Neverwylde (The Rim of the World Book 4)

by Linda Mooney

  “Hoov, are the Adajuss here?”

  “No.”

  “No? They left?”

  “Gone.”

  “Gone? Gone where?” Massapa interrupted. “Did they manage to get off this world?”

  Someone hushed him, but Kelen flashed him a quick smile.

  “Hoov, did the Adajuss leave Ganj?”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “If they didn’t leave, but they’re no longer here…” Jules wondered aloud.

  “Hoov, did the Adajuss die?”

  Hoov turned its head toward Kyber. “Yes. Adajuss gone.”

  Kelen felt her stomach clench again. She drew the blanket tighter around her and wished she could pick up the blaster. Put on its lowest setting, the weapon would generate a small amount of heat. She would have given anything if she could wrap her hands around it and cradle the gun in her lap. Her wounded leg ached to the point where she could hardly stand or walk on it.

  “Hoov, we are hungry.”

  The creature continued eating. Listening. Patiently waiting.

  Kelen pointed to the kill it devoured in chunks. “What is this?”

  “Food.”

  “Before it was food, when it was alive, what was it? What do you call it?”

  “Toos.”

  “Hoov, is there another toos we can eat? Is there another one we can hunt to eat, the way you hunted this one?”

  “Toos gone.”

  Fullgrath grunted. “Sounds like Hoov tracked this thing for a while. No wonder it’s coveting its food. No telling how long it’s been since its last meal.”

  “Betcha it won’t share, either,” Cooter surmised.

  “Are there any others like it around here? Kel, ask if there are more of its kind here,” Fullgrath suggested.

  “Hoov, are there more of you?”

  “More. Yes.”

  “Are they here?”

  “Here. No.”

  Cooter snorted. “So it’s probably a loner.”

  “Ask about the orange room,” Gaveer whispered.

  Kelen nodded. “Hoov, do you know Ganj? This temple?” She held up a hand to encompass the building. “Do you know the rooms below us?” She pointed downward. “Do you know the tunnels?”

  “Tun-ls. Yes.”

  “Hoov, where do the tunnels go?”

  The creature pointed at the floor. “Down.”

  “Can we be safe there?” She shivered involuntarily. “Can we get out of this cold? We can’t stay out in this cold much longer. We need to find shelter. We need to find a place that’s safe for us.”

  “Yes. Cold.”

  “Hoov, can we go below? Will you take us to find shelter?”

  The creature thought about it for a minute. “Yes. Take shelter.”

  “Good! When?” Cooter asked.

  Hoov focused on the security officer. “Eat. Go.”

  Fullgrath let out bark of laughter. “Might as well get comfortable, folks. Apparently we’re not budging until Hoov finishes its meal.”

  Chapter 5

  Danger

  “Kelen.”

  She turned to look over her shoulder up at him. Although Kyber spoke to her, his eyes were locked on Hoov. The creature may appear to be calmly eating and somewhat non-dangerous, but it was still an alien. An intelligent alien. How intelligent was yet to be seen. But because it was intelligent, that made it a thousand times more dangerous in her opinion. There was no way they could anticipate Hoov’s next move. It could be as simple as standing up, or it could be an all-out frontal assault launched from its sitting position.

  She waited. He finally glanced down at her as he squeezed her shoulder. “You need to go back to the tunnel to wait.”

  “I’m staying here with you.”

  He pressed his lips together as he thought of what to say to her that would convince her to do as he bid, but she beat him to it.

  “You’re on the verge of dropping from exhaustion. I’ll go back if you go with me.” She noted the others. “They can keep Hoov under surveillance. And they’re better armed.”

  “She’s got a point, Kyber,” Jules told him. “After I get a few more pictures, I’ll come with you.”

  “Yeah, Kyber. You two go. We got this,” Cooter reassured him.

  Gaveer held out a hand to her. She accepted it and let the Seneecian lift her to her feet. Giving Hoov a final glance, she took Kyber’s arm and they returned to the hidden tunnel where someone had built a small fire.

