by Mary Auclair
And she didn’t stop.
* * *
Khal
Hazel was unconscious, and it was a blessing. Fear gripped Khal’s very soul, but not for himself. Hazel was the center of everything, and the very thought of harm coming to her filled him with the foreign, paralyzing feeling. Ice and terror slithered inside his mind as he clung desperately to the Myrador’s control wheel.
Hazel was too fragile to survive a crash. He stood the best chance of them all, but she would surely die from the impact, along with Celaith.
A world without Hazel in it was meaningless. He understood the bloodmating link now. Dying would be the easy part if she was killed in the landing, surviving her even for a short time would be torture.
The unknown planet below spread to his view as they finally flew out of the clouds and an endless expense of rocks, sand and vegetation filled their field of vision.
“See if there’s a suitable landing place nearby,” Khal ordered as he attempted to slow the descent of the Myrador. “Send any residual power to the engine.”
“We have one percent power to the landing engines in reserve.” Zaxis’s voice was edged with fear, but the Avonie still controlled himself. “That won’t be enough.”
“It’s all we have,” Khal answered as he located what appeared to be a long, flat stretch of land devoid of vegetation. “Wait for my signal.”
There was no answer from Zaxis. Khal dug deep into his Eok training, into all those years of strenuous discipline, and everything faded. All he could see was the land below, his hands gripping the control wheel, the Myrador an extension of his body. As the metal frame of the ship rocked and shook in its descent, Khal prepared for the crash.
There. One thousand yards.
“Now! Full capacity!”
Zaxis bent and activated the engine. Power roared to life within the dead carcass of the ship, fire erupting from below, slowing their drop. But it didn’t slow enough.
The Myrador crashed.
The solid underbelly of the ship embedded deep in the unknown planet’s dirt, piercing the surface like it was water with a great screech of tearing metal. The window got covered in dirt and debris, but Khal managed to lift the nose of the ship so it didn’t explode. It seemed to go on forever, but finally, the ship slowed, then stopped.
Time felt suspended as the sound of their breathing filled the control room.
We did it. We’re still alive.
But they were not safe. Not by a long shot.
“Zaxis, what’s your status?”
Long seconds passed, but finally, Zaxis answered. “Unharmed.”
“The Myrador?”
Fingers sounded on the control boards. Then a pause.
“Engines are all unresponsive. We have a complete hull breach in the cargo hold, but that’s the extent of what I can diagnose here. Do you want me to send a signal?”
“No.” Khal shook his head. “The only relay in range for the emergency communication system is Garana. We’re going to have to repair the main communication board to send a message to Eokim. I trust no other.”
“There’s no telling who will intercept our communication if you send a message that far.” Zaxis moved, unstrapping himself.
Khal did the same, standing and turning. Muhar was uncharted; its native inhabitants, the Muharee, were a primitive, little-known species. They were rumored to be ruthless and savage, killing foreigners without asking questions. But rumors from beyond the Ring were not known to be reliable by nature. Very little contact had been made with the Muharee.
“There’s no other choice. The Myrador will never fly again, so unless you want to spend the rest of your days in the Beyond, we have to find a way to reach out to Chief Arlen,” Khal said.
They locked gazes in the dusty air of the fallen ship, then Zaxis nodded. They were together in this.
A female whine attracted his attention and Khal was at Hazel’s side. Her face was still slack and her skin pale and damp, but she didn’t appear injured.
“Hazel, wake up,” he gently coaxed her and was rewarded by a fluttering of her eyelids. “We’ve landed.”
Hazel blinked, her mouth closing and opening a few times, then her eyes locked with his. She looked confused and fearful then, gradually, she regained her composure.
“We made it.” Her voice was just a thread but she stirred in her seat, her strength returning fast. “How’s Celaith?”
“She’s still out,” Zaxis answered as he cradled the Arvak’s unconscious body against himself. “We need to get her out of here so I can assess her injuries again.”
