Byr nodded and grinned. “Yeah, we ran into each other when she was headed out of here the first time. Looked a little harried, so I thought it best to give her a hand.”
“Good man.”
I looked at Mok. “Were you able to locate your pilot friends?”
He nodded and opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the voice of another. “That would be me.”
“Us,” came another voice.
I turned and found two men leaning against a table near Mok's booth. They were both arrogant looking men – and looked almost identical. Their skin was the same shade of pale green as Mok's, but they had vibrant purple hair and blue eye markings. The markings were the only thing about them that differed.
“My name is Wyk,” said the first man. “This is my brother Wyn.”
“N – Nice to meet you,” I said.
They gestured for us to come over to their table, so I turned and gave Mok a smile. He smiled back and gave me an encouraging nod.
“Good luck,” he said.
“Thank you for everything.”
I joined Byr at the table. He was busy chatting with the two men – he apparently did know them.
“So, Byr was telling us that you're looking for a pilot to get you off planet?” Wyk asked.
I nodded. “I am.”
“And where is it you want to go?” Wyn asked.
“Optorio,” I replied.
Wyk grinned. “And why would you want to go there?”
“That's my business.”
I wasn't used to being firm with people, but knew that I had to be in this case – both Mok and Byr had impressed that need upon me.
Wyk held up his hands and grinned. “Fair enough.”
“We need to discuss price then,” Wyn said.
“And what is your price?” I asked, trying to keep my voice firm.
“Five hundred,” Wyk said without hesitation.
Byr scoffed. “Come on, Wyk,” he said. “That's outrageous.”
He shrugged. “It's a risk right now,” he replied. “The government's shut down most of the airspace. No shuttles in or out.”
“Like you weren't planning making a run anyway,” Byr said.
“Maybe we weren't,” Wyn said.
“I know you were,” Byr replied. “See, I happen to know that you need to go collect a few items for somebody – and that you had to go to Optorio to do it. So, really, don't play that game.”
Wyk grinned and pointed at Byr. “He's good.”
I immediately felt better to have him negotiating on my behalf. Having the information he had made all the difference.
“Fine then,” Wyn said. “Four hundred.”
“Two hundred,” Byr offered.
It was Wyk's turn to scoff. “Three hundred.”
Byr cast a quick glance at me, as if gauging how much money I had. I could have probably afforded the three hundred easily, but if he could get them to go any lower, all the better.
“Two hundred,” Byr repeated.
The brothers exchanged looks and then sighed in unison. “Two fifty,” Wyk said. “And that is as low as we are willing to go.”
Byr looked at me and I nodded. “Deal.”
“Done,” Wyk said.
“Half now,” I said. “And half once we land.”
Wyn laughed. “She's an untrusting little thing, isn't she?”
“Not without good reason,” Byr said.
I looked at him and smiled. He didn't know me. Didn't know my story. And yet, he was fighting for me. It told me a lot about the heart of this man. A commotion at the far end of the marketplace drew our attention. When I saw the red and black armored guards heading straight for us, my blood ran cold and my heart started to trip all over itself.
But in addition to my father's guard, there were the black and white armored soldiers I'd seen around Kinray – government soldiers, I'd always assumed. The soldiers who'd destroyed Byr's village and now looked to be coming after him directly. His eyes were wide and he looked scared – like an animal trapped in a corner with no way out.
I shared a terrified look with Byr. He looked to the brothers who looked utterly stunned and confused.
“You need to get her out of here,” Byr said. “Now.”
I grabbed him by the hand. “You're coming with me.”
“I can't,” he said.
“You have to,” I demanded. “I'm not leaving you here to them.”
“Those soldiers are all here for you two?” Wyk asked.
I shrugged. “Yeah, kind of.”
Byr looked at me, torn. Not sure what to do. I squeezed his hand hard.
“Byr,” I said. “You need to come with me. We'll figure out what our next steps are later. But we need to keep you out of their hands as much as I need to stay out of the hands of my father's guard.”
He hesitated a moment longer before giving me a tight, grim smile. He turned back to the brothers.
“We need to go,” he said. “Now.”
“We negotiated just for her –”
“And we can renegotiate in the air,” I snapped. “But we need to go. Please.”
The brothers nodded, clearly not wanting to have two different armies breathing down their necks. They obviously weren't sure what was going on or how it was going to impact them, but I could see in their eyes they assumed it wouldn't be good.
“Let's go,” Wyk said. “We're docked behind the marketplace.”
Together, the four of us abandoned the table and sprinted toward the other end of the marketplace, where the landing pads were. The two armies – the government's and my father's – were closing in. Part of me feared that we weren't going to be able to outrun them and that they'd catch us before we got to the ship.
But they were thankfully, hindered by the sheer number of people in the marketplace and all of the vendors who were “accidentally” getting in their way. The people – the scraps – were all coming together in an effort to protect one of their own. Well, one of their own and a complete stranger to them.
“Up ahead,” Wyk shouted.
I saw the shuttle up ahead and the rear landing ramp was already down. We hit the ramp and darted inside of the ship, Wyn punching a button that raised the ramp behind us. The brothers threw themselves into their seats and immediately began punching buttons, pulling levers, and getting their pre-flight checks done as quickly as possible.
