The pants fell to the floor and he bent down to retrieve them, which was when he saw the dull gold peeking over the top of the dark vest that lay over it. Frowning, he drew the vest away, then stopped. Before him lay the golden, frozen features, blank eyes and cold lips so sweetly curved.
Drawing it out, he held Tenia’s death mask in his hands. As he looked down at the cold features, something niggled in the back of his mind, something she’d said as he’d held her in his arms warm and satiated from lovemaking.
“A warrior gives the man she loves her death mask.”
A lump filled his throat. Tenia had fled, but she’d left him the symbol of her love. He gripped it tightly, the cold features blurring as his vision filled with tears, his heart strengthening with renewed vigour and determination.
She loved him, there was no doubt, and he would get her back.
This time nothing would part them.
~ * ~
Warm sunshine fell upon the shoulders of the warriors sitting on the grass as they studied the map spread out on the ground.
Under the watchful eye of two of the older women, the children played nearby, never going far.
“We’ll have to infiltrate through those old tunnels.” Tenia pointed to the section of the map.
“We don’t know exactly where they go,” Connie reminded her. “Apart from the fact that they lead into the fortress.”
“And they’re old.” Reya frowned. “They could be caved in, maybe guarded or blocked.”
“Or have sensors attached,” Jonette added.
“That’s a lot of ifs, buts, and ors.” Dana yawned, sitting on the grass and strapping her ankle.
“I say some of us go ahead and scout it out.” Tenia fiddled with the end of her braid. “Find the entrances to these tunnels outside the fortress, then we mark the sensors and see which tunnels are useable.”
Reya glanced around at the nodding warriors. “Who’s going to volunteer?”
“One of us must go and since you’re needed here because of Deathman, it has to be me.”
“Bloody hell! If you get killed, Tenia, I’ll…I’ll…”
“Kill me?” She raised one golden brow mockingly.
“Yes,” Reya growled. “And don’t you forget it.”
Connie laughed.
“More alike than you both know.” Leyla grinned. “Stubborn.”
Tenia folded the map triumphantly.
“Serena goes with you.” Reya stood up. “You’ll need someone to watch your back.”
“Action at last!” Serena bounded to her feet, her brown curls bouncing on her shoulders and grey eyes alight.
“Scouting,” Reya reminded her tightly.
“Of course.”
Tenia grinned.
Reya rubbed her brow. “I have reservations about this already.”
“Don’t you worry your sweet little head about it.” Tenia patted her back. “Serena and I have got this.”
“Maybe I should go ins-”
“We’ve got this.”
Unappeased, Reya folded her arms. When Tenia teasingly patted her cheek, she shrugged her away with a muttered, “You get hurt and I will kick your arse.”
“Now that’s incentive,” Tenia told Serena.
~ * ~
They’d covered four planets with no news of Reeka warriors, Darvk was getting frustrated, his normal good humour nowhere in sight, so when he received a coded message from an Argon ship to say that two rare bolts of cloth had been spotted on the planet Vendor - in other words, the two Reekas he was hunting - he wasted no time in rousing his crew from the tavern. He stormed in and roared to them to move their arses while Maverk hammered on the tavern whores’ doors to rouse the more lusty members of the crew.
It didn’t take him long to find the only two moving spots on the scanner in that area from the coordinates given to them. Figuring out the direction in which the warriors headed, the traders flew ahead and readied themselves.
The two Reekas strode along the path and into the trees. Although they had no reason to believe that anyone lay in wait for them, their instincts were razor sharp and when the rope net fell from above, they both dodged away before it could fall on them.
As fast as they moved, the traders moved faster.
“Get them down!” Darvk yelled. “On the ground! Move!”
There was no way he was going to let these two get away, he’d do whatever it took to get them where he needed them - namely on his ship, his prisoners, and dosed with the witch’s serum if needed - and he just knew it would be needed.