Not for the first time, Khal watched Zaxis as he held Celaith against him like she was precious, wondering when he would find the courage to claim the female for himself. He was clearly smitten with her, as smitten as Khal had ever seen a male with a female. But it didn’t matter right now. What mattered was getting out of the ship and assessing the damage.
Khal carefully unstrapped Hazel from the restraints and helped her to her feet. She looked around, a resolved expression on her delicate features.
So strong. She was so strong.
But Khal couldn’t lose himself in pride for his mate. They had to get outside, had to see what this strange planet held in store for them.
Helped by his infrared vision, Khal led the way through the liquid darkness of the Myrador’s hallways until they arrived at the escape hatch. He paused at the bottom of the ladder.
“Stay behind me at all times.”
Khal watched Hazel’s face as she scrunched up her eyes, but he knew she couldn’t see. Humans weren’t predators like Eoks, and they lacked the nocturnal vision his kind had evolved. He turned around again and climbed up to the unknown.
He blinked as harsh sunlight hit his pupils, but soon enough he was able to see that the Myrador had crash landed in the middle of a vast plain of soft-looking grass. The metallic surface gleamed under the rays of a harsh, single red sun.
Khal crouched low on the metal frame, scanning the horizon for any signs of life. When he was satisfied that there were no hostile natives coming to attack, he looked down the hatch to see Hazel looking expectantly up at him.
“Is it safe?”
“As safe as we’re ever going to be.”
She didn’t answer but climbed up to join him, soon followed by Zaxis. Khal helped the Avonie climb, placing Celaith in his arms once he was out. They all sat there under the sun for long minutes, reeling from the effects of the crash landing.
“I can’t believe we’re still alive.” Hazel looked around and blinked, like she wasn’t sure this was reality.
“We have a lot of work to do to remain that way,” Khal answered, sliding down the metal surface of the Myrador and to the grass below. It reached up to his mid-calf, soft and dry.
He turned around, motioning for Hazel to follow. She slid down and he caught her easily, then helped Zaxis get down with Celaith. As they all looked around the plains, Khal wondered what this new planet had in store for them.
The worlds beyond the Frontier were uncharted, their wildlife unknown, their civilizations barely in contact. Many sentient species had never been contacted. Many were primitive enough to kill strangers at first sight, ask questions later.
Khal saw no animals in the plains, but he knew that meant nothing because of the recent crash. Any wildlife on this planet would have scattered far and wide due to the crash, but it was still a relief not to have to fight off unknown predators.
“Let’s get further away from the Myrador.” Zaxis looked around with an anxious, serious expression on his face. “If the Muharee live anywhere close to where we crashed, they’ll have seen us, and they will come. There’s no telling what they will do to us.”
“It’s not the Muharee that concern me.” Khal shook his head. “Whoever blasted us out of Muhar’s orbit knew we were coming and chose to blast us on sight. They won’t just assume we all died. They’ll look for the Myrador.”
“You think Knu
t did this?” Zaxis’s face was as somber as Khal’s feelings.
“I see no other explanation.”
Zaxis nodded, pursing his lips.
“We need shelter,” Khal agreed. “Far enough away from the Myrador without losing sight of it. I would prefer to see them coming.”
His eyes scanned the horizon. Far away—much farther than he would have liked, due to the heat and distance—was the beginning of what appeared to be a dense forest, with tall, slender trees growing so close together, he couldn’t see beyond the tree line.
“That way.”
Khal pointed and saw Zaxis blanch. Khal knew the Avonie would be too proud to admit it, but he wasn’t strong enough to carry the weight of the female for so long. Khal turned to him, prepared to tear Celaith from his friend’s arms if he had to.
“It’s too far,” Hazel intervened. “Celaith can’t stay in this heat under the sun for so long. She needs care now.”
“I’ll be fine.” The Arvak female surprised them.
They all looked down at Zaxis’s arms to see her dark pink eyes fluttering open, then closed. Then open again. She was fighting hard against her weakness.
