by Zoe Ashwood
Taron clutched at his hair. “And you decided to send Adriana? She has no military training, no experience surviving in the wild.” This was catastrophic. These humans had single-handedly ruined any chance of a peaceful resolution to his nation’s problem.
The regent specifically forbade them from allowing the humans to access that area. The general population in Volarun clearly had no idea what was going on at the mines, and Gilmar knew full well that the Intergalactic Trade Association would never buy platinum that came from an unethically operated mine. But Adriana would poke around, ask questions, and finally write her report, which would be made public for anyone to read. The regent couldn’t permit that—and he’d already proved he didn’t mind making his problems disappear.
“She was the obvious choice.” Hanna’s voice was quiet but steady. “She knows the people best. It would be useless to send someone like Jean, who only cares about engines. And she has Steven to guard her if—”
“Didn’t you notice that Steven got assigned a guard as well? Why do you think that is?” He didn’t wait for her to answer the question. “Because Rendians are superior in strength and skill when it comes to fighting. You’re small and likely to freeze to death if you’re left outside for too long.” He cursed, adding, “And the moment something’s not to your liking, you go sneaking off without bothering to ask why we were so intent on keeping you away from there.”
Mika spread her arms. “Well, then, enlighten us. We were told we had the freedom to explore. Now you’re telling us there are places we can’t go—without giving us an explanation.”
“Things have changed since your contracts were signed,” he growled. He was about to explain, but he caught a glance of the sky through the window. Dusk was falling, and he was running out of time.
He straightened his shoulders and put on his commander’s expression. “If you want your friends to survive, you will find Kol and Lhett immediately and inform them—in detail—about this plan of yours. Then you will follow their directions to the letter. Whatever you do, don’t let anyone else realize that Adriana and Steven are missing.”
“Are you going after them?” Hanne hugged herself, suddenly looking worried.
Good. Maybe they were finally beginning to understand what they’d caused.
“Yes. I will try to radio them and convince them to return, but at this hour, it might be more dangerous for them to turn around and get caught on the plains in the middle of the night.” He turned to Ben. “What supplies will I need to heal them if they’re hurt?”
To his credit, the human, whose face was now pale beneath his freckles, darted out of the room, returning minutes later with a small pack of bandages and pills. “You can call me, and I’ll walk you through any procedure. I’ll help you however I can.”
Taron nodded and left, hearing the mad scrabble behind him as Hanne and Mika ran to find his brothers. They would know what to do—he just hoped they would manage to keep everything quiet. They needed to sweep this under the rug and pretend nothing ever happened.
Stopping in his room, he shed his clothes and pulled on his captain’s uniform, activating the light armor inside it. The surface of the suit rippled, the nano-scales forming an impenetrable protection on his body. Then he put his civilian clothing back on, piling the layers in anticipation of a long, freezing night flight across the vast lowlands that lay between Volarun and the high Dozois Mountains.
But the hardest part of this deception was putting on a pleasant smile and striding into the royal hangars where the military-grade vehicles were being kept under the eye of watchful guards. While Ben had gone to fetch the medical supplies, Mika and Hanne had explained that Steven rented a hover sled from one of the commercial posts in the lower city to avoid raising questions with the guards. This was good news, at least, as it would have definitely raised the suspicion of the regent’s guards.
Now he nodded to the female soldier in the booth by the door and strode past the rows of hover sleds to where the light airships were parked at the other end of the warehouse. These aircraft weren’t made for exiting the orbit, but they’d serve well for traversing the plains. If he could get his hands on one.
“Captain,” one of Lhett’s former trainees greeted, a man a decade older than himself.
Taron gave him a wry smile. “You know full well I’m Captain no longer, Soldier, not under the new rule.”
The man exchanged a glance with his fellow guard, and they both grumbled sympathetically. Then the first one asked, “How can we help you today, then?”
Praying to his ancestors that this would work, Taron shuffled his feet and thought of Adriana to make a little color rise into his cheeks. He rubbed the back of his neck and gave the guards a sheepish grin. “It’s embarrassing, really. But, uh… Can you promise to keep a secret?”
The soldiers snorted.
“Sure,” the other one said.
“There’s this lady in the human delegation. Small, dark-haired, curves to die for.” He traced his hands through the air, hating himself for putting Adriana’s image to such use, but he was desperate. “I thought I might impress her by showing her the city at night…from up above.” He inclined his head toward the airships.
“Ah, I don’t know about that, Cap—Mr. Naals.” His brother’s former soldier contemplated the vehicles. “It’s an unusual request.”
“But you know me, right?” Taron pressed. “And my brothers. You know I’m good for it if anything happens to it.” In truth, with their assets frozen by Gilmar, Taron could barely afford to buy the steering stick, let alone the entire ship, but for once, the regent’s insistence on keeping a tight lid on the entire massacre was working in his favor. As far as the general public was concerned, the Naals brothers were rolling in it.
“Couldn’t you take your ship?” the other soldier asked.
Taron lifted his eyebrows. “The Stargazer takes a whole crew to run. With what I have in mind for today, I’d rather not have an audience, if you know what I’m saying.”
