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 him 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.”
Wyk nodded. “Considerably, given your family's resources,” he said. “Obviously.”
I shook my head. “But, I don't have access to my family's resources.”
The brothers looked at me skeptically for a long moment. I was growing nervous beneath their scrutiny. But my nervousness slowly gave way to a feeling of anger. A deep, abiding anger.
“Well, it looks like you're going to have to be creative,” Wyn finally said.
“I negotiated a rate for passage in good faith,” I said. “You can't just change – ”
“Actually, we can,” Wyk said. “And we are.”
“What do you expect her to do?” Byr finally snapped. “If she ran away from home, how do you expect her to access her family's money?”
A malicious grin spread across Wyn's face. “Don't think that you're not in trouble enough on your own merits, boy.”
Byr looked like he'd has a cold glass of water thrown in his face. “What is that supposed to mean?”
Wyk's chuckle was dry. “That means, you were featured in one of the government bulletins as well,” he said. “Seems you're wanted on charges of sedition and treason. I guess they didn't take too kindly to you blowing up some of their soldiers.”
“I had nothing to do with that,” Byr protested.
Wyn shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not,” he said. “But they think you did and that's all that matters to this conversation.”
“What do you want?” I asked.
“What we want, is to renegotiate a fair rate,” Wyn said. “Given the extra risk we're taking by having you two aboard our ship.”
“And what is a fair rate?” I asked, already knowing there would be no way I could pay it.
“We want what your father is offering as a reward for your return,” Wyk said and tipped me a wink. “And we won't even charge you anything extra for your fugitive boyfriend here.”
“Only because we're feeling generous right now,” Wyn said.
I sighed and shook my head, feeling that deep, dark rage bubbling up within me. I looked over at Byr whose face was as grim as I was sure mine was. I didn't know what my father was offering as a reward – all I knew was it would be more than I had on hand or had access to.
“And how much is my father offering?”
“Ten thousand,” Wyn said, without missing a beat.
My eyes felt like they were popping out of my skull. I looked at Byr who looked back at me, an expression of shock on his face.
“Yeah, he must want you back really, really bad,” Wyk said.
“I don't have that sort of money,” I replied. “And there is no way I can get it.”
Wyn shook his head. “That's too bad then,” he said. “Because that leaves us no choice but to take you back to Unduth and hand you over to your father.”
The rage that had been bubbling below the surface within me suddenly rose up, crashing over me like a giant wave. It pulled me down into its darkened depths and gave me an electric jolt that seemed to wake me from this nightmare I was living. It gave me life.
“Actually,” I said. “There is another choice you can make.”
Wyn grinned at me. “Yeah? What's that, then?”
I stood up and felt my lips curl up into a cold, cruel smile. “You can take us to Optorio,” I said. “At the price we negotiated in good faith.”
Wyk laughed out loud, slapping his knee. “Yeah? And why would we do that?”
“Especially when there is so much money sitting on the table, just waiting for us to reach out and take it?”
“Because, if you don't hold to your agreement,” I said, my voice low, “I will kill you.”
Chapter Three
Byr
I did a double take, not sure that I'd heard her correctly. I looked at the girl I'd known as Vur, not believing what I was hearing. Her eye markings were glowing bright, her jaw was set, and her eyes were narrowed. She was angry. Beyond angry.
The brothers both laughed out loud. They apparently thought it was hilarious. And the more they laughed, the darker the girl's expression grew. She looked like an animal that had been backed into a corner and was preparing to fight to the death to get out of it.
I knew them a little bit – as in, I'd seen them around the marketplace before and had spoken with them a few times. But I never would have said that I really knew them. They'd always seemed like decent guys who liked their drink – perhaps, a little too much – and were always quick with a laugh. I'd never gotten the sense though, that they would do something like this – something so cruel.
Money though – or at least the promise of it – apparently changed people. Or at least, revealed who they really are.
“Vur – Hatare,” I corrected myself. “What are you doing?”
“Is this funny?” she asked, ignoring me completely.
I sat rooted to my seat as Hatare took a step toward the two men – who were still laughing out loud.
“It's actually hilarious,” Wyn said.
“What are you gonna do, little girl?” Wyk asked.
“I said I was going to kill you,” she said. “And I tend to keep my promises. Which is more than I can say for either of you.”
Wyk got to his feet, still chuckling, an amused smile upon his face. He looked at her and shook his head, resting his hand on the butt of the weapon on his belt.
“You should really think before you say or do anything else, little girl,” he said.
“Hatare,” I hissed. “Sit down. We'll figure this out.”
She shot me a look that froze the blood in my veins. Granted, I didn't know this girl at all – I was just learning her real name – but she didn't seem like a cold blooded killer. She was small, for one thing. And these were two grown men. Big, strong men. Men who'd made a living doing dangerous things. I had no doubts they had been in their share of scrapes. Maybe they'd even killed people, for all I knew. They were hardened – and I assumed, tested. Most smugglers and outlaws were, weren't they?
What did this little girl think she could do up against them?
A small, predatory smile spread across her face. “Last chance,” she said. “Accept our negotiated rate, or suffer
the consequences of your treachery.”
Wyk shook his head. “Yeah, I don't think our business arrangement is going to work out,” he said. “It looks like we'll be taking you back to Unduth – and collecting the reward for the both of you.”
I opened my mouth to speak, wanting to defuse the situation, but Hatare moved faster than my words. She closed the distance between she and Wyk in the blink of an eye. She was on him before Wyk could even manage to draw his weapon.
Her eye markings glowing bright, she grinned – actually grinned – as a blade seemed to magically appear in her hand. I stared wide-eyed as she held the blade to his throat, the tip biting into his skin. I watched as a bead of his thick, blue blood rolled down his neck, disappearing into his shirt.
“Move and I'll bury my blade in your brother's throat,” Hatare said, her voice sounding harsh, animalistic.
I looked over and noticed that Wyn had started to get up, a look of shock mixed with pure rage upon his face. Her eyes were locked onto Wyk – I wasn't sure how she'd even seen his brother moving. Reluctantly, Wyn sat back down in his seat, scowling at her.
“Toss your weapon onto the floor,” she said, never taking her eyes off of Wyk. “Over by Byr.”
“You're gonna – ”
Hatare leaned forward, sliding a little bit more of her blade into Wyk's skin. A thin stream of his blood rolled down his neck and Wyk hissed – but he slid his weapon out and tossed it to my feet. It hit the deck with a clatter, bumping up against my boot. I looked at it like an animal that was ready to bite me.
“And your backup weapon,” Hatare said.
“I don't have – ”
“Under your vest,” she said. “At the small of your back.”
Wyk looked at her with unabashed hatred. I had a feeling that more than anything, he was humiliated – upset that he'd been bested by a woman half his size. Holding one hand up so she could see it, he reached around and pulled a second weapon – one I hadn't even noticed before – from the small of his back and tossed it over to me.
“Happy?” he sneered.
“Your turn, Wyn,” she said, never taking her eyes off Wyk. “Both weapons. As well as the knife in your boot. And move very slowly.”
Mated to a Bear (Legends of Black Salmon Falls Book 3) Page 81