“Go on. Leave me here.” Celaith pursed her lips. “You can come get me after you find shelter.”
“You must have hit your head, female, if you think I’ll leave you here without protection.” Zaxis knelt, helping Celaith to the ground, bracing her back against the shade of the metal wall. His voice shook with anger, but Khal recognized the devotion in his gesture as Zaxis looked over Celaith’s body.
He understood. He felt the same way about Hazel.
“Just get me an ionic gun from the hold,” Celaith chided, but her tone wasn’t as biting as before. “I can take care of myself.”
“I know.” Zaxis nodded. “But I’ll stay with you all the same.”
Khal stared at the Arvak female. Her brow was drawn with pain, covered in a thin layer of sweat. She was in no condition to walk, even less to fight.
“I’ll go with Hazel,” Khal decided. “You stay here with Celaith. I’ll be back as soon as we find shelter.”
Zaxis and Khal locked gazes for a long time. Then, the Avonie nodded.
Without saying another word, Hazel followed Khal into the unknown.
Chapter 18
Hazel
The heat of the red sun seeped through her synthetic leather coat, but Hazel kept it on. Her skin wasn’t used to being exposed to sunlight for long periods of time. Khal walked slightly in front of her, ever alert, scanning the strange plain as they approached the forest. A large backpack containing water and food rations hung from his shoulders.
Hazel tried to swallow, but her mouth was dry and she shook her head.
“I need water,” she called out to Khal and he stopped, a frown on his face.
“We’re close now. We shouldn’t stop.” He turned his gaze to the forest. He wasn’t happy to stop but he did it anyway, fetching her a few pouches of water from the backpack. “This forest is the only place we can hide, but we need to make sure it’s safe before we bring Celaith.”
Because Celaith might not survive the trip. That was what Khal didn’t mention.
It was merely a hundred yards away now, and already Hazel could see the trees were not trees at all. In fact, it wasn’t even a forest.
“Are those grasses?” Hazel drank the entire contents of the pouch in a long, grateful sip, then started on the second right away. No point in staying thirsty now that they had stopped.
“It would seem that way.” Khal spoke in a suspicious tone, his gaze steadily on the forest. She knew he could see things she didn’t with his superior vision. She stared at the vast forest made of tall stalks that seemed to open at the top like blades of grass. The stalks were large and grew wide enough apart from each other to provide shade and shelter.
Shade and shelter for them, as well as any potential enemy.
“Stay close to me,” Khal instructed her before resuming his walk. He used a slower pace, allowing Hazel to follow more closely.
A few minutes later, they entered the forest. They had been right, the forest was made of long, incredibly large shoots of grass, growing far apart from each other. As the breeze blew across the top, they moved in unison like a unique organism. An eerie silence reigned supreme in the forest, any sounds further dampened as they got deeper between the thick, tall stalks. The light was dim and the air was damp after only a few dozen feet and Hazel’s nose wrinkled as a faint, indescribable stench became stronger and stronger.
“This place isn’t like any forest I’ve heard of.” Hazel turned to Khal who stood motionless, his deep blue eyes reflecting the low light.
All around them, the silence slowly gave way to a strange sound, like insects chirping in the night. Hazel’s arms covered in goosebumps at the noise and a sudden nervousness made her turn around, looking at the endless sea of green with suspicion. The chirping was eerie and ominous, but she couldn’t exactly say why.
Khal tilted his head lightly, his face focused as he, too, listened to the strange chirping.
“I hear chirping, yet no sounds of wings or legs on the ground. If it’s animals making that sound, then they’re staying perfectly still while doing it.” Khal took a step closer to Hazel, his shoulders tense, his back stiff. “I don’t like this. We’ll head back. Find another place for our shelter.”
“These are incredible.” Hazel stepped closer to a stalk, its surface glistening, green lined with red. It looked so smooth, so soft, she flattened her palm against a trunk then took it off with a frown.
