“Yeah!”
“Where? Oh my god, I’ve looked for that thing everywhere.” Yeva sat across from him and grinned at him. He grinned at her, suddenly caught up in her enthusiasm.
“There are perks to being the best bounty hunter in the galaxy.” Tobias grinned smugly.
They fell into a conversation about the show, talking about theories for the next series, favorite characters, moments. Beks wasn’t that into it, so she never had anyone to really talk to. Yeva was just about to jump into an extremely nerdy tangent about Galaxy of Battles when she realized who she was talking to. This man was a legend among hunters, and here they were joking and talking about a silly vid show. He was more than the legend that preceded him. He was a man, a human man who was just as caught up in normal things like other normal people.
She abruptly ended the conversation when there was a lull, and she motioned for him to step back.
Tobias stood awkwardly at the closed gangplank while Yeva set out a camping mat on the floor and threw a pillow and blanket on top of it. She had to push the kitchenette into the wall to make space for it, and when she was done with his sleeping area, she started to move the sitting area around until it converted into her bed. She turned and glared playfully at him. “You promise not to pull anything tricky while I’m sleeping?”
“On my honor.” Tobias held a hand over his heart, and then his hand took the shape of the oath hand sign again.
“As much as you use that I sure hope your honor is worth it.”
Tobias chuckled. “I’d say it’s the only thing about me that’s worth anything.”
Yeva tsked. “Don’t say that about yourself.” She motioned for him to come over and pointed at the mat.
“I don’t mean to be self-depreciating, but I’ve been in some situations where that was all I had, and it’s been what saved me.” He was suddenly very serious, and he plopped down to a cross-legged seat on the mat while Yeva shook her blanket and pillows out of their cramped cabinet.
“I didn’t expect someone so famous to be so humble,” Yeva commented and sat on the edge of her bed clutching one of her pillows to her chest and stomach.
“Arrogance is so last century.” Tobias sighed and smiled tiredly up at her.
Yeva half-smiled back and flicked the overhead lights off. “Get some sleep, we should start early tomorrow.”
“Right-o,” Tobias said through a yawn and stretched out on the mat.
Yeva curled up on her side, still clutching the pillow to her chest, and faced the bulkhead. She could hear his soft breathing, amplified by the darkness, and tried to calm her own breathing. Sometimes she liked to go to sleep while listening to music, but tonight she just wanted to listen to him breathing. Why that desire was so strong right now she had no idea, but she let it overtake her.
Now, in the silence, with only the gentle sound of his breathing, she was able to really ponder all the things that had happened during the day.
Yeva wasn’t one to trust people the second she met them, much less the day she met them, but something about this planet had lent itself to facilitating trust between them. Tobias had been here for over a month, and he seemed a little lost, but if he was right, that things started changing when she arrived, then who was she to deny what was obvious? If they could work together, then even half of the bounty reward would be more than enough to let her pay back the debt she owed to Beks.
“What happened to the family that adopted you?” Yeva blurted out before she could stop herself.
There was a lengthy pause where Yeva half-hoped that he had already fallen asleep and half-hoped he was awake to answer it. She didn’t really care to know about the family. She wanted to know more about him. The conversation about their mutually favorite vid show had been a glimpse, but like the greedy person that she was she wanted more.
“Not much. I lived with them until I was old enough to get a job, and then when I had saved enough, I went out on my own and started working with a journeyman Bounty Hunter. I talk with my adopted sister sometimes still; she at least was nice to me and actually treated me like a human being instead of a leech.”
“Oh,” Yeva said at a loss for anything more engaging.
“What about your family?”
“They’re still back on Avertas. I go visit them every year for the Avertas Equinox celebration. My mom has plenty to keep up with now that two of my six sisters just had kids.”
“Six sisters?” Tobias laughed. “Younger? Older?”
“Older. I’m the seventh out of seven.”
“There are superstitious people out there who would find that number… interesting.”
“Well, it was a handful.” Yeva laughed.
They fell silent after that, and Yeva contented herself with listening to him breathe.
She heard him turn over and try to settle in. He did it again a few minutes later.
“Are you uncomfortable?”
“Ah? Oh, it’s okay. I’ve slept on worse. Just a little achy.”
Yeva’s bed, though a standard mattress for any mid grade ship was surprisingly comfortable, and she knew the