All the while, my stomach was tied in knots and I felt like I was going to be sick. Any minute, I was expecting to hear pounding on the rear ramp as they tried force their way in. Or they'd just start shooting and try to disable to shuttle.
“We have to go, guys,” Byr shouted. “We have to go now.”
“We're moving as fast as we can, Byr.”
Through the cockpit window, I saw a couple of blue and red lasers flash by. They were firing at us.
“They're shooting at us, Wyk,” Wyn shouted. “I say we give these two to them and be done with it. I don't want our ship getting blown up.”
“Shut up,” Wyk snapped. “Fire the engines. Now. Fire them.”
Wyn punched a button and the ship rumbled to life. The vibration was strong and the shuttle jolted and bounced as it lifted off. Over the intercom, I heard a voice demanding that they land the shuttle or risk being shot down. Wyk quickly cut communications and turned back to us.
“Hold on,” he said. “This isn't going to be graceful or smooth.”
“Doesn't matter,” Byr said. “Just punch it.”
Wyk grinned and pushed the throttle forward. With lasers flashing all around us, the shuttle roared up into the air. My stomach was turning flip flops as we accelerated and ascended. It wasn't long before I was looking at something I never thought I'd see – the stars I'd always seen from my balcony, but up close. Very close.
“It's beautiful,” I said.
Byr looked every bit as enthralled as I did. Together, we just stared out the window at the vast open space around us, looking at the sta
rs, and the moons of Unduth – it was amazing. Simply amazing.
“They'll be sending fighters after us,” Wyk said.
“So, we're going to pull an old smuggler's stunt,” Wyn said. “Just stay in your seats and keep your mouths closed. No questions. Just sit there and shut up.”
I was too stunned by what I was seeing to say anything anyway. I looked over at Byr and the expression on his face told me he felt exactly the same way. The shuttle was smooth now that we'd broken Unduth's atmosphere.
I watched through the cockpit window as they piloted us toward one of the moons. They flew around to the darkened side of it and dropped down toward the surface. On the face of the moon, there was what looked like a deep, jagged valley.
“Smugglers would often hide in this valley,” Wyk explained.
“It's almost impossible to see anything in that valley from the air,” Wyn said. “And the rock makes anything difficult to pick up on radar.”
“We're gonna set down in there for a little while,” Wyk said. “Just until the worst of the danger has passed.”
I nodded, still too awestruck to really say anything at all. I watched as they deftly maneuvered into a landing spot within that valley. Tall, ragged spires surrounded us, and we seemed well tucked away and hidden.
Once we'd landed, the brothers shut down all of the engines and unnecessary equipment. They leaned back in their seats as the interior of the cabin went dark.
“Remember to be very quiet back there,” Wyk said in a low voice. “They can pick up the slightest sounds on their radar, so keep it to a minimum.”
I nodded idly, content to watch the world outside the window – or rather the vastness of space. My stomach was turning flip flops again, but this time because I realized I'd done it. I'd escaped. I was off Unduth and well out of my father's reach.
I was free. Free to begin my life anew.
Byr looked over at me and an expression of concern crossed his face. I shook my head and smiled at him, trying to convey that I was happy. He seemed to understand and gave my hand a gentle squeeze before leaning back in his seat and closing his eyes – perhaps wanting to give me some semblance of privacy to enjoy the moment. My bonds had been broken and the shackles were now off of me.
My heart was thumping in my chest and tears welled in my eyes – but this time, they were tears of happiness. Of joy. I was really free.
Book 2 – Journey to Optorio
Chapter One
Hatare
“Looks like their ships are headed back to the surface,” Wyk said.
“Confirmed,” replied his brother, Wyn. “Government ships are breaking atmosphere and going home.”
I let out a loud sigh of relief. I looked over at Byr who gave me a nervous smile. As scared as I was, there was also an electric charge of excitement running through my veins. I'd never experienced anything like that before and even though I knew the stakes were life and death, the fact that we came out of it alive and unscathed was – well – exciting.
The ship we were being smuggled in sat hidden on a large moon that orbited our planet of Unduth. Knowing that we were safe, I allowed myself a few moments to look through the windows at the universe outside of the ship. I saw our planet – and our three moons – in a way I'd never imagined I'd see them. Not in my wildest, craziest dreams.
“Can you even believe what we're seeing?” I whispered to Byr. “This is incredible.”
His laugh was a little nervous. “Incredible. But a little terrifying at the same time,” he said. “I've never left my village in Kinray, let alone the planet. I – yeah, it's a little – how are you not scared by this?”
I smiled. “Oh, I am,” I said. “But I never thought I'd be on an adventure like this. I mean, we're in space, Byr. Outer space!”
He looked no less nervous – in fact, he looked like he might be sick. His eye markings glowed a dull white and his skin seemed to blanch as I looked at him. Reaching out, I gave his hand a reassuring squeeze. He looked up and offered me a weak smile.
“It's going to be okay,” I said. “We're going to be okay.”