“It’s warm,” she said, a growing nervousness eating away at her as she eyed the forest with new eyes. “What is this place?”
Khal’s head tilted sharply toward the stalk Hazel had just touched. His face turned deadly still for a second, then alarm spread across his features.
“Those are not trees!”
He grabbed her arm just as a long, sleek root shot from the ground, wrapping tightly around her ankle. An immediate burning sensation spread across her skin as wisps of smoke rose from her synthetic leather pants.
“It burns!” Hazel cried, bending to free her leg. She didn’t have time to reach out as another root shot out and wrapped around her wrist.
This time, the pain was like a branding iron as it seared through her skin. The burning in her ankle became stronger and stronger as the synthetic leather dissolved. Hazel screamed mindlessly as her flesh started to melt.
That root was no root. And it was eating her alive.
Khal moved, fast and efficiently. His talons freed her ankle, then her wrist in single, graceful swipes. The roots fell to the ground, twisting like the severed ends of a worm. Another root jumped from the ground, closing around his thigh. He sliced it before it was even done wrapping.
“Run!” Khal shouted, slicing another root that sprang from the ground, its attack lightning fast and precise like a snake’s.
A snake’s attack. That was exactly what this was.
But there was no time for thoughts, no time for words. This was a time to run for their lives as the forest suddenly became alive. More roots were coming up from the ground and the previously undefined stench became unbearable.
They ran. Khal cut a mighty path along the way, his talons slicing roots on all sides, but more and more were coming up. The slightest touch of one of the roots to bare skin was enough to burn on contact, leaving behind raw, flayed flesh and searing pain.
They were closer and closer to the exit of the forest, but as they progressed, the roots shot out more aggressively, dodging some of Khal’s attacks to wrap higher around their bodies.
It was like they were learning. Like they knew what they were doing. They only had another twenty yards to go, but it might as well have been as far as the other side of the Ring.
“We won’t make it,” Hazel said as two roots wrapped around each of Khal’s legs simultaneously. The Eok showed no signs of fatigue or even pain, but his blue sk
in was marred with lines of red where the roots had touched him. Dozens of them.
As if the forest had heard her, a strange sound rose all around them, like thousands of insects buzzing. She understood a second later that it came from the trees.
The trees that were not trees at all. These things were predators.
Still, Khal kept going, slicing roots, moving forward slowly, one foot at a time. He wasn’t giving up.
“It’s the stalks!” Hazel shouted as she stepped on the wriggling severed remnant of one of the roots. “They’re talking to each other. They’re communicating.”
Khal glanced at her for a split second, then jumped forward, diving in with his talons outstretched. Only he wasn’t aiming at the four roots shooting simultaneously at him, but at the wide, glistening trunk of the closest stalk. His long talons embedded deep in the trunk and a great screech shook the entire forest, spreading from stalk to stalk like a wind made of fury.
The roots retracted for a second as the stalk screamed. Khal wasted no time. He turned around, grabbed her hand, and ran. Hazel barely touched the ground as they left the forest behind, falling to the grassland in a heap.
As the harsh red sun hit her face, Hazel turned onto her back, backing away as far as she could from the carnivorous forest.
At her side, Khal was unmoving. As she looked upon his profile, she saw his face was drawn, his features tight and his talons still embedded in the ground. But he wasn’t looking at the forest, wasn’t looking at the monstrous trees that were not trees.
No, his gaze was set on something behind them, on the grass plain. Dread filled Hazel’s stomach as she turned around to see a group of a dozen people standing just a few feet ahead. They were tall, lit from behind by the strong light of the red sun, but their silhouette was one Hazel would recognize under any circumstances.
Ilarian guards.
A snarl came from Khal as a slim, tall figure clad in a blazing white suit stepped forward.
“Now, now, Commander Khal.” A familiar, fluted voice rang above Hazel’s head, one that spread through her veins like poison, opening the abyss of her past into a pit of terror. “I suggest you don’t do anything foolish.”