The Daamens’ experiences with Tenia had taught them of the swiftness and agility that the Reekas moved with, and so they used their strength. The warriors went down under four of the big traders, their half-drawn lasers knocked out of their grasps. They struggled and swore but they were no match for the hefty traders and quickly found themselves bound and gagged.
Darvk was already striding up the ramp. “Borga, Garret, get those two lasses into separate cabins.”
He glanced over his shoulder to find the wenches doing some serious struggling with the two traders, but before he could give the next order, Garret and Borga apparently read his mind. They swung the warriors up into their arms, assured them cheerfully that they had nothing to worry about, and strode up the ramp with the swearing but helpless Reekas.
Red had the ship back on the move toward space within minutes.
In his cabin, Darvk readied the vial of serum, dividing the dose carefully into two injectors, keeping a third of the serum in the tiny vial in case he needed it later. Holding the two injectors, he left the cabin and met Maverk in the corridor.
“Here.” Maverk handed him two more injectors. “Sedation for after. For their safety and ours.” The last was spoken grimly.
Darvk nodded, took the injectors, and they entered the cabin where the youngest warrior had been placed on the bunk.
The older warrior was being guarded, still bound, in another cabin.
Coming to stand beside the bunk, Darvk gazed down at the young warrior. “Tell me where the Reekas dwell, lass. I promise no harm will come to any of you from us.”
Eyes spitting hate and defiance, she shook her head and tried to kick out at him even though her ankles were bound, rolling when that failed in an attempt to get off the bunk.
The warrior wasn’t giving in, her intention to fight to the end more than apparent.
So be it. He admired her dedication to her sister warriors, but that wasn’t going to stop him finding Tenia.
He nodded to Garret and Maverk and they held the Reeka down on the bunk by the ankles and shoulders. With her hands bound behind her, she was helpless.
Palming an injector, Darvk perched on the bunk beside her. “This will only be a pinprick.”
At the sting in her arm, she jerked, straining away. It reminded Darvk of Tenia when she’d been branded, while she was struggling in the holds of the slave guards. That memory tempered his mood, but not his resolve. However, it wasn’t in his nature to cause fear, Daamens were more known for their protectiveness, and his instinct was still to reassure and soothe.
“Rest easy, lass.” He smoothed the tousled red hair back from the lightly tanned, pretty features. “We won’t hurt you.” He looked up at Maverk. “I wonder how long it takes to work?”
“Should’ve asked, I guess.” Maverk shrugged. “It’s too late now to wonder. We’ll have to wait and see.”
“In the meantime, we might as well remove this gag.”
Moistening her dry lips with her tongue, the young warrior glared at him. “I’ll tell you nothing!”
“Where do the Reeka warriors dwell?”
“Go to hell!”
“Obviously not working yet,” Garret observed cheerfully, adding when the burning gaze switched to him, “Reminds me of Tenia, actually.”
“Aye, all spit and fire,” Maverk agreed.
“Let’s try again,” Darvk said. “Where do the warriors dwell?”<
br />
Opening her mouth to give a scathing reply, she suddenly snapped it quickly shut, a peculiar expression on her face.
Leaning forward, Darvk looked intently into the dark green eyes, seeing the flicker of fear within, and his heart lurched hopefully. “Where are they?”
“No!” Gritting her teeth, she strained at the hands holding her down. “Damn you, no!”
Maverk also leaned forward. “How about a different approach?” When Darvk arched an eyebrow in query, he asked, “What’s your name, lass?”
“I don’t…” She gasped, inhaled, and whispered, “Aster.” Almost immediately, fear flickered through her eyes before she started struggling again.
“Tell me, Aster,” Darvk coaxed, “where are your sister warriors?”
“They’re at - no! No!” Aster yelled, eyes squeezed shut and teeth clenched. “Damn you, no!”
“The potion will make you tell us, Aster. You can’t fight it.”
Her struggles renewed and she thrashed on the bunk. A rivulet of sweat trickled down her temple, and Maverk and Garret tightened their holds as she strained against them.
