“I don’t like this,” Rowe said as they picked up the pace. “Keep your head down for now, sweetheart. We won’t let you trip or fall, sweetheart.”
Indigo did exactly as they told her and kept her head down and her feet moving. With Paine on her left and Rowe on her right, she was almost completely shielded as they hustled down the cobblestone path. Squeezing past carts making their way to the market, the men kept an eye on their path forward as well as what was following behind.
“Now there are five.”
Indigo’s breath came faster at Rowe’s words.
“Don’t worry,” Paine huffed, increasing their pace a bit. “We will lead them out of the crowd and deal with them where it’s safer.”
“W-w-what?” Indigo stuttered, sweat beading on her brow under the hood. The speed at which they were going was enough to make her sweat on a normal day. Combined with the pie she just ate and the heavy cloak she was wearing, it was beginning to turn her stomach. The burn of the spices she’d gobbled down was rising up her throat with every step.
“Once we have them in a side alley, we will take care of the threat.”
Indigo tried to process what he was saying, even as a wave of nausea rolled through her. Stopping in her tracks, she swayed back and forth unsteadily.
“I don’t feel so good,” she murmured, biting back the urge to vomit.
Rowe didn’t miss a beat as he picked her up in his arms, following behind Paine as he cleared a path for them.
“Over here.”
Indigo rolled her head on Rowe’s shoulder, breathing in and out deeply. If she hadn’t thought that eating Indian food and then going for a jog was a bad idea before, she certainly knew that tidbit now. Swallowing the saliva building up in her mouth, she held on for the ride as Rowe followed Paine into an offshoot of the path they’d been on.
Squatting low, Rowe settled her on the ground with her back up against a wall. Pushing her hood back he fanned her face with his palm, delivering a slight breeze of fresh-ish air.
“Better?”
Indigo grimaced as he wafted air into her face. The wind carried the smell of garbage, most of it piled in the alley they’d taken refuge in.
“What’s going on?” she murmured, wincing at the stitch in her side. Pressing her hand against the offended area, she made note that the strange colored lights were blinking again on the trackers they’d fit her with.
“My guess is the marshal wanted a closer look at our bride and has sent his soldiers to do his dirty work.”
“What?” Indigo gasped, her panic overriding the nausea she’d been struggling with. “I sure as hell hope you don’t mean they’re gonna try to kidnap me, cuz lemme tell you—”
Her tirade was muffled by Paine’s large hand, his hold gentle but effective in shutting her up. Indigo rolled her eyes and gave him a harrumph for good measure behind his palm.
“Haven’t we told you that as our bride it wasn’t your place to worry?” he asked, a tilted grin on his face.
“Pfft. It’s hard not to when you’re being chased and have to hide in an alley,” Indigo argued, her stomach settling down a little.
“First, we won’t let them get anywhere near you,” Rowe informed her loudly, crossing his arms over his thickly muscled chest. “And second, we are not hiding.”
“What do you mean?” she asked, confused as to how they weren’t hiding in an alley when that was exactly what they were currently doing. Shooting an anxious look over his shoulder, she eyed the entrance they’d ducked into. “And don’t be so loud. You’re going to lead them right to us.”
Paine chuckled, taking a similar stance beside Rowe in front of her. Arms crossed over their chest and their boots planted slightly apart, they stared at her. Both obviously amused.
“Indy,” Rowe sighed. “We did not hurry you into this alley to hide from the guards following us.”
She frowned.
“We don’t run from fights, love,” Paine said, giving her a look.
“Then why the alley?” she asked, gesturing to the area they were arguing in. “There’s no exit here, guys. We’re sitting ducks, in case you didn’t realize that.”
Squatting down in front of her, Rowe caught her hand where it was waving left and right. Bringing it to his lips, he kissed her fingers.
“The alley is for the safety of those trekking to the square that have nothing to do with the marshal and his men,” he explained. “Trying to face them in that crowd would have surely resulted in more than a few injuries, if not deaths. The people here are traders, not warriors.”
“In this alley we do not need to worry about others stumbling into the fray.” Paine crouched down until he was also eye level with her. “Do you understand now?”
Indigo swallowed. Her eyes darting back and forth between them. “Yeah.”
Catching movement behind them at the start of the alley, she sucked in a quick breath.
“Well, guys,” she said as they stood up and faced the aliens that had followed them, “I’m just going to stay right here while you deal with…that.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
“It’s still bleeding, but until we can get you to an actual doctor, it’s going to have to do,” Indigo said, tying the cloth they’d cut from her cape around the wound on Paine’s upper arm.
“I still can’t believe he managed to get in a lucky strike,” Paine growled angrily as he tucked in some of the extra fabric from the makeshift bandage. The wound wasn’t deep and didn’t hurt much, except his pride. “The blood flow should slow once I calm. My heart’s just pumping a little from the fight.”
Rowe grunted as he cleaned his blade in a puddle of water that had collected in one of the broken cobblestones.
“What are you thinking?” Paine asked, knowing that Rowe grunting usually meant his brother was trying to figure something out.
“I am thinking the marshal does not plan on letting us leave Euphoria.”
