Shadow Warrior (Sky Raiders Book 3)

by Michelle Diener

  They'd considered leaving them in Susa's palace, but in the end, Taya couldn't part with them.

  “Let's hope the enemy of our enemy is our friend,” Aidan said as the mothership dominated the window, big enough to block everything else out.

  “How will we speak with them?” Dix asked. “They can't breathe our air, and we can't breathe theirs.”

  “I don't know.” Garek had encountered walls of light, and other wonders when he'd snuck into the mothership of the other group of sky raiders. He assumed he would see similar things here.

  “They may come aboard in their suits,” Aidan suggested.

  “I look forward to seeing these monsters who have caused us so much suffering with my own eyes.” Dalanial Varn sank down on the floor cross-legged to get a better view through the window.

  The mothership was now above them, and there was something stifling about flying beneath it and being enveloped in its dark shadow.

  Ahead, jutting out from the base of the ship, was a wide, thin entrance, with an extended lower lip, lit with green.

  It was the same as the mothership he'd flown into before, but in an order of at least twice the size.

  He flew the sky craft through the glow, slowing until they were more drifting forward than flying.

  As soon as they were through the curtain of light, a second curtain confronted them. This was the same as last time, too.

  And like before, he was suddenly hit with the sensation of air all around them again, although not the air he was used to.

  He flexed the muscles of his calling, swirling the air around the ship to test it, and buffeting the small craft that had led them in. It stopped, and then landed, and Garek settled the sky craft down, too.

  “We're not going through?” Aidan asked.

  “Last time they thought we were one of their own, and paid no attention to us. This time, they know we're coming. I'm happier staying out here.”

  Susa stared at him. “You flew right into the mothership, without knowing what was on the other side of the light wall?”

  Garek shrugged. “It was the only way to rescue Taya.”

  Taya turned as he said it, and her eyes glittered with moisture. Her face was bathed in green, and he stood up and walked to her, sliding an arm around her and pulling her to him as they both looked out of the window.

  They had had no time together for days, no privacy, no rest.

  If they were able to win, to get through this victorious, he would take her away somewhere and just be, while they considered what came next.

  He sensed something, a change in the air, and the idea he'd had last time, that the walls of light somehow trapped the air between them, and held back the nothingness of the space beyond, solidified.

  “Will you come out of the ship to talk?” The hiss of sound came from the arm of his pilot's chair.

  “Can we breathe?” Aidan asked.

  Garek nodded. “They've matched the air outside to the air in this sky craft.”

  “Look.” Taya lifted a hand. “They're standing just on the other side of the light wall.”

  He glanced through the window, saw a line of about five figures just discernible through the green glow.

  He walked to the chair, and lowered the ramp. “Time to talk.”

  Chapter 23

  She'd known Garek had braved many things for her, but stepping into the wash of green in the strange nowhere land between the vast black of space and the inside of the ship, she realized the full extent of the courage it had taken.

  He kept himself a little apart from her, and she understood he wanted his hands free, and room to move if this was a trap, or if it didn't go the way they hoped.

  They walked out in a loosely-formed group and then spread out to match the line of sky raiders on the other side of the light wall.

  When they came to a stop, she put her hand in her pocket and curled her fingers around the vial with its two thin needles of ore.

  “We're amazed to see you here.” The sky raider who spoke stood in the center of the line.

  “Why amazed?” Garek asked.

  “Because you have no training in flying that ship.”

  Garek knew he used his Change more than he realized when he flew the sky craft. He shrugged. “The sky raider who was killed in the ambush said you wanted to talk, and that we could find you here.”

  “Yes, he did.” The hiss was thoughtful. “Why did you take up the invitation?”

  “Because we want to get rid of you.” Aidan was blunt. “The group that has been here for a year has devastated our lands and killed and captured our people. We want you gone.”

  There was a stunned silence for a moment.

  “And why would you come to us, if you want us gone?”

  “Because we guess, after they blew up your ship, that you are not friends with the first group, and so far, we have no fight with you.” Aidan crossed his arms over his chest. “Will we have a fight with you?”

  There was another silence, and Taya had the sense there was some communication going on they couldn't hear.

  “We have no wish to fight. We would like information. And we are as eager as you to bring the sevn to heel.”

  “Then bring them to heel,” Garek said.

  There was a laugh, like the choke, choke, choke of a slither. “We would, except it seems they have a new weapon.”

  “Shadow ore,” Garek agreed.

  “The weapon they intend to bring home with them, to fight you.” Taya spoke for the first time, and she immediately felt the shift of focus onto her.

  “What do you know of it?” There was an edge to the voice.

  “I was one of their captives, working the mine on Shadow.” Taya made herself remain tall and not fidget under that cold, yellow gaze.

  “This other one,” the leader waved a hand at Garek, “said before there was a place on . . . Shadow . . .”

