cave six kilometers from here. They’ve built barricades, presumably to fight off the skeks, and are armed with the same type of auto-blasters you are carrying. There are ten smugglers there, not including the ones you killed yesterday.”
“Fuck, how many people did they need to run a cargo ship?” Thargen muttered.
“It is common for such crews,” said Kayl. “They bring so many along to ensure they have presence enough on Caldorius to defend their cargo until it is offloaded to the purveyors.”
“Is it just the smugglers at the camp, or are there other survivors?” Yuri asked.
Kayl nodded. “We have accounted for six surviving captives. The smugglers seem to be utilizing them for menial labor, despite their weakened states.”
“And you want us to help take out this camp and rescue the captives before you’ll get us off this planet?” asked Thargen.
“Yes.”
“You really can’t take ten of them between the two of you?”
Kayl’s frown returned, just as subtle as before but entirely unmistakable. “We do not need your help, vorgal, as I have stated.”
“But it would be greatly appreciated,” said Kier. “An extra warrior on our side will undoubtedly prove beneficial to our goals and help us save innocent lives.”
“All right,” Thargen replied. “What are we waiting for? Let’s kill some smugglers.”
Kier’s brows rose. “Now? Would it not be wise to await the cover of darkness to make our attack?”
“Do I look like someone who worries much about wisdom?”
Kier glanced at his brother. “I know the tattoo means he was a vanguard, Kayl. Why do you think I requested his help?”
“Fuck, I thought it was because you liked me,” Thargen said.
“The chances of that are low,” Kayl replied.
Yuri chuckled. “I find him quite charming.”
Kayl’s frown deepened slightly. “Terrans are strange beings.”
Thargen snickered and shook his head. “Not often I meet people with less self-awareness than me.”
“All that aside,” said Kier, “I believe this undertaking would be best approached with stealth and caution. It would be best if we could eliminate any sentries and enter the cave before our targets are alerted. We’ll only grant our enemies a chance to bolster their defenses and potentially harm the captives if we expose ourselves.”
“Done that a time or two unintentionally,” Thargen said. “Amazing how many people don’t enjoy seeing a bare-assed vorgal.”
Yuri turned her head to look up at him; there’d been humor in his voice, but she didn’t think he was lying or even exaggerating. The seriousness of what the daevahs were discussing wasn’t lost on her. She hadn’t shaken the trauma of being caged like that, and the images from the time following the crash were still fresh in her memory, but she couldn’t stop herself from saying, “Well from now on, nobody gets to see my vorgal bare-assed but me.”
Thargen’s lips stretched into a grin as he met her gaze, and that hungry fire ignited in his eyes. “Yes, sir.”
“So, she really is your zoani,” Kier said.
Yuri turned her face toward the daevah. They were both staring at Yuri and Thargen intently. Almost…longingly?
Her brows furrowed. “He hasn’t told—”
“She is.” Thargen settled his hands on her shoulders and gently squeezed, rotating his thumb along her collarbone. “And she’s my main priority. If she’s not safe, no one on this planet is. That too metaphorical or whatever for you, or do you understand it?”
The daevah nodded in unison. Seeing them move in such perfect sync while standing beside each other was almost eerie, the exact sort of thing that would’ve been right at home in a horror movie from a hundred years ago.
Thargen grunted. “Good. Now for fucking real, we going to this ship or not? Starting to think you don’t even have one.”
Twenty-One
The daevahs had a nice ship.
Really fucking nice.
Probably too fucking nice. Definitely a lot nicer than its simple name—the Fang—had implied.
Thargen couldn’t stop his eyes from roving over the complex arrays of controls and displays before him. He could drive a hovercar with competence and had been trained to operate a few classes of armored ground vehicles back in his Vanguard days, but this ship was clearly beyond him. It looked like all the controls for a battle cruiser with a crew of hundreds had been crammed into this four-seat cockpit, and he couldn’t begin to guess what ninety-five percent of it was for.
He suspected that lack of familiarity was behind his odd but insistent urge to touch everything.
He glanced at Yuri to find her looking around too, awe and excitement gleaming in her wide eyes. She didn’t need to say it out loud for him to know what she was thinking just then—This is so cool!
I should be suspicious. On guard.
His attention shifted to the daevahs, who were standing in front of one of the control consoles, their fingers flying through commands on a pair of projected holo screens. Their armor and weapons were high-quality—even better than the undoubtedly stolen military equipment from the smuggler ship—and this spacecraft was on a whole different level somewhere far above that.
Its cloaking system was advanced enough that Thargen hadn’t sensed the Fang at all when the daevahs had first led him and Yuri into the clearing where they’d landed. He’d thought it an empty field—the perfect place to be ambushed—and his Rage had flared in response.
This big, black, sleek ship materializing at the center of the field in front of him had been like a bucket of icy water poured on his Rage, and, despite his better judgment, that had been enough for him to set aside his suspicions.
