“So then Ketl came after you.”
“Yes.” She could feel his distress and she ran her fingers through his close-cropped hair. “Except, I had a surprise in store for him. Ever since we've been working the mines I've felt sick, and Kas said he was sure I was calling the Change.”
Garek went still under her.
“I know.” She gave him a small smile. “A little late in life to discover it, but it's the shadow ore. The thing the sky raiders need us to get for them. It must be buried too deep on Barit for me to ever have sensed it. Here, I'm covered in its dust, having to haul rocks rich with it. I was feeling so sick, so disoriented, and then Ketl attacked me and Min, and I dropped the rock I was carrying, and suddenly, I had control of the ore. I used it to hurt him.”
“How badly?”
The eager way he said it, she understood he hoped it was very badly.
“I pinned his body to the rock with the ore.”
He made a hum of appreciation, and she couldn't help the low laugh that escaped.
“Your father smelted some for me the next day, and so now I have some needles of it.” Her hair band was outside the door of her room, but she could show him later.
“But even though Kas warned the Kardanx to keep Ketl in check, he was too humiliated by our confrontation to leave it alone. Two days ago, he and two others grabbed Min and me and threw us down a side shaft and then collapsed the tunnel entrance on us.”
“They had to dig you out?” Garek's hand was on her upper arm now, holding her like someone was about to rip her away.
“There are so many collapsed tunnels, no one noticed. Kas realized we were gone when it was time to go home. By then, Min and I had found another way out, but it took us a long way underground and we had to sleep in a cave full of shadow ore, and then spend almost a full day after that walking back.”
He was quiet for a while, his arm tightening around her, pulling her even closer. “I'm not Kas,” he said at last.
She nuzzled him. “I know.”
“Don't try to downplay things, then.”
Surprise kept her silent for a beat. “You have changed.”
He would never have called her on that before.
“Taya.” He sounded implacable.
She sighed. “It was dark and dangerous, we were attacked by strange creatures, and if Min hadn't been able to call the water Change, we'd have drowned.”
He kept his strokes light, but she lifted her head again, saw the way his jaw was clenched.
“And he'll be free to wander around from tomorrow?”
“I think so. Now we've broken through to the ore, they're pushing as hard as they can to get as much as possible. They need strong backs like his and the two who helped him.”
He thought about it. “They're on some kind of schedule, do you think? They've got some kind of time limit?”
“It could be. But if they do, I don't know why. It could be anything.” She'd wondered before if they had a deadline of some kind, or whether the sky raiders were simply worried about the atmospheric damage being done to their equipment and wanted to get what they needed and get out as quickly as possible. “I don't even know how they plan to transport the ore, it messes up their systems so badly.”
Garek lifted up on an elbow, looked down at her. “You've worked that into your escape plan?”
“Quardi told you about it?”
He shook his head. “I know you and Kas. You've got a plan.”
She nodded. “We have. You don't think I wasn't trying to get back to you just as much as you wanted to get back to me?”
He smiled. “I know you were.”
She felt the tears suddenly flood her eyes, and couldn't do anything about them. “I can't tell you how many times I wished you were here. Not to save me, just to be with me. Because it hurts to not have you in my life.”
He lifted a fingertip, brushed a tear away. The look on his face made her go still.
“You look like you want to commit murder.” She tried a wobbly smile.
He kissed her cheek where the tear had been. “That is because I do.”
Chapter 29
Garek didn't know where Kas and Aidan ended up spending the night, and he didn't care. He was just happy they'd left Kas and Taya's hut to Taya and himself.
It wasn't something Kas would ever have permitted when he and Taya had been together before he went to Gara, but there had been a shift of power between the siblings.
Taya was an equal partner to Kas now, and he'd obviously decided he no longer had the right to act as if he were her father, although he'd taken that role since their parents and Kas's wife had been killed in a rockfall walking over the pass when Taya was fourteen and Luca had been four.
Garek had slept lightly, holding her close on her soft bed, and was awake to hear the camp stir to life, as the occupants got ready for another day down the sky raider's mine.
He swallowed his anger at the thought of Taya being used as a slave, knowing the best revenge would be the destruction of the sky raider base, and the rescue of all the workers.
She stirred, and he rose up on his elbow to look down at her.
“Now this is the way I like waking up.”
He grinned at her, but the sound of someone outside had him rolling to his feet.
“Taya?”
It was Kas, and Garek stepped outside to greet him, closing the makeshift door behind him so Taya could change.
Kas was watching him steadily.
“Thank you.” Garek knew last night could have been made much more difficult if Kas hadn't decided to play nice.
“She deserves to be happy. You make her happy.” Kas shrugged.
“You didn't always feel that way.” Garek kept his voice low.
“No.” Kas shook his head, looked down. “I knew you were always the one as far as she was concerned, I just hoped she'd find someone else. Because everything about you screams trouble.”
“I don't go looking for it.” Garek was tired of hearing how he was trouble, when he made every effort to stay away from it.