  Their translator had difficulty with the Illian word.

  “But there is no one there, now. They concentrate on your planet. Why is that?”

  “They can't mine the shadow ore themselves. They tried in the beginning, but your systems can't be near it.” Taya recalled the drunken, half-finished tunnels in the mine originally made by the sky raiders' diggers.

  “But they aren't taking more captives to continue mining. We can only listen to them when they communicate from ship to ship, we don't have our ears in their mothership. They seem to be looking for someone. Do you know who and why that is?”

  Everyone was quiet, and Taya realized they were very carefully not looking at her.

  “What if we do?” Garek asked. “What is the information worth to you?”

  “What do you want?” The response was candid.

  “We want your friends dead or gone. And we want you to leave afterward, never to return.” Garek spread his hands in a 'that's all' gesture.

  “As we told you before, we find ourselves at a disadvantage in this place. Our friends, as you call them, have something dangerous to us that we don't understand or have ourselves. And they used it to destroy our exploration unit.”

  “They almost destroyed themselves when they did it. The fighter was damaged as it flew away.” Aidan spoke up.

  “And the one that attacked the camp yesterday was damaged, too,” Taya said. “How many can they have left?”

  “At least one, maybe two. And one people-carrier.” Garek waved at his own craft. “And they are all at least as rusted as this one. They won't last much longer.”

  “Then why not just wait for their equipment to get so damaged, they're forced to leave, or it fails on them, and they die on your planet?” The hiss was soft.

  That's what their plan was, Taya understood with sudden shock. They were panicked by the destruction of their ship, afraid to engage. They'd decided to block the way home and wait their enemies out.

  “What happens if they get what they want and slip by you?” she asked quietly. “Can you risk them getting back ho
me armed with shadow ore?”

  One of them made a noise, an explosive sound of frustration.

  They must have realized by now how corrosive the atmosphere on Barit and Shadow was to the sky craft. It was only a matter of months before things fell to pieces. But they had to know the risks of holding back and waiting. Every new piece of shadow ore gained was one that could be used against them. Especially if they weren't able to stop their enemy from getting home.

  And the other group--that was why they had gotten further into bed with Habred. They wanted her found, so she could help them get as much shadow ore as they could in as short a time as possible. The trip here must be long, and it had been expensive for them. They had lost people and ships. They'd want as much ore in their hold as they could carry before they returned home to fight their enemy.

  “We can't wait them out because in order to find the person they're looking for, they've agreed to assist people who are at war with us.” Aidan's tone was overly patient.

  Susa put a soothing hand on his arm. “With the sky raiders' help, our lands will be taken from us. We no longer have the luxury of time.”

  “And why should that matter to us?” The sky raider shifted back a little.

  “Because if they capture us, then the person they are looking for will be found. And that is a problem for you. This person will be forced to get them more shadow ore. And that cannot be in your interests.” Garek kept his voice calm, but Taya could see his fists were clenched.

  “How can this one person help them, out of everyone on your planet?”

  “There are plenty who could help them.” Taya kept her voice absolutely steady. “They only know of one, though. They don't understand there are thousands like the one they seek. And it may be they are looking for her especially because some of those rescued from the mine would have shared stories about a place she found full of shadow ore. And they would want her to take them to it.”

  “So it will be easier for them to find what they are looking for than they realize?”

  Taya nodded. “And more dangerous to them, too. They fear the person they're looking for as much as they want her, because she can take down their ships. They have more to fear than they realize, because she is not the only one.”

  She sensed the tension from those around her as she spun her lies. Garek alone was relaxed. His hand brushed hers, as if accidentally.

  “These people of yours can destroy our ships?” There was that thoughtful tone again. “What's different about them?”

  “They control shadow ore. They can make it go where they want it to go. Your friends think their exposure to harm is smaller because they believe there is only one.” She let herself give a chuckle. “But there are many.”

  “If everything you say is true, then yes, it is in our interests to stop the sevn before they find someone who controls shadow ore. But it doesn't help to know what we must do, when we don't have the weapons to fight them with.”

  “What if we can give you some?” Taya asked.

  A long, long silence this time. They were definitely talking to each other by some silent means.

  “You can give us ore? But if what you say is true, we have no way to work with it without it affecting us.”

  “One moment.” Garek turned and walked back up the ramp, and returned with the shadow ore containment box on its long stick that they'd found after the sky raider attack. He shoved it through the wall of light, and it was snatched from his hand.

  “What is this?” There was a great deal of curiosity in the question.

  “We took it from a sky raider who attacked us.” Garek lifted a shoulder. “His pilot got away. He didn't.”

  The sky raiders shifted uncomfortably. It was almost as if they couldn't work out how they felt. Glad one of their enemy was dead, or disturbed and angry because some other race of beings had killed one of their own.

  “We have never attacked first,” Taya said. “We've rescued ourselves, defended ourselves and our friends. If your people had left us alone, they would not have lost a single life.”