The guards laughed, and with some more coaxing—and the promise to put in a good word with his brother—they let him have a tiny four-person ship with banged-up sides.
“I’ll have it back before lunch tomorrow,” he promised, though he had no idea if he’d be able to keep his word.
“She lists to the left,” the guard told him, patting the gray metal nose. “And the heater’s wonky, so you might have to work double time to keep your lady warm.”
Taron’s face muscles ached as he forced a laugh and flicked the buttons that started the ship’s nuclear engine. That first hum of power was amazing; this was where he was most comfortable, this was his domain. The door to the cabin slid shut, cutting off the guards’ jokes. With one last wave, Taron was off, the aircraft rising gently from its spot before he maneuvered it out of the hangar and took off into the night.
12
Adriana
“Holy shit, it’s cold.”
Steven tucked his gloved hands into his armpits, stamping his feet in the thick snow to warm himself. Adriana felt similarly frozen, the tip of her braid frosted white from their ride across the plains.
The trip had been uneventful. They’d picked up the hover sled in the city, made sure its battery was charged enough for the round trip, and set out straight toward the mountains in the distance. It was only about halfway that they realized the distance between the city and the high gray slopes was greater than it seemed—and the mountains were colossal.
On Earth, only the Himalayas could rival this sight, but these peaks rose from the lowlands with no high plateaus to soften the ascent: a sheer wall of rock that surely no living creature could climb. But tiny shapes circled in the air above the highest peaks; if they came any closer, they would probably be enormous.
“What the hell are those?” Steven asked, craning his neck to stare at the sky.
Adriana’s breath puffed out in a small white cloud. “No idea,” she said. “But I hope they’re he
rbivores.”
Steven shot her a look and patted the Rendian spear at his side.
They’d arrived at the village half an hour ago and waited in the village square for the inhabitants to come out. She knew Taron’s warning about the hostile villagers was made-up, but she didn’t want to intrude. She’d been sure curious faces would soon peek through windows and around doors, but so far, no one had come to greet them—or otherwise engage with them.
“Let’s knock on a few doors,” she muttered to Steven, who fell in step with her, apparently eager to move.
They went from house to house, knocking and calling, but the village was empty. That, or everyone was hiding under their beds, waiting for them to leave. Adriana swallowed a knot of unease, looking around—their footsteps were the only ones marring the fresh snow. The last snowstorm that had passed through the land had been four days ago; since then, they’d had nothing but blue skies. So it had been at least four days since anyone walked here.
“Come on,” she said. “Let’s try the next village.”
They traveled slowly along the shore of the vast lake, the largest of nearly a dozen thermal Murrun lakes. They never froze, not even in the middle of winter, Lieutenant Anilla had told Adriana, and the villagers supplied the capital with the highly sought-after crab-like creatures that lived in their depths. Adriana supposed those were the reason for Mika’s interest in the area, since her zoologist friend had been tasked with documenting the fauna of the planet.
But this evening, no boats bobbed on the steaming surface of the lake, no fishermen dragged crab traps. In fact, the eerie quiet of their surroundings gave her goosebumps that had nothing to do with subzero temperatures. Steven also pointed out that the lakeshore looked weird, as if the water had receded by several yards, leaving stone docks jutting out.
They reached the second village at nightfall, the darkness gathering around them with alarming swiftness. This village also appeared empty—there were no lights shining in the windows, and no sound came from within the darkened houses. Their sled’s headlights illuminated the village square, casting strange shadows.
“This is really weird,” Steven murmured in an undertone. “I don’t like it. It’s like they all disappeared. Like in the Roanoke Colony.”
Adriana tried to laugh it off. “You’ve been watching too many sci-fi shows. I’m sure there’s a rational explanation for all of this.” She just couldn’t think of one.
She grabbed a flashlight from their packs and set off to explore. “You stay here and guard the sled. I’ll only be a minute.” She’d dragged the man here, the least she could do was do the leg work.
Steven nodded, putting his back to the sled and crossing his arms over his chest. “Be quick. I want to get away from here and find a good place to camp.”
“We could just…use one of these houses.” She hated the idea of barging in without the owners’ permission, but it would significantly increase their chances of not freezing their butts off.
“Yeah, okay. But we’re leaving first thing in the morning and returning to the city, all right? I don’t care what’s happening here—it’s not worth risking our lives.”
Adriana nodded and set out to search for a good place to sleep. Somewhere with easy access—she didn’t doubt that Steven could break in a door, but she wanted to do as little damage as possible to the property they borrowed for the night. Looking up, she thought she’d see a sky full of stars, but thin clouds obscured them this evening, heralding a change in weather. Adriana shivered and hunched her shoulders, regretting her decision to come here without Taron.
He hadn’t given her a choice, though. Tomorrow, she would return to Volarun and find out what was happening here. She wouldn’t take no for an answer—she would demand an explanation from Taron or the queen herself if it came to that.
She was turning back, intent on retracing her footsteps in the snow, when Steven’s shout rang out. Adriana clicked off the flashlight, froze in place, and listened for any sign of danger. For a moment, she thought about calling out to him, then remembered all the horror movies, where ‘Hello, who’s there?’ ended up being a homing beacon for the monster hunting its prey. She glanced around, searching for cover, then remembered the footprints.