This wasn’t one of those no other choice situations—Yuri and Thargen had countless choices laid out before them, and trusting these daevahs was only one. Maybe not even the best one, or the smartest one.
But regardless of the warning signs—like this ship, which would’ve been more at home with an elite special forces unit or in the Inner Reach Syndicate’s criminal fleet—he believed Kier and Kayl. They were strange, but who in Thargen’s life wasn’t without their quirks? The twins struck him as genuine. At the very least, they hadn’t harmed Thargen or Yuri despite having had ample opportunity to do so, and that had to say something, didn’t it?
His eyes drifted back to Yuri again. When it came down to it, she was all that mattered. So long as she was safe, he cared about nothing else.
She met his gaze and smiled, making the light in her eyes even brighter. It wasn’t just awe and excitement—it was hope. That glimmer of hope she must’ve been nurturing to keep herself going all this time was shining brighter than ever now, and seeing it made Thargen’s heart swell. He hadn’t lied when he’d told her he would gladly go thro
ugh all this again for her. He’d do it without hesitation, over and over again.
All for her.
“Almost done, zoani,” he said softly. “We’ll be on our way home soon.”
She slipped her arms around Thargen and squeezed him. “I know. Hopefully we’ll be able to help some of the others get home, too.”
Thargen wrapped an arm around her shoulders, leaned down, and inhaled deeply, taking in her sweet scent. He hummed appreciatively. His terran possessed a noble heart, and he was not above taking pride in it—in her. At some point in his life, he must’ve done something good to have earned a female like Yuri.
She turned her face toward the daevahs, pressing her cheek against Thargen’s chest. “So, what’s the plan?”
“Go in, kill the smugglers, and get the slaves out,” Thargen said.
“That sounds reasonable to me,” said Kier without even a hint of irony.
Yuri looked up at Thargen with her brow furrowed. “You can’t be serious.”
Thargen frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because this is dangerous,” Yuri said flatly, “and we should make a plan to minimize that danger.”
“And the situation is not a simple one,” Kayl added. “There are too many variables to simply storm in and expect an acceptable outcome.”
“Complex problems do not necessarily require complex solutions.” Kier turned around to lean his backside on the console, bracing a hand atop it to either side of his hips. “Sometimes simple plans are the most elegant and effective.”
“Less to go wrong with a simple plan,” Thargen said. “Start getting too complicated and all you’re doing is guaranteeing something’s gonna go wrong.”
Kayl’s nostrils flared, but his expression remained otherwise unchanged. He tapped something on the holoscreen in front of him, and a free-floating, three-dimensional holographic map appeared in the center of the cockpit. Though Thargen didn’t know that particular chunk of land, it was clearly a little piece of this planet—and it looked like that piece fit somewhere near their current location.
Kayl strode to the map and manipulated it with his fingers, altering the view angle and zooming in on what could only be the smuggler’s camp. The cave opening on the cliffside was tall but narrow, and the rocky landscape outside boasted ample cover for any would-be defenders, bolstered by crudely constructed wooden barricades.
Thargen stepped closer to the map, drawing Yuri along with him. He lifted his right hand and ran it absently across the side of his head, making his palm rasp over his scars. “Not a bad position. Good cover, good lines of sight.”
“We assumed it was a defensive position they claimed because of the skeks,” said Kier, joining the others near the map. “We found evidence of an attack around the crash site. Was that when you escaped?”
Yuri tensed and shook her head. “No. We were already out in the wilderness when that happened. Just…not far enough away to avoid hearing it in the middle of the night.”
Thargen gave her a gentle squeeze, and she leaned against him as though it were the most natural thing in the universe. He was coming to understand the fear she must’ve been feeling throughout this ordeal, if only to a small extent—because the thought of her coming to harm was terrifying to him in a way nothing else ever had been or could be.
“It was difficult to piece together what happened. The skeks stripped the wreckage quite thoroughly, and the few tracks we were able to locate were days old at best,” said Kier.
That wasn’t surprising. The skeks were notorious scroungers, scavengers, and hunters—and the crashed smuggler ship had offered them a chance to employ all those skills. Really, the only unexpected part of all this was that the smugglers had managed to get such a large group so far away from the crash site and survive for so many days despite the skeks presence in the area.
Thargen met Kayl’s gaze. The daevah had steady eyes, unflinching eyes, and his stare was deep and determined.
“Still wanna hit them at night?” Thargen asked.
Kayl dipped his chin in a slow, deliberate nod. “Darkness may be our best cover in approaching the camp.”
Yuri tipped her head back to look up at Thargen. “Don’t the smugglers have those scopes or optics or whatever that have night vision?”
“Yeah, they do,” Thargen replied, offering her a small smile.
“That may eliminate any element of surprise we might’ve hoped to gain under darkness,” Kier said.
Kayl turned his face toward his brother. “But it remains our best course. The species we observed in that camp were largely diurnal, meaning they will be at a disadvantage whenever they are not using those optics. It also means a greater likelihood of more of them being asleep.”
