by Bailey Dark
I pulled my cloak’s hood tighter around my face and shook back my shoulders, coughing at the pinpricks in my throat. I don’t have time to think of the losses right now! There will likely be more. I need to plan…
My plan was to sneak around the hills near Tarsine’s camp and get a sense of their numbers, to have better information for my teams when they arrived. The code I had sent to Aimer was likely the same plan she had already enacted: send a few teams of our Special Operations this way to search me out. We always ran in Crews of twelve for the Spec Ops. 4 advanced teams would do the trick in fleet-footed, low-flying vessels armed with anti-Surface-to-Air Missiles that could hopefully avoid what had happened to our transport, now that we knew where Tarsine’s troops were.
Then, get the rest of the troops down here. Fast.
I hoped she hadn’t sent word to Kajo, yet. I wanted to be in command of my troops when I asked for his help…
It rankled a bit that there was still a grounding command on the area. I couldn’t teleport closer to the transport, nor closer to Tarsine’s camp. Couldn’t teleport anywhere.
I let my mind open to the telepathic communique from Aimer's group, and the same soldier was reading the same message, letting me know it was still a Code Blue, with no change of status. The only line that had been added was at the end of the message: “Alpha Jase, please respond. We have been trying to contact you for five hours now. This is a Code Blue. Alpha Jase, please respond to your Trio. It is dark now.” The portion that stated, “It is dark now” indicated that my message had been received and that it was being acted upon with full adherence. I could expect the next communication to be in person. There would be no further updates to the telepathy. That was good news.
I headed by foot on a roundabout route, down toward the Wazuun River and the backside of Tarsine’s tents. It was unlikely there would be any movement from them in this deluge. The Bordash had been traditionally superstitious about lightning and thunder through the ages. I couldn’t imagine them changing it, but I didn’t want to risk a scout finding the route to Vania, either.
I had an extreme desire to keep her safe…
I touched my cheek and there was a slight buzzing in my hand. Man, that is just amazing! What is that…? Is that a connection between Curans and Earthlings? Or… Or is she my Destin, too?
Or, is it just something that happened because of Kajo’s magic when he healed her six months ago?
Damn. That would suck. That it would have something to do with Kajo. I sure hope it isn’t anything to do with another man, even if it is a man I sincerely respect…
I shook off the thought and skipped further down the slippery boulders, sticking to the rocks rather than the muddy path. Who knew how deeply the salty sludge would sink in this rain. I leaped like a mountain goat from ledge to ledge and found myself having a bit of fun; it had been a long time since I had had a solo mission. Being Alpha was lonely in many ways, but it meant I was rarely alone. They were always too worried about making sure I was protected, and there were so many responsibilities… so many tasks, from menial to insurmountable. If I was being truthful, that was another reason I didn't have a Queen, yet. I just didn't think it was fair to put any woman through the trials that it would entail being my match: it meant late nights and a constant pull on a schedule that was outside my control.
But, right now, fueled by the passion of Vania's kisses, I could vault from rock to rock, buoyed by telekinetic jumps, floating myself through the precipitation for longer leaps, and was bursting with the sensations I hadn't felt in years: true joy at running a scouting mission against my enemy, ready to roll with whatever came my way, my hand prepped to pull a weapon if I stumbled on a scout, and my eyes laser-sharp in the flashing lightning for any movement that seemed odd or out of shape.
It was brilliant.
Lightning flared in the valley as I was mid-bound and I saw just such a shape, dark against the white salt hills.
I ducked quickly behind a boulder as I landed, my boots squelching in the mud. Thunder echoed. Numerous other shapes rounded the pathway between craggy outcroppings along a game trail, and I pulled my dagger. I spun up six throwing knives into the air, floating just off my left shoulder, huge raindrops pinging off their gleam, my hold keeping them steady as the drops burst off in tiny sliver pinpoints. They were primed to laser through these Bordash skulls if they spied me. I counted the cloaked shadows quickly in the raging lightning shine as they crept closer to my hiding spot.
…nine… ten… eleven… twelve… thirteen… fourteen…
The nearest one was just feet from me when he reached up to adjust the hood of his cloak and a tattoo on the inside of his wrist was made visible, stark in the lightning’s bold glow.
It was an Emerona crest.
Not only that, the embellishment of waves and sunrise on those waves told me exactly who he was. He was Axis, the head of my Special Operations Seawards unit. He was originally from Emerona’s northern shores, close to Kajo’s kingdom and the Bristola Ocean. He was a knight if there ever was one. Skilled with all manner of animals of the sea and navigating the waters, he was also a brilliant strategist and compassionate leader of his Spec Ops team, dubbed the Seawards. There were few Commanders who had such heart.
I took three steps backward and floated up to the top of the boulder so that he couldn’t immediately strike me, though I knew he wouldn’t unleash any type of blow just because he was startled. He was far too well trained… But I also couldn’t resist making an impression… What Alpha wouldn’t want to remind his troops of his glory?
I waited atop the boulder, towering above my favorite Spec Ops Twelve team as they wrapped like a snake in the clearing below me, unaware of my presence, and it seemed to take forever, in the driving rain, for another brilliant lightning strike.