Rowe’s announcement made Indigo catch her breath and Paine frown.
“Why do you say that?” he asked, already putting it together in his head and seeing the clear answer.
“He would never have attacked if he thought we’d have the chance to report back to Kaine. A strike against us is a strike against the council.” Rowe tucked the blades he’d finished wiping down into hidden slits on the side of his tunic. “I have been unable to signal the ship from my band. I have no idea how long the link has been jammed, but it is definitely not working. You?”
Paine quickly checked his own communicator, letting out a curse when he saw what Rowe had already known. “My link is down too.”
“What’s that mean?” Indigo asked, clasping her hands tightly in front of her.
Despite her calm outward demeanor, Paine saw her struggle to maintain a brave front. From the moment they’d met the marshal, she’d worn it as best she could. So far, it’d held up. Now, standing before them with bloodied hands and white-knuckling her robe, she was on the verge of losing that calm.
“The marshal is somehow interfering with our ability to contact the ship or the council—at least from our bands.”
“Our tablets will be useless too. They share the same tech as our bands. The comms on the shuttle should still be able to transmit though, right?” Even as Paine voiced the possibility, he knew what Rowe’s response would be.
They were cut off from backup.
He wasn’t worried for his own sake, nor his warrior brother. He worried for their bride. She wasn’t a soldier, and having her in the middle of the fight was a greater risk that he or Rowe could likely accept easily. Not only could she be harmed physically, but mentally as well. Killing the guards that had attacked them hadn’t been easy for her. He saw with each blow of a fist or slash of a blade that she winced as if she were the one hit. When blood began to flow, he saw the color drain from her face.
“They should work, but it’s not wise to return to the shuttle.”
“Agreed, the marshal will
most likely anticipate that move and set a trap,” Paine said, having arrived at the same conclusion. “I have a suspicion our comms have been out since we landed.”
“Why would you think that?” Rowe asked, his tone surprised.
“Think about it.” Paine tapped his temple. “Axis is supposed to be here, but Pheaton One hasn’t been able to track his band since the day he arrived. Considering our bands are disabled, it’s probable that Axis has been dealing with the same issue. Most likely even before council noticed the connection had gone dark.”
“But mine was blinking when we were at the marshal’s creepy compound,” Indigo interrupted with a frown, holding up her wrist.
Paine thought about it for a moment before he remembered something marshal had said when they’d first arrived. “He’d received a message from Kaine on a comm pod—”
“And our bands would have been functioning under the umbrella of its signal as long as we were within its range. The tech it uses can’t be disrupted by a simple jammer. It is similar to the tech that our shuttle uses to transmit to the rest of Pheaton. That is why we received Kaine’s message and things seemed normal until we left the landing field. We were using the signal boost from the comm unit on our shuttle to keep our links active. I figure we were most likely out of its range not long after we left the landing field and have been cut off since then, except for the time at the compound,” Rowe finished.
Paine nodded. He had to give the marshal a bit of credit for figuring out a way to jam their link to Phaeton One. He hadn’t figured the alien smart enough to accomplish something like that.
“No comms and no shuttle. We don’t have a choice then do we?” he asked, clapping his hands together.
“Wait…what were the choices again?” Indigo squeaked in panic.
“Remember when we told you that we do not run?” Rowe asked, crouching down to search the body of the closest guard. When she nodded, he continued. “The marshal wants a fight, but he didn’t want it to happen at his front door.”
“So that’s where you’re going to take it?” Indigo finished on a gust of air, looking more and more uncomfortable as Rowe flipped over another dead body.
“Exactly,” Paine interrupted, successfully drawing Indigo’s attention away from Rowe’s grim inventory. He’d seen her eyes widen, and he hated her discomfort, but this was now a matter of survival, and his brother knew that they couldn’t afford to overlook any resources or information.
Before her panic could rise further, Paine took a moment to reassure her. Holding her hands, he frowned at how cold they seemed. “We managed to take care of the guards here with only a scratch—and that was just lucky swipe,” he teased, using humor to lighten the situation a bit. Rubbing her fingers, he was happy to see there was some pink to her skin once again. “No need for you to worry.”
“None at all,” Rowe reiterated with a firm look. “Remember what we said about worries.”
“Once the marshal is neutralized, we will search his compound. I cannot help but think he had a hand in Axis’s disappearance.”
“Or, at the very least, has information stashed away that will help us find him.” Finishing his search of the last body, Rowe stood up with nothing to show for his efforts.
“Not even a weapon worth keeping?” Paine asked while he checked out the path to the market.
“Their knives are so flimsy, I’m surprised they were able to wound you. In fact, they remind me of the practice blades we trained with as children,” Rowe chuckled, his boot kicking one across the stone ground. “Completely useless. They have no coin either, which leads me to believe they were promised payment at delivery.”
“Smart of the marshal.” Paine waved them forward. “Follow me closely. If we cut across, we can flank the marshal’s compound.
“Good idea.” Placing himself at the rear, Rowe placed a hand on Indigo’s back. “I’ll be right behind you. Don’t stop unless Paine stops. Follow his lead.”