“Where are they?” Darvk demanded. “You will tell me, Aster. Now.”
Aster went still suddenly, her eyes snapped open, and Darvk’s breath suckled in sharply as he found violet irises, so eerily familiar, staring back at him.
“What witchery is this?” Garret was shaken.
“It has to do with the potion,” Maverk whispered.
Darvk recovered first. “I will ask you again, lass, where do the Reeka warriors live?”
“They live…” She struggled mentally, but with a rush the answer burst forth, “On Urion!”
“Whereabouts?”
“The forests of Zartep.” Accompanied by a shuddering sob, a tear slipped down her smooth cheek.
He hadn’t heard of the forests but he could easily find the information on the computer. There was just one more thing he needed to know. “Exactly where in the forests?”
Closing her eyes - or were they hers? - Aster whispered unwillingly, “In the mountain.” She opened her eyes and they were dark green again. Horror filled them, disgust and self-loathing. “No,” she whispered. “No. God forgive me.”
In that second his compassion rose for Aster, a loyal warrior forced to reveal the hidden whereabouts of her sister warriors, thinking she’d condemned them to death.
“Lass, we won’t harm your tribe.” He sought to soothe her. “We’re going to help you.”
Sobs wracked the slender frame and a muscle ticked in Darvk’s jaw as he saw the discomfort in Garret’s expression. He wasn’t proud of what they’d had to do, but the good outweighed the bad, and it was something they all knew.
Having gotten the information he needed, he injected the sedation into her arms, and within seconds Aster slipped into blessed oblivion. The traders removed the bindings, leaving her wrist cuffed to the bunk frame, and left the cabin.
Entering the next cabin, Darvk found a relieved Cam trying to hold the wildly struggling older warrior. Maverk hurried to help him.
“She went wild as soon as she heard the other lass yelling,” Cam explained, a trifle breathlessly.
Darvk removed the gag.
“What have you done to her?” The warrior tore wildly against her bonds. “What have you done?”
“I gave her a truth potion,” Darvk replied quietly. “She fought against it.”
“Is she hurt?”
“No. She sleeps, as will you.”
“Go to-” Her curse was stopped by her indrawn breath as the needle pierced her skin. “You bastard! What are you doing?”
“Trust me, lass, this will be more comfortable for us all.”
As soon as she was unconscious, the bindings were removed and her wrist cuffed to the bed frame.
“Keep an eye on both of them,” Darvk instructed Cam. “Jase will replace you in two hours.”
“How long will they sleep?”
“Eight hours. I’ll give them another shot in seven hours to be sure they continue to sleep.”
Cam cast the warrior a wary look. “Don’t forget.”
Maverk gave the young trader a wry grin.
Leaving Cam in charge of the warriors, Darvk led Maverk to the control cabin to plot the course to Urion.
“Two days,” Maverk informed Darvk.
“Good. Now to see where this Zartep forest is.”
Within minutes a map of the west side of Urion appeared on the screen, the arrow zeroing in on the area the forests were situated. He punched in the coordinates and then leaned back in the chair.
For the first time since he’d started looking for Tenia, he had hope. He knew where the Reekas lived, was heading for their settlement, and soon…
“Not long now, Tenia,” he muttered under his breath. “Two days and I’ll be with you again, and this time you won’t escape me.”
~ * ~
“Thank the stars we have this radar blocker,” Serena said as the fleet craft settled down amidst the heavy trees.
“The skies around this Empire are full of fighter and travel crafts,” Tenia observed. “At least being night they can’t visually see us, either.”
“Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” She attached the map pouch to her belt. “Let’s go.”
They swung on heavy cloaks with hoods and covered their faces with black scarves, the only openings for their eyes. Covered from head to toe in black, they blended with the night. After keying in the fleet craft camouflage, they slipped away into the darkness.
Keeping to the shadows, they stopped only when the Inka Empire fortress showed in the distance rising gigantically in the night, lights ablaze.