“No.” Kas gave a surprisingly friendly chuckle. “I don't suppose you do. You didn't choose to look like you do. And you didn't choose to be as talented about calling the Change. Still doesn't mean I'm thrilled about having you in the family.”
“What does that even mean? What do I look like?”
“Like a warrior from the old tales.” Taya stepped out, dressed in a plain shift that was clean, but had deeply ingrained stains that told him this was what she wore down the mines. She grinned as she shrugged into a coat that was a little too big, but that seemed warm enough to settle the worry and anger that rose up in him. “Kas wants my intended to be someone he can easily cower. Someone he can boss around. And he's always known that wasn't going to be you.”
Kas gave her a sour look and stepped into the hut, closing the door behind him with a little more force than necessary.
Taya winked at Garek, and he felt the strange sensation of falling for her all over again, his heart stuttering in his chest at the way she pulled on boots in preparation to work as slave labor for an alien force with humor and mischief.
When she leaned forward and kissed him, he struggled to keep his touch light.
“So what are you going to do today?” She sat down on a log propped up against the shaky wall of the shack.
“I'll watch the sky raiders. See where their weaknesses are.” That was one thing he was good at.
“Try to get some rest as well.” Kas emerged, his clothes as rough and stained as Taya's. He'd always been strong, but now Garek could see almost every muscle defined in his arms. “It would be good if you and Aidan could sneak out of camp tonight, check out the signal tower Taya found when she was walking back from the cave.”
Garek lifted a brow at Taya and she shrugged.
“We were so busy, I didn't have time to tell you about that.” She suppressed a smile at Kas's scowl.
“We'll talk about it
tonight, give you some provisions. I was wondering how one of us was going to go out and find it and still function on their shift, but you don't have that problem.”
Garek nodded. “I'll make sure we rest this afternoon.”
“Well, let's have breakfast,” Taya looked upward. “The transporter will be here soon.”
She slipped her hand into his and squeezed, and that's why he was smiling like a fool as she led him to the fire.
“It makes me a little scared, you know.” Aidan crouched beside him behind one of the huts as the transporter landed with the returning night shift, the blast of grit spitting against the wood like rain against a tin roof.
“What does?”
“You, behaving like a real person.”
Garek frowned at him and he grinned.
“I shared a room with your intended's brother last night. They obviously grow them taciturn and monosyllabic out Pan Nuk way.”
Garek didn't understand his spike of anger at Aidan's words, nor his compulsion to react. “They also make them loyal to their own out there. If I'd been taken, Kas and Taya would have tried to get me back, too. If only the rulers of West Lathor could learn from their own citizens.”
Aidan went quiet.
The sound of the transporter's engines faded into the distance, and Garek straightened, waiting for Eli.
If he knew the farmer, Eli would already have made it his business to watch the sky raiders while he could during his rest time.
“You have an uncanny knack of knowing exactly where to stick the knife in.” Aidan's voice was low and angry. “I admit, my father has let West Lathor down, but he's not disloyal. Pan Nuk should not have slipped through the cracks, my father should have known about it, and you're right, having the Gara town master against us is no excuse, because we do have a spy in his office. Now, can we move on?”
Garek turned his head, gave a nod. “I won't bring up your tenuous hold of West Lathor again. Just be warned that you don't get automatic respect where we're concerned. Your father failing to be a good leader has endangered us all. I've seen what's going on in Gara over the last two years, and I know things are at a tipping point. Before, your father's Iron Guard made every other provincial leader think twice about making moves on West Lathor, but there are rumors that that's changing.”
“That's because the Iron Guard has disbanded.” The words were quiet.
Garek hid his shock and held Aidan's gaze. “We'll talk about that later.” He heard footsteps heading their way and now wasn't the time to talk about the loss of a major strategic strength back home.
He needed to keep his concentration on getting them all out of this mess. The good thing was now he wasn't alone. He had Taya, Kas, his father, and people like Eli to help him. And they knew a lot more about this place than he did.
Eli walked past the shack, saw them and gave a quick nod. “It's my turn to make breakfast, we can talk while you help me.”
Garek stepped in along side him, and Aidan took his other side, and they walked back to the cooking area that seemed to be the Pan Nuk meeting place.
He asked Eli about it.
“There's about thirty Pan Nukkers on the day shift, about ten on night shift. You'll recognize most of them when they finish washing up and come to eat.”
“Where do the ones taken from Harven and Dartalia gather?” Aidan asked him.
Eli pointed to the right, but whatever place he was talking about was obscured by the shacks and huts. “It was unwieldy for us all to eat in one place, and hard for one or two to make food for so many, so we split up into two. We get along well enough, but ended up staying close to those we know.”
“And on the Kardanx side?” Garek asked.
Eli shrugged. “They seem to have smaller groups, because they're not from just two places like we are, but all over. The women stick together, though. They only allow a few men into their circle from what I've seen. Dom, the one who saved his mother, and a few of his friends who support what he did.”
“Some don't?” Aidan's voice was soft with surprise.
Eli shrugged. “If they do, then they're admitting they were wrong. That they shouldn't have murdered their wives and daughters.”