But when it came, there I stood.
I raised my arms and swept back my cloak, so it swam in a billowing cloud around my body, in the wind, my blonde hair whipping against my face inside the hood's cover. My knives fanned out around my head like a halo, none pointed at my soldiers, but rather, had their blades flat to them, as if they were a halo circling my entire visage.
The lightning flared long and brilliant, making the knives reflect twelve panes of my image in mirror-like magnificence. My sleeves were pushed up, my bare arms, blazoned with the mythos of our peoples, were getting drenched by the rain, but the tattoos looked radiant in the glow of the lightning. The thunder cracked down almost concurrent with the lightning spread and the geometric lines of the lightning made a fractal design like tree branches out from my body where I stood on the boulder.
My team gasped and pointed, grabbed their weapons, dropped to their knees when they realized it was me, laughed, cursed, smiled, cheered, and threw sand at the boulder at my feet.
The thunder subsided, and I jumped down, grinning.
Axis grabbed my arm and pulled me into a hug.
“Dammit, Alpha. We were worried about you.”
“I am fine, Commander Axis. Thank you for seeking me out. It has been aggravating. The radio silence has been killing me.”
“Let’s go, let’s get you to our transport and back to our camp. We need to radio the other Crews and let them know you’re safe. Then there are orders needed.”
“Wait.” I used my commanding voice. "The Earthling is with me. She is healing but was injured. We must return to the salt caves and retrieve her."
Cassala and LeiLei were suddenly beside me, touching my cloak as an admission of happiness to see me. My relief at seeing them turned to a spike of anger at the disgust in their eyes as they traded a look.
"We believe there might be Bordash troops moving in the rain." Cassala's words were flat as if she were trying not to give an opinion, but it was clear she didn't think we should risk going back to get Vania.
I just looked at them. I didn’t need to give an order twice, did I?
"Lead the way," Axis said with a nod. I turned back the way
I had come, and the team followed my steps, leaping from boulder to boulder. Good Axis. He understood. He was a good soldier. Cassala and LeiLei were so suspicious of the Earthling; why was that? At least Aimer had been trying to bond with her… I trusted my Trio beyond any others, and I knew I would die for them. But, now I had this Earthling, and my pull to her… But was it only because of the connection to my family's ring? Would the intensity fade once she took it off? I did have to consider that as a real possibility…
The rain seemed to intensify as we got closer to the caves, and the thunder and lightning cracked down harder. I picked up my pace. It would be good to get inside for a bit and perhaps wait out the storm.
“They’re here!”
Vania’s scream through my mind was the most terrifying thing I had ever heard. Her fragile experience with telepathy meant she poured her every emotion into the Will. So, I felt her true fear in her words. It echoed through my body and seized my soul.
I turned to the Seawards. Axis, Cassala, LeiLei, and three others were within hearing, the others would be passed the message quickly enough in the line. We still feared using telepathic communication.
“The Bordash have found the cave where I was with the Earthling. We must hurry.”
“How do you know?” Cassala asked.
I tapped my head with my finger.
“I didn’t know she had learned how to do that yet.”
“She is working on it.” But, we were hiding in the salt hills… So she must have managed to get outside to send me that message… Did that mean she had been captured? Did that mean she had gone outside and seen them coming and could be running? Was it safe for me to respond?
“I’m coming for you. Be brave.” It was all I could think to say. I hoped it would be enough. She was a good fighter. I knew she was… Or, at least, I had been confident enough that she was to invite her on this mission in the first place, but I had only ever seen her sparring in the training rings… No. I know she is. She has to be. She can hold them off until we get there.
We just have to hurry…
Eleven
Vania
I twisted the ring back and forth on my finger, the seven carbon halos slipping in and out of each other, gleaming carbon circles that entwined gracefully. I could still feel the taste of Jase's lips, and my fingertips were burning with the tingle of the strange spark between us. How much of that was due to the ring, how much due to the Curan magic from Kajo, and how much from some other bizarre reason? Was I somehow connected to Jase, in a similar way to how Daphne was connected to Kajo? Was that possible? Or was it just a weird circumstance between Earthlings and Curans, perhaps?
Maybe that's why there had been no connection between me and Rhone, that evil son of a bitch who had captured me and brought me to Farian in the first place six months ago—nothing between Earthlings and Bordash, but something between Curans? I had, of course, touched a few other Curans during my six months here, but only in the training ring, or passing by them in the market, and hadn't had any supreme spark of this sort. The ring had certainly ignited this intensity between Jase and I… Would it remain when I took it off?
Did I want it to…?
He had been taking care of me so well… So genuinely, so gently… and then, good God, that kissing… That was intense. I wanted more of that.