He didn't look so sure about that though. Instead, he closed his eyes and leaned his head back on the seat, apparently trying to get ahold of himself. The truth of the matter was, I was plenty frightened. But on the other side of that coin, not all that long ago, I thought I was going to be dead. I had planned on taking my own life rather than live the life my mother and father had mapped out for me – which was the same life every other Unduthian girl my age had mapped out for them.
I wasn't about to live that life. Never in a million years. I believed it was better to be dead than to let myself die inside a little each day. At least if I took my own life, it would be quick and my death came on my own terms.
I looked at all of the stars and the vastness of the galaxy outside the windows. It was beautiful. Maybe the most beautiful things I'd ever seen. But as I admired the view, an unsettling thought came to me.
“What makes you think they won't come back?” I asked. “The government ships.”
Wyn shrugged. “Because we're very good at what we do,” he said. “As far as the Unduthians know, we're in another system by now.”
I cocked my head and looked at him. “And why would they think that?”
Wyk looked back at me. “Because like my brother said, we're very good at what we do,” he replied. “Just before we landed on this moon, we launched a beacon that puts off a hyperdrive signature.”
I shook my head. “I don't understand. I don't know what any of that means.”
Wyk sighed. “What that means is we launched a small beacon that emits a particular signal that makes the bad guys think we used our hyperdrive to exit this planetary system.”
“And with no way to follow us because we've disabled all of our tracking beacons,” Wyn said, “they have no way of knowing which system we have jumped to.”
“Which means that they have no way to find us whatsoever,” Wyk finished.
Byr opened his eyes and looked at me, giving me a small shrug. “They're good at what they do.”
Wyn turned and looked at his brother, shaking his head. “Kids.”
That made me feel a lot better and I was able to relax back into my seat, feeling a little more comfortable. A little more secure. The brothers started the engines on the ship again and after a few moments, lifted off the moon. Soon enough, we were racing back among the stars, heading for Optorio.
“Are you doing okay?” I asked Byr.
He gave me a short nod. “Getting there.”
I patted his hand and gave him a smile. “We'll be there before you know it and you can put your feet on solid ground again.”
“I can't wait.”
Chapter Two
I must have fallen asleep at some point – the excitement of our escape from Unduth had obviously caught up with me. Feeling groggy, I opened my eyes and realized that the ship wasn't moving. And yet, when I looked outside the windows, saw that we were still in space. We hadn't arrived at Optorio yet.
“Have a nice nap, did you?” Wyk asked.
I nodded and rubbed at my eyes. “I didn't even realized I'd fallen asleep,” I said. “I must have been more tired than I thought.”
I looked over at Byr who was awake and looking not scared, as I'd expected, but angry.
“What is it?” I asked him.
He turned and looked at me, his eye markings flaring with his emotion. “Seems we have a problem.”
I looked from him to the brothers and then back to him. “What's the problem? Did the ship break down?”
“The problem, Vur,” Wyk sneered, using the false name I'd given them in a way that suggested he knew who I really was, “is that we only negotiated for one of you. We never set a price for the boy here.”
I sighed. I hadn't really thought of that. Everything had happened so fast and with not only my father's personal guard, but the government soldiers moving in on us – I just wanted to keep hi
m safe. After all, he'd helped me when I was in trouble.
I mentally took stock of the resources I had available. “That's okay,” I said. “I can pay the agreed upon two fifty for Byr's passage as well.”
“Well see, that's where we have another little problem, Vur,” Wyn said. “See, when everything was going down, we didn't stop to ask a lot of questions. Didn't exactly have the time, did we?”
“Well, after we got off that moon, I started takin' a look through the government bulletins,” Wyk said.
My heart jumped up into my throat and I felt the knot in my stomach tighten painfully. I knew where this was going and I knew it wasn't going anyplace good.
“Know what we found?” Wyn asked.
I knew what they'd found and my stomach was roiling because of it. I looked over at Byr who was looking back at me, confused and more than a little concerned.
“Since you don't seem to be overly talkative, I'll tell you what we found,” Wyn continued. “We found that your name is not actually Vur, like you told us.”
“And that your father, an esteemed Minister of – something, with the Unduthian government, is desperately looking for you,” Wyk said.
“Something about you running away?” Wyn said. “He's moving mountains trying to get you back, you know – Hatare.”
Hearing him use my real name was like a punch to the gut and I found myself fighting for breath. My head was spinning and a wave of nausea washed over me. Byr looked at me, his expression completely inscrutable.
“What are you going to do?” I asked, my voice low.
“Well, that depends on you,” Wyk said.
“What do you mean?”
“See, your father is offering a very handsome reward for your safe return,” he replied.
“Not to mention the fact that we could stand to be in the government's good graces,” Wyn added.
“That as well,” Wyk said. “But we also aren't keen on making this government happy. It's not really our – style. We prefer to stick a thorn in their paw whenever we can. And I get the feeling that not returning you would accomplish that pretty nicely.”
“But,” Wyn said, “we also enjoy eating well and enjoying some of the wonderful things other worlds have to offer. Which means, we're going to need to renegotiate your passage aboard our ship.”
Rocor (Dragons of Kratak Book 5) Page 79