There was silence as Eli crouched in front of a low cupboard set under a canopy to one side of the fireplace and pulled out the golden flat grains common to the north of West Lathor for making porridge, and handed the sack to Aidan. “Four cups of this into six cups of water into that pot should be enough.”
Garek watched as Aidan took the sack as if he'd been asked to make porridge every day of his life, accepted the cup Eli handed him and went to grab the pot standing near the fire. As he walked off toward the river to get the water, Garek caught Eli's quick grin.
Grinned himself.
“Here, you can chop the fruit.” Eli lifted out a large flat bowl of mixed fruit, and a wooden board, and Garek began peeling and chopping with the bluntest knife he'd ever used. He guessed that was deliberate on the sky raiders' part. Eli bent over a bowl where he mixed flour, oil and water into a thick paste for flat breads.
He sprinkled some strange seeds into the mixture and Garek took a few and sniffed them. The spicy, musky scent was good.
“Falimar. From down south. I'd heard about it, but never tasted it until I came to this Star forsaken place.” Eli gave a flat laugh. “Ironic, really.”
“You'll get back home,” Garek told him. “We all will.”
Eli sent him a sideways look. “I believe you, only because I know you'd cut out your own heart rather than fail Taya. I saw it from the start, which is why I've always thought Kas was wasting his time trying to get her to look elsewhere.”
He used an empty bottle to roll the flat bread out, and then used the trivet which held a grate over the flames and slapped the dough down on it.
The smell that wafted up was so good, even though he'd already eaten, Garek realized he was hungry again. He tipped the fruit into the bowl Eli had slid his way.
When he turned toward Eli, he saw Hap and Lynal, frozen in their tracks, staring at him.
“Garek?” Hap stepped forward, uncertain and off-balance.
“Hap.” He flicked his gaze to Lynal, gave a nod. He recalled Luca telling him both had tried to come calling for Taya during the second year he was away, thinking he'd given up on her.
He told himself he couldn't blame them for trying. If he'd been them, he'd have tried, too.
“How? Did they take you?” Hap stopped in front of him, bent his arm at the elbow, and Garek hooked his thumb around Hap's and clasped his hand.
“Eli didn't tell you?”
“Can't be sure they're not listening in at the mine, especially since Ketl threw Taya and Min down that shaft.” Eli shrugged.
Hap took a step back. “You got here on your own?” He chanced a quick glance at Aidan, walking back from the river with the pot cradled in his arms.
“Brought down a sky craft, flew it up to the sky raider's main ship and then stowed away on a transporter to get here.” Garek shrugged.
Lynal whistled. “I like Taya, but not that much.”
Garek raised a brow. “And that's the difference between you and me, Lynal.”
Eli gave him a sharp look, but relaxed when Garek didn't say anything more. “Play nice, boys. We all know Taya made her decision a long time ago, and even if Garek hadn't managed to defy all the rules and get up here, she'd still choose him over anyone else.”
“True.” Hap grinned, and clapped Garek on the arm. “Who's your friend?”
“Aidan of Juli.” Aidan set the pot down by the fire.
“The liege's son?” Lynal frowned.
“We walked the walls together at Gara,” Aidan said. “And now we're here to get you out.”
Garek stared at him.
“Well,” Aidan conceded, “Garek's here to get you out. I'm just along to help.”
“No.” Garek would have to put a muzzle on Aidan's mouth. “I'll admit I came to save Taya
, but it looks like you've already got the workings of a plan to escape. I can help, because I don't work shifts and they don't know I'm here. So tell me where you think their daytime vulnerabilities are, and I'll spend the morning watching them to see what I can contribute.”
Eli gave a slow nod. “That'll work.”
It would have to, because Garek was getting Taya off this planet, no matter what.
Chapter 30
No one spoke much while they finished breakfast, and then Eli and the others went to wash and sleep.
Garek waited until the camp settled down into silence, the hammering and murmured conversation from his father's forge the only sound.
Aidan shadowed him, a quiet and easy companion.
They watched the guard standing over his father for a while, then angled their way through the shacks so they were looking at him face on.
“It's hard to say because of the tint in the glass, but he could be asleep in there for all he's doing.” Aidan spoke for the first time.
Garek nodded. “Given they've only got two guards on the ground at the camp, you'd think he'd be moving around more, checking on my father but also doing a general sweep.”
Eventually they slipped away, working their way to the Stolen Store and the open area where the transporters landed.
The lone guard stood absolutely still, his mechanical outer shell pointed in the direction the transporter went that morning.
As if he stood watching it go, and had forgotten to turn back to the camp.
“It's almost too tempting to think they're this lax, but they've been here for two months, and they think they have all the advantages.”
“We're thinking like guards from the wall with sky raiders attacking daily. We're always on alert. They haven't had a serious threat in a long time, and the closest they've come to danger is when you slammed that sky craft down. And you're the only one to have ever done that, as far as I know.”
Garek nodded, conceding the point. He and Aidan were both battle-ready and honed from months of attacks. These guards thought they were unassailable, with prisoners who had nowhere to run and no option but to toe the line.
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