“Got it,” she said with a shaky nod. “This is actually not that bad…once you get past the killing, the running, and the general odor this place has.”
Paine turned to look at her. Her face was devoid of color except for overly pink cheeks making it look as if she’d been slapped. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah. Sure.” Her fingers tightened on the fabric of his tunic until he felt it pull tight. “I think your alien hot pocket gave me heartburn, though. My chest feels like it’s on fire right now.”
Rowe patted her on the back. “It was worth it though, was it not?”
“Ugh, no. Not worth it.” Indigo groaned dramatically. “We’re about to storm the castle, and I feel like an alien is about to burst out of my chest.”
“The marshal doesn’t live in a castle.”
Indigo snorted.
“Also, why are humans always talking about aliens popping out of chests? I find it very strange.”
“It is odd,” Rowe added from the back as they began to walk.
Chapter Thirty-Five
Indigo followed Paine with one hand on his back and her head down, breathing through her mouth she tried to ignore the sounds and sights around her as much as she possibly could. She was overwhelmed. Not only was she overwhelmed, she was on the brink of a panic attack, spiraling further with every second that passed.
Watching them fight in the alley was an eye-opening experience. They’d both moved so fast that she’d struggled to keep track of what was happening. If she hadn’t seen them fight with her own two eyes, she would have thought it was all special effects.
“Are you okay?” Rowe asked, patting her on the back.
“Yeah,” she breathed. “Just taking it all in.”
When Paine stopped abruptly in front of her, Indigo stumbled into him. The only thing keeping her upright were Rowe’s hands catching her before she fell.
“Are you all right, love?” Rowe asked, steadying her on her feet.
“Axis?”
At hearing Paine speak the name of the warrior that had set them off on this whole mission, Indigo strained for a peek. Poking her head around Paine’s body, she had only a few seconds to admire the warrior before he was toe-to-toe with Paine.
Shorter than her pair of fellas, Axis had a wide smile as he slapped Paine on the shoulder then repeated the greeting with Rowe. Since she was snuggled between the pair, and much smaller, the newcomer was unaware of her presence until he’d almost stepped on her.
As the tip of his boot crunched down on her toes, Indigo let out a squeak. She couldn’t help the curse that followed.
“Shit,” she yelped, looking up at him with a scowl before remembering she was supposed to be keeping her head down. “Sorry,” she whispered a bit too late as she made eye contact with Axis.
“I apologize. I did not see you there.” His gaze was curious as it darted back and forth between her two men. “Wait…did you…is this your bride?”
“Keep it down,” Rowe shushed, looking around the crowd of merchants, although none of them were paying any particular attention to them specifically.
“I know it has been some time before I checked in with the council, but when did the two of you get your own bride?” he asked, his expression one of surprise.
“Long story,” Rowe answered, propping his hands on his hips. “Where the hell have you been?”
Axis shrugged. “Here and there. After our last mission together, I was sent here to keep an eye on things while I took my leave.”
“What exactly have you been doing?” Rowe asked, even as he ushered them to the side of the road so they weren’t in anyone else’s way. “The council has been trying to get in touch with you for quite a while. They even tried to find you by tracking your credits, and you haven’t used any. Have your comms been out since you arrived? How are you eating? Where are you staying?”
“What do you mean the council tried to find me by tracking my credits? What’s going on?” he asked, his expression morphing from confusion to concern wit
hin the blink of an eye.
“When was the last time you checked in with Kaine?” Paine asked. “Or the council?”
“I don’t know. My band had been acting up since our last mission, but I thought it was working fine. Honestly, I have not been paying much attention to it, so there is no telling how long the link has been down.” Tapping the metal bracelet, he frowned. “As for the comm pod, I powered it down after I got settled. I wasn’t sure when I would have a chance to charge it again and wanted to conserve the power it had. I didn’t realize my band wasn’t working or I wouldn’t have done that, obviously.” Dropping his head back, he let out a heavy sigh. “Why are they trying to get ahold of me now? Regardless of the side mission they sent me on, I told Kaine I was taking a break, and that’s exactly what I was trying to do. My official orders were to observe only, not engage.”
“Observe what?” Indigo asked the question they were all wondering.
“I’m unsure. I was simply told to watch for anything out of the ordinary within the city while I enjoyed my time off. I was never given a specific directive other than that, which is why I agreed to the mission in the first place. Every single time I’ve had leave scheduled, it’s been interrupted by the council for some reason or another.”
“Sorry, Axis, but your break is over. The council needs you back on One immediately.”
Axis rubbed his bearded jaw with a grimace.
“Understood. Have you been briefed on my mission?”
Rowe and Paine both shook their heads. “Kaine did not give us the specifics. He did say that he’d received some new intel and worried that your disappearance may have been linked, but no more than that. How quickly can you be ready to leave?”
“I have a few things I will need to grab from the place I’ve been staying. It should only take me a few minutes, no more than that. Is there room on your shuttle for me?”
“Absolutely.” Paine turned on his heel and began to follow Axis as he led them back towards the market square. “We do have a problem though. One that will need to be taken care of before we can head to the shuttle.”
Warriors of Phaeton: Paine and Rowe Page 22