  Sandow jumped to his feet and rushed over to them when they stepped through the holographic door. “What happened? Is everyone okay?” He scanned her and Kyber for signs of further injury, but she waved him away.

  “We’re fine.”

  “Then tell us what happened out there. We were beginning to worry.”

  Kyber helped her to sit before taking his place beside her. Mellori handed them each a water bag. Kelen noticed they were running low, but the cold liquid felt good on her throat. Handing it back to him, she inched closer to the fire and tried to get warm.

  “We’ve been in touch with another species,” she informed them. “It calls itself Hoov, but there’s more. A hell of a lot more. This Hoov creature is native to this world. Hoov calls it Ganj.” She stared at Dox, who listened with rapt attention. “Not Neverwylde, as you claimed it is.”

  The young man nodded but didn’t reply. She couldn’t tell if he accepted the fact that he had been wrong, or if he was even capable of accepting it. As long as she’d known the strange little isotope man, she’d never known him to be incorrect about anything he’d claimed. In fact, isotopes were hailed for both their honesty and purity of thought and commitment. Maybe this planet had thrown him into a tailspin, which accounted for him misreading the glyphs. And if that was the case, what else had he told them that was incorrect?

  “Was Hoov the creature who followed us?” Sandow inquired.

  “No,” Kyber spoke. “Hoov followed the creature who was stalking us and killed it.”

  “It protected us?”

  “No. It killed it for food. We have been watching it eat.”

  “Wait a minute.” Mellori shook his head. “I don’t understand. You said Hoov told you its name and that this place is called Ganj?” He glanced at Kyber. “You could speak its language?”

  “That’s where this story gets bizarre,” Kelen told them. “Hoov is wearing a translator.”

  “What?”

  She touched her neck to show the location. “It’s wearing a translator it says it got from a species it calls Adajuss. But the Adajuss aren’t from here. They’re from our universe.”

  The shocked expressions on their faces had to match the one she’d worn not too long ago.

  Kyber continued, “The Adajuss are from my galaxy. Apparently they also landed here. Or crashed. Either way, Hoov says they are gone. We think the survivors died.”

  A sound behind them alerted them to someone coming down the tunnel. Jules appeared and joined them.

  “I’ve got more questions than answers. I hope Hoov can give us more information about this place. But I did discover one interesting little tidbit.” The man grinned and held up his tablet. “What do you see?”

  They studied the picture displayed on the screen. “It’s more of those glyphs,” Sandow said. He peered closer, squinting. “Am I missing something?”

  “Look specifically at the carvings,” the ex-navigator insisted with a grin.

  Kyber shook his head. “I cannot read them. Dox told us they were not the same sort of glyphs we found at the other…” The Seneecian paused in mid-sentence.

  Kelen looked over at him and noticed an odd frown on his face. She quickly turned back to the tablet. Before she could ask him what had caught his attention, Kyber reached out and placed a finger on the screen. “That’s Corucian.”

  “What’s Corucian?” she asked.

  “That carving inscribed on the wall. That one is not a glyph. It is a word.”

  Jules
nodded excitedly. “Can you read it?”

  Kyber peered closer. “It says…danger.”

  Kelen gasped. “Danger?”

  “Jules, did you find any more of these types of symbols?” Kyber asked.

  “Yeah. And get this. They’re all over the walls, but you have to look carefully to find them. They’re mixed in with the pictographs.”

  “How did you first notice them?” Sandow inquired.

  “I was taking random shots. I thought Dox might have a chance to translate them. Or maybe we could get Hoov to translate them for us. That’s when I realized they look completely different from the glyphs. I mean, Dox already told us these glyphs were different from the ones at the other temple, but they still look similar to us. But these scratchings, they’re nothing like those pictographs.”

  “Show me more of them,” Kyber demanded.

  Jules handed over the tablet. “Here. Scroll through them yourself.”

  Kelen watched as the Seneecian took the tablet and began checking the various pictures. “Kyber, you never told us what Corucian is. Is it a language? A species? A planet?”