Tenia pointed to an outcrop of rock ahead. “That’s marked on the map. Twenty paces to the right should be a flat rock set in the ground. Start scanning now.”
Serena turned on the sensor scanner, the tiny blue light flashing on then off; the only indication that it was activated. “If the blue light comes on again, a sensor is three hundred yards away, far enough that it won’t sense us but we’ll know where it is.”
Approaching the rock, they turned right and mentally counted off twenty paces. Tenia saw the flat rock, half hidden from view by the grass twined over it. She eased the runners away carefully so that they could be replaced later to make the rock appear undisturbed.
It took both warriors to shift the thick rock aside and lay it beside the hole. Holding the scanner down the hole, Serena nodded to indicate that it was safe and they cautiously eased down into the tunnel. It was strewn with cobwebs and obviously not used. Alert for any noise or movement, they continued until they reached a locked steel door, rust coating the handle. Marking it on the map, they retraced their steps. Once above ground they replaced the rock and arranged the grass runners over it again.
The second tunnel marked was a mile away, but it, too, hadn’t been used in years and was blocked at the end by another massive, rusting, steel door.
“We’d need some sort of explosive to break these locks.” Tenia studied the door.
“That would only bring the tunnel down upon us,” Serena pointed out.
Drawing out the map, Tenia used a tiny glotorch to illuminate it.
Serena peered over her shoulder. “There’s another tunnel on the other side of the fortress. It stops right beside the soldiers’ quarters.”
“Beside the soldiers’ quarters, now isn’t that just nifty?” Rolling her eyes, Tenia refolded the map. “Let’s check it out.”
The fortress was massive, taking a further two hours to skim around the outside and dodge the patrolling soldiers to reach the third tunnel. Tenia frowned upon seeing the clumsily concealed opening and the fresh scuffmarks around the entrance.
“No sensors.” Serena checked the scanner. “Unusual for a place that’s obviously used.”
“Very unusual.” Sidling up to the entrance, Tenia angled her head to the side, straining to hear any sound.
“We have to check it out because this tunnel will get us straight to the soldiers and inside.”
A muffled giggle sounded, followed by the sound of something dislodging.
Serena’s head jerked around sharply. “Someone’s coming.”
The crashing of undergrowth came closer, followed by a muffled curse and another giggle. Both warriors dived over the top of nearby bushes. They landed on the other side and quickly rolled onto their bellies to peer through the foliage.
A soldier staggered into view, a woman clinging to him. She was giggling while he groped down the front of her dress. “You bad man!”
“Aw, c’mon, just once more!” He belched loudly.
“Hush,” she scolded him laughingly. “Someone might hear you.”
Tenia grimaced at the drunken pair while Serena grinned widely.
“Only ones to hear me would be my fellow soldiers sneaking out looking for a willing piece of fluff.”
“It’s not fair of Shari to keep you soldiers on such a tight leash.” The woman planted a wet kiss on his cheek. “How’re we tavern girls to make a decent living?”
“He thinks he has our lives all worked out, but we fooled him. We found our own back door.”
“Lucky for us.” She wriggled closer.
“C’mere, woman.” He grabbed her.
They fell to the ground, she with muffled shrieks while he yanked at her skirts.
Oh no, don’t tell me they’re going to…With a silent groan, Tenia dropped her forehead onto her arm, while Serena stuffed her fist into her mouth to stop the laughter that threatened to spill out.
In drunken passion the pair on the ground rolled around, pulling at each other’s clothes and pawing at each other’s bodies. Seconds later, heavy breathing turned into grunts and moans as the intoxicated embrace turned more intimate.
Serena shook with silent laughter. Tenia’s cheeks burned as the lustful couple’s passion became louder, the slap of flesh against flesh sounding in the stillness. Just when she thought she couldn’t stand it any longer, another sound made her stiffen and grab Serena’s arm. All hilarity left her friend’s face immediately.
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