He had been gone about thirty minutes at this point and I had re-wrapped my leg with the last bandage we had in our packs. It was hardly bleeding, and the ring seemed to be restoring my strength. I felt so much better than I had been. No longer delirious, no longer seeing bat guano as stars… though that was admittedly poetic…
I walked around the cavern and stretched my leg, testing it, jumping around. I tested my telekinetic floating abilities a bit. Tossed and caught and zipped knives around the cavern with telekinesis. I was getting pretty good at it. I wondered how everyone off the crashed transport was doing. Aimer had been so nice to me, not like LeiLei and Cassala and the other men, with whom I still clearly needed to earn a place. Which made sense; of course, I needed to still earn my spot on the Crew. I was going to, too. Now, more than ever. I didn't know how Jase was going to treat me once we were back with the rest of his people…
Should I ask him? Was that pushing things too quickly? I felt like that was a third or fourth you-chose-to-save-my-life conversation, at least. Or at least a second-stranded-in-the-middle-of-the-desert experience. I mean, relationships borne out of extreme circumstances didn’t always have the depth to go the distance… Depending on the extreme circumstance.
What the hell was I talking about? Just a day ago, I was totally turned off by this guy, this dark, brooding, tyrant Alpha Warlord who was dismissive of me, a cocky asshole who I would never have dreamed of dating…
There wasn’t going to be more to it than that…
But, my fingers still tingled, my hair was still messy, and my finger was still circled by his ring…
I took a deep breath and tried to calm my racing heart. I need some air.
I gathered up the pack and geode lights, just in case, and crawled out the tunnel. The lightning ricocheted down the tunnel eerily as I crawled toward the entrance. Thunder grew louder and louder as I rounded the bends. My leg was significantly better, and I could even push off it fairly often, rather than dragging it in my army crawl, without wincing too much. My headache was almost nonexistent.
As the tunnel’s mouth flared open, I saw a shadow pass below the tunnel’s entrance, just hidden by a large boulder that the game trail wound in front of. I scurried out and tucked in behind the boulder.
If it were Jase, he would have come straight to the entrance. I did not want to be trapped in the cavern, that was for sure. Was it the Bordash? Or was it other Curans, meeting us in the salt caves, as agreed?
Two more shadows were on the game trail a little further below the lip of the tunnel's mouth. There was a ledge that was pretty defensible, the boulder blocking most of the access to the tunnel. I could defend this spot pretty well with just my darting knives and dagger if needed. But, it really depended on the type of weapons they had, too…
I looked around for better options. The game trail wound further up the mountain and squeezed in between some even larger boulders that anyone bigger than my small frame wouldn’t be able to fit through. While the shadows were occupied down below, it was my chance to flee through there. It was my best shot to get away from the caves and being cornered.
Telepathy didn’t work inside the salt hills, but maybe once I was up above them and on the granite boulders, it would…
I snuck up the game trail and through the boulders, my cloak shielding me from the heavy rain, but my boots occasionally slipping in the steep salt slopes, slick with the rain. I had to set up a better scouting spot tucked into this vantage point. It was a great hiding spot because there was little likelihood any of them could fit through here (I barely did) and hopefully there would be trails to the top.
I looked back over my shoulder just as one of the men found the tunnel entrance. He was definitely Bordash.
Shit… I hurried through the boulders and would up on top of the salt hill, hid under some scrubs, and watched the scouting party from my ledge. It had an overhang and small cavern itself, surrounded by boulders and scraggly trees, but much better cover and less access for them.
Unfortunately, I hadn’t realized there was already a Bordash scout there.
He jumped on me as soon as I stepped into his haven.
"Fuck!" I yelled, and my knife was immediately in my hand, slashing at his throat. He leaned away, dodging back, slipping under my arm, but then I was firing three more knives with telekinesis toward him from my hip sheaths, and they embedded into his side. He flung them back out at me, but I hinged them in the air to switch around back at him, his blood flung so wildly arrested in the air that it peppered my face as it whipped around and changed direction. I was more precise this time, and he dodged one, but the other two entered his right eye, and h
e sank to the ground, screaming, but then I was on top of him, slashing his throat with my dagger and slumping his body to the side as he gurgled on his blood and curled into himself to greet his final moments.
I stared at him, breathing hard, pulse racing, sweat dripping down my cheeks, hands clammy, dagger streaming red onto his tunic, and then wiped my sleeve across my face to clear his blood off my cheeks. I shoved him aside and looked down at the others near the tunnel entrance. There were five of them, and they were looking up at me, alerted by their comrade's screams.
I flung myself backward as they lasered knives up at me in unison. This was no longer a hiding place; it was a last stand.
Be brave… I focused all the intention I could on Jase's mind and used a pinch of my emotion to build some Will to send a telepathic thought, hoping the overhanging salt wouldn't block it. As I prepped what I could say to Jase, trying to think of a code, a rain of knives thudded all around me as the Bordash below lanced metal razors into my hovel. I raced backward and threw wild telekinetic blocks every which way, knocking the knives back down the cliff.
“They’re here!” The thought was more a scream than a refined, contained code but I shrugged it away. It didn’t matter at this point.
I could sense he received it, but he didn’t respond. My heart was in my throat. One of the Bordash knives nicked my arm, and I caught it with my other hand and then swiftly spun it around to throw it back down the cliff again, directing it telekinetically. I rolled the now completely dead Bordash toward the edge of the cliff and set his body up as broadly as I could, which was pretty effective, blocking more than half of the opening.