  “It is all three. Corucia is located in the Bahbah Heedra system, between Seneecia and Adajuss. Corucia is a major trade hub for our region of the galaxy.”

  “Which means that language is used for most of the dealings that go on, right?” Jules inquired.

  “Yes.” Kyber pointed to the screen. “Here is another word. Traitor.”

  Kleesod glanced over Kyber’s shoulder. “Those are definitely Corucian.”

  “Kyber, is it possible Hoov, or those of his species, carved those words into the rock?” Kelen whispered.

  Kyber shook his head. “I do not see how. But Adajuss would know these words. They might have inscribed them.”

  “In a language that is not their own?” Jules inquired.

  Mellori scratched his beard. “If you were wanting to leave warnings in case another species made it to this planet, you’d want to use a language you’d hope it would be familiar with.”

  Kyber grunted. “These are all the pictures you have?” He looked to Jules for confirmation.

  “Yeah. So far.”

  “Did you find any more of those Corucian words?” Kelen asked.

  He nodded. “Just one.” He pointed to the wall behind where Dox and Mellori were sitting. “There. Between you. It says ‘beware’.”

  Chapter 6

  Descent

  They were staring at the odd symbol when a scuffling sound alerted them that someone was entering the tunnel. Kyber got to his feet and placed himself in front of her as Fullgrath and Massapa came into view. Directly behind them was Hoov.

  As Kelen had expected, the thing had six legs. If it walked upright, it would indeed exceed four meters as Cooter had predicted. Instead, it walked horizontally like the insect on Earth it resembled. A large praying mantis horse, she mentally told herself.

  Behind Hoov came Gaveer and Tojun, with Cooter taking the rear. Even though the creature walked in what appeared to be a crouched position, the top of its head barely missed grazing the roof of the tunnel. It paused when it came upon them, dropping onto its haunches as it studied them with its myriad eyes.

  “All.”

  “Yes. This is all of us,” Fullgrath answered.

  The thing lifted its head. “Injured.” The translator around its neck pulsed with a pale blue light.

  “Yes. Several of us are injured. That’s why we need you to guide us down the tunnel to a place where we can be safe.”

  “Hoov, this is Dr. Sandow. He is our physician.” Kelen did the introductions. It was then she noticed the wide-eyed stare Dox gave the creature. The young man’s face had also grown unusually pale. Of all the creatures they had seen since they’d crashed here, Dox had never shown any kind of fearful reaction. Not like the one he was having as he focused on Hoov.

  “Do-cur San-do.” Hoov tested each syllable. Apparently there were too many, and it decided to abbreviate. “Docur.”

  Sandow smiled. “That’ll do. I’ve been called worse.”

  Hoov tilted its head nearly one hundred eighty degrees clockwise as it leaned forward. Dox reacted, pressing his back against the wall. The little man trembled noticeably. If he could, Kelen had no doubt he would have jumped to his feet and ran off.

  “You,” Hoov requested.

  When Dox refused to reply, Mellori supplied his name. “He is Dox. I am Mellori.”

  Hoov bounced its head up and down several times. “Blood,” it finally stated. Whirling suddenly around, the creature stared down Kelen. “Blood,” it repeated, then gave Kyber a long look. “Blood,” it said a third time.

  Kelen saw Kyber silently snarl at the creature, revealing his fangs. He made no other threatening gesture.

  She glanced over at Sandow, who was studying the thing. All of them had suffered bruises and assorted wounds these past few weeks, but the three of them whom Hoov had singled out were in the worst shape.

  Kyber turned slightly to glance down at her. By the expression on his face, she could tell he wanted to ask her something, but privately. She gave a slight nod to let him know she understood. He was adamant about keeping himself between her and Hoov, and he didn’t have to tell her why. Something about the creature set Dox on edge. She was also getting some weird vibes from the thing. And judging by his stance, chances were her mate was also getting them.

  “I take it Hoov got to finish his meal?” Jules halfway joked.

  “Not all of it,” Gaveer informed them. “It dragged the rest of the carcass inside the tunnel entrance.”