Thargen frowned and tilted his head, studying the holographic map. His instinct remained unchanged—attack head-on—but he knew that wasn’t exactly correct here. A simple plan was absolutely the right answer, just not that simple of a plan.
Yuri reached forward, turning the map slightly before trailing her finger along one of the cliff faces. “What about here? It’s not perfect, but the angle should keep you hidden from anyone at the camp until you’re pretty close.”
Kayl’s short brows fell slightly. He flicked his hand through the hologram to angle the place Yuri had indicated toward him. For several silent seconds, he continually turned and zoomed the map, following the rock face toward the cave entrance. Kier watched, eyes just as intent and intense as his brother’s. Finally, Kayl grunted thoughtfully.
“You can tell her, Kayl. It will not hurt you to say it out loud,” Kier said.
“Nor would it harm you to relay the sentiment,” Kayl replied.
“My brother believes it will work. I am in agreement. What of you, vorgal?”
Thargen ran his eyes along the holographic cliff one more time. They’d have to keep right up against the cliff, but it wasn’t a bad angle of approach—and he’d get to kill some smugglers before everything was said and done. “Looks good to me. Name’s Thargen, by the way.”
“We really haven’t done actual introductions this whole time, have we?” Yuri asked.
“Been a bit preoccupied.”
“Forgive us for forgoing the usual formalities,” said Kier, dipping his head in a shallow bow. “Such are not often employed in our profession. I am called Sol’Kier Sevris, and my brother is—”
“Sol’Kayl Kortanis,” Kayl said.
Kier simultaneously glared at his twin and offered Yuri a smile. “Kier and Kayl will suffice.”
Yuri smiled in return. “Yuri Eriksen. Pleased to officially meet you.”
Thargen frowned. “I didn’t know we were doing full names. Kinda steals the impact my full reveal would’ve had.”
Yuri tipped her head back to look up at him again, quirking a brow. “You have a last name?”
“More like a title. Earned in battle by ancient vorgal tradition.”
“Well?”
“Thargen Skullbreaker, Bane of Skeks.”
“That sounds as though you just made it up,” said Kayl flatly.
Yuri’s shoulders shook with silent laughter.
“I didn’t make it up,” Thargen grumbled. “And I didn’t make fun of your flowery daevah names, did I?”
Yuri placed a hand on his chest, rubbing it over his heart. Even through his shirt, that was more than enough to call his full attention back to her. She was looking up at him with a sudden lustful light in her eyes. “I think it’s kinda hot. Very orcish.”
Heat spiraled low in Thargen’s belly and spread outward through his body. He covered her hand with his and grinned, making an appreciative growl in his chest. “Feel free to say it all you want, zoani.”
“Can we focus on the matter at hand?” asked Kayl.
Kier snickered. “It is fine, brother. Perhaps they want an audience.”
Those words caused a moment of paralyzing turmoil in Thargen. He wanted Yuri badly enough that part of him didn’t care wher
e or when he had her—or even who was nearby. But a much larger and stronger part of him, a part with a superheated core of pure Rage, refused to let anyone else see her because she was fucking his and his alone.
Yuri’s cheeks flared pink, and she cleared her throat. “Nope. Absolutely not. I’m, uh, more of a one-on-one, in private kind of girl.”
And oh, the things I’ll do with her once we’re alone…
“We got a plan now,” Thargen said, reluctantly tearing his gaze from Yuri to look at the twins. “What else do we need to worry about?”
“The details,” replied Kayl.
“We’re gonna sneak in there after dark, kill the smugglers, and free the slaves. Think that about covers it, doesn’t it?”
“The leader, Taeraal,” Kayl said. “We want him alive.”
Thargen’s nostrils flared with a heavy exhalation as that old beast that was his Rage slithered a little closer to the surface. “If you two knew what a vanguard is, you know I don’t really take prisoners in situations like this. Especially not when that spawn of a skeks is the one who made this whole thing personal.”
Kier stepped toward Thargen with fire in his mismatched eyes. “That doesn’t matter.”
Yuri tightened her arm around Thargen and pressed her hand more firmly to his chest. It was just enough to keep him from lunging forward to meet the daevah’s challenge. It said a lot that Yuri could hold him back with a simple touch; he’d always wanted to fight a pair of daevah, and even if these two were scrawny by vorgal standards, he had a feeling they’d put up a good fight.
“He may have information about Vrykhan,” said Kayl. A flicker of his brother’s fire gleamed in his gaze.
“Who we have been hunting for a very long time.” Kier’s voice was strained, spoken through clenched fangs.
Thargen recognized that look in the daevahs’ eyes, that tone in Kier’s voice. He’d seen that hatred before in Arcanthus and Drakkal both when they’d talked about their past, when they’d talked about the person who’d betrayed them and destroyed everything they’d built—the person who’d killed everyone they’d cared about.
Savage Desire (The Infinite City Book 4) Page 34