  The sky raiders looked at each other, as if surprised she had picked up on their emotional conflict. The leader shook his head and lifted the box.

  “What does it do?”

  “It's a box for shadow ore. While the ore is in there, it won't harm your systems.”

  All five of them gathered round and studied it, and then a sixth sky raider ran up, was handed the box, and then ran away.

  “Why did you give it to us?”

  Garek held out open hands. “We don't need it. We have other ways to protect our systems.”

  “What systems?” The leader scoffed.

  Garek waved at the sky craft. Gave a slow smile. “We have found our own solution.”

  “Is it quicker to develop than us taking that box apart and recreating more like it?” For the first time, one of the others spoke. “It will take days at least for us to replicate it.”

  “Yes. Much quicker.” Garek looked them over. “What is that solution worth to you?”

  “Isn't anything that speeds up our ability to fight our friends a good thing?” The hiss was a challenge now.

  Garek conceded the point with a grin. “Are you going to fight them?”

  “If you give us a way to protect our systems and have access to the ore.” There was a nod.

  The one thing they needed the sky raiders to do was to destroy or incapacitate the other mothership. Taya worried her lip. Without their home base, would the smaller ships even continue their fight? They may even turn themselves in to their fellow sky raiders.

  She thought how it could be done. “You would have to find a way to encase the ore in the protective layer we have, but even if you can't make it explode and fragment the way they have managed to do, even if you just shot raw chucks of ore at their mothership, it would damage it.”

  “Damaging it without destroying it is not a bad outcome.” There was interest in the words.

  “All right. Let's go then. Can you bring us some boxes with lids?” Taya indicated the size of the boxes with her hands.

  “Where are we going?” An arrogant tilt of the head.

  “To Shadow. To get you your ore.”

  The tilt's angle increased.

  “You are the person they are looking for, aren't you?”

  Taya smiled. “I told you, there isn't just one.”

  “But they think there is. And they have described you in the communications. The golden hair.”

  “There are a lot of people with golden hair.” Taya nodded to Dix, who had said nothing at all through the whole conversation.

  “They can only know you because they have seen you, and you are the one who worked their mine on Shadow.” He didn't want to drop it.

  Taya shrugged. “Whatever they think, I'm far from unique. There is a whole battalion of people like me, better trained than me by far.”

  Four sky raiders arrived with boxes, and they pushed them through the light wall.

  It was cold in here, Taya realized for the first time. She shivered. Released her grip on the vial and drew her hand out of her pocket. “Time to go.”

  “What is in your pocket?” The sky raider to one side, who'd been interested in taking the other mothership without destroying it, had locked her gaze on Taya's hand.

  She contemplated her answer. “Protection.”

  There was a hiss from all five.

  “I didn't need to use it, so it wasn't used.” She lifted both arms. “You no doubt have weapons pointed at us.” She looked upward, to the top of the ceiling where the wall of light started. “In any case, if I'd sent shadow ore through the wall, it might have broken whatever is making it work.”

  “Then you would have been suffocated by our air.” They all seemed to relax.

  “Maybe.” She didn't look at Garek. “Maybe not.”

  Garek could hold the air together. Long enough for them to make it to the sky craft. Of that she was sure.

 
; “Surely, there is no maybe about it.” The woman again. Curious. Very curious. “Or perhaps you don't understand what would happen.”

  They thought the people of Barit were intellectually inferior. But being less advanced didn't mean being more stupid. It just meant the others had had a head start.

  “I think I do understand.” She shrugged. “It never came to that, so it doesn't matter.”

  She knew her lack of concern rattled them by the quality of the silence.

  It was yet another chip at the self-confidence the sky raiders wore like a shield.

  They were not the natural inhabitants of this place, and they were beginning to understand they were at a disadvantage.

  She walked to the sky craft beside Garek, very satisfied.

  Chapter 24

  No one said a word as they flew away from the mothership.

  There was a suspicion amongst them all that they could be listened to, although Garek thought it unlikely.

  No point taking the chance, though. And they could talk when they landed on Shadow.

  Taya stood beside him, a hand resting lightly on his shoulder for balance.

  She had sold a story he had grasped the ramifications of immediately. The more of her there were, the more dangerous it was for all sky raiders to remain.

  He had a few ideas on how she would produce this battalion of shadow warriors, but no doubt she'd already thought it through.

  “Go to the mine, then head in the direction of that hill where you and Aidan took down the tower,” she said.

  He angled into Shadow's atmosphere, felt the tug and relief of air around them again. Even the thin, strange air of Shadow was better than nothing.

  The massive sky craft following alongside them lit up in front, the glow of heated air flaring.

  Garek realized he'd been dispersing the heat automatically. It appeared the sky craft was designed to handle it, but he found the reflex difficult to rein in, even now he was aware of what he was doing.