Biting back a groan, she frantically tried to smudge her trail to obscure her location. What had surprised Steven, a fully trained SEAL? Was he even alive? She needed to circle around and see what was going on in the square… She looked up. Maybe she could access a rooftop and get a view from above?
Voices sounded from around the corner. Male voices, Rendian, hushed as if they were trying not to spook their prey.
Shit, shit, shit. Adriana plastered herself to the wall, only too aware of her disadvantage. While she was in good physical shape courtesy of the training for this research trip, that training mostly included running and weight training, building up her stamina, not combat training. She didn’t think the tai-chi classes she took in college prepared her for fighting off six-foot-four Rendian thugs.
If she disappeared from this village, nobody would find her body. Sure, her and Steven’s team members knew where they went, but the Rendians had warned them several times not to venture out into the wilds alone. Stupid. She thought of Taron. Would he be disappointed if she never returned? Would he come searching for her?
The voices came closer, and her heart rate spiked, her lungs seared by the frigid air she gulped down. She might never see Taron again. The thought was unbearable, and she put her mitten over her mouth to smother a gasp of pain.
It hit her then that she wasn’t even worrying about not returning to Earth or seeing her parents again—no, her thoughts were all for one tall, blue-skinned alien who’d shown her so much care and attention in these past weeks. No man had ever made her feel so cherished and loved. The moment of clarity was instant—and possibly futile, if she was going to be killed here. It didn’t matter what he called his feelings: peace, love, none of it was important when she felt his affection in every touch, every look he gave her.
But in the end, she didn’t even get a chance to fight. She was backing off from the voices, trying to make a run for it, to fight to return to Taron, when she turned around the corner of the building and came face to face with a Rendian man in a soldier’s uniform. He grinned at her, and before she could punch his throat, he leveled his spear at her and shot a bolt of electricity into her abdomen.
Pain seized her, locking her muscles, and she would have screamed if her teeth weren’t fused together. Then everything went blissfully, mercifully black.
13
Taron
Full night fell while he flew toward the Dozois Mountains. Thick clouds were gathering, the first sign of a snowstorm blowing in from the mainland in the east. Taron cursed and willed the beat-up airship to go faster; the metal groaned around him as if the ship was complaining at being abused in such a manner.
He’d disabled the tracking system the moment he left Volarun, hoping nobody would think it too strange. Then he tried to radio the pair of humans he was chasing, but only kept getting static in response. This didn’t bode well—either their radio was disabled or the snowstorm currently shaking his ship was becoming a full-blown electrical ice storm. He didn’t like either of those options. He debated putting on the ship’s headlights, but that would only alert the soldiers at the mine of his arrival, and he didn’t think anyone else would be stupid enough to fly in the dark. No, he was the only crazy person going into enemy territory alone and virtually blind.
It hadn’t even occurred to him to stay in the city. He tried telling himself he was doing it to cover his own failure, his own inability to keep the humans from discovering what was really going on. To save his queen. But the truth was he only thought of Adriana. He needed to get to her, needed to make sure she was safe. Even though she’d left with another man without informing him. Had even deceived him to escape.
Landing the aircraft in the middle of the village square, Taron jumped i
nto the snow. The first thing he noticed were the twin sets of footsteps. The larger set, though smaller than his, likely belonged to the soldier, Steven, and the other, small pair was undoubtedly Adriana’s. He felt some small measure of relief at this—at least they’d made it this far without dying. But they weren’t here anymore.
Taron glanced around, his eyes growing accustomed to the darkness. Nothing moved here. The houses stood dark, empty husks devoid of life. This raised the hairs on the back of his neck—despite the late hour, the village should have been showing some signs of activity. But no. Whatever Gilmar was doing at the mine had affected these people already.
After making certain that Adriana and her guard had indeed left the village, he climbed back on board and took off, flying as low to the ground as he dared, fearing he’d miss their next target. Had they used common sense and tried to find lodgings at the village?
At an echoing shriek from high above, dread settled in his gut. What if they’d been snatched by a mantora? The large flying monsters didn’t normally attack Rendians, but they might see humans as a tasty, exposed morsel, especially now winter was slowly setting in. In that case, he would likely find their hover sled abandoned, crashed somewhere.
He pushed the airship faster, barely avoiding an outcropping of rock, until the shape of the second village materialized from the dark. Here, the prints in the snow showed a chilling story.
Adriana and Steven had clearly stopped in the square, just as they had in the previous village. Steven hadn’t ventured far from the sled, if his footsteps were any indication, but Adriana’s path disappeared into the dark. Much more concerning was the presence of four more sets of prints, large and wide, that Taron recognized as Rendian winter boots. Soldiers’ boots. They’d churned up the snow in the square, and there was an imprint of a body that had lain in a drift. No blood—but then Rendian spears didn’t need to pierce the skin to hurt or kill. He had no idea what a stunning shot would even do to a human—they were frailer than Rendians and might not even survive a full blast.