  Kyber peered at Hoov. “Why? Why bring the carcass inside? Why not leave it out in the temple?”

  “Eat,” the creature stated.

  Fullgrath snickered. “He isn’t sharing with anyone.”

  “And in this cold, he doesn’t have to worry about it going bad,” Mellori added.

  “Speaking of cold…” Her teeth were starting to chatter. A glance over at Dox showed the young man shivering inside his blanket. “The temperature seems to be dropping.”

  Jules consulted his tablet. “It’s below freezing. Minus four degrees Celsius.”

  “With night settling, it will grow even colder,” Tojun predicted.

  Fullgrath stepped over to where he drew the creature’s attention. “Hoov, you said you were going to lead us to a place of safety. We need to get there as soon as possible. How long will it take us to reach the lower chambers?”

  “Soon,” Hoov answered. It turned to face the dark corridor and set off at a slow pace without warning. Everyone quickly gathered the bundles and hurried to keep up with the creature. Gaveer scooped up Dox into his arms to carry the little man.

  As before, Cooter took watch at the end of the procession. But instead of taking point, or being close to the front as he normally would, Kyber chose to stay near the rear. He tugged on Kelen’s arm to hold her back, giving them a little privacy as they began a gradual but discernable descent.

  “I do not trust this Hoov.” He kept his voice low, but Kelen knew Cooter would be able to overhear them. It didn’t matter. It was Hoov they didn’t want listening in.

  “Neither do I. I also think the Adajuss left behind those hieroglyphs to warn anyone else who happened to land on this planet.”

  “I agree. Kelen, do you not find it strange that we found the Corucian inscriptions on this side of the planet, but not on the side where we originally were?”

  “Maybe the Adajuss didn’t land there. Maybe they only landed here. With the light controls frozen on that panel, there wouldn’t have been any way they could have traveled to another part of the planet.”

  “That is true, but what of the panels we will find below?”

  His question almost made her pause in her tracks. He quickly linked an arm through hers to both help her along and to take some of her weight off her bad leg. She pressed a quick kiss to his bicep in thanks.

  “You believe there will be other panels
below we could use to help us get out of this place?”

  “Do you?” he countered.

  It made sense there would be.

  “What if they’re also frozen over?”

  “That is a possibility we will have to wait to discover.”

  They continued to follow Hoov, with only the glow from their tube lights to show them the way. The tunnel curved slightly back and forth, rarely going straight for any considerable distance. Occasionally Kelen could hear the others ahead talking among themselves, but the acoustics inside the rock corridor prevented her from catching what they were saying.

  “Kyber, can you hear what they’re discussing?”

  “Not much. They are wondering what we will encounter once we reach this area of safety.”

  She stopped so suddenly, Cooter almost plowed into her. Clutching Kyber’s arm, she whispered, “What if Hoov is leading us into a trap? What if it’s taking us to where there are more of its kind, and we end up being prisoners?”

  He gave her a patient yet questioning look. “What makes you think that?”

  “Why should we trust him fully when we’ve barely met him? Remember those words the Adajuss wrote? Danger? Traitor? Beware?”

  “What words?” Cooter whispered over their shoulders. “What are you guys talking about?”

  “The glyphs carved into the walls. Some of them are in a language Kyber recognized. They’re from an alien race from his sector of the solar system.”

  “No shit! So there were other species who crashed here?”

  “We do not know how long ago this may have happened,” Kyber quickly interceded. “Hoov says all the Adajuss are gone. It is very likely they died from starvation.”

  Cooter grumped. “I tell you one thing. I have half a mind to go back and tear off a leg or two from that thing Hoov killed, just so we have something to cook once we get where we’re headed. No. Screw it. I’m going back.”

  “Cooter, no!” Kelen tried to stop the man, but he vanished into the darkness before she or Kyber could stop him. Ahead of them, Mellori peered back at them, giving them a questioning look. When Kelen shook her head, he turned around and continued forward.

  Kyber occasionally tilted his head as he listened behind them. After a few more minutes, Kelen softly voiced her concern. “Kyber, these Adajuss, are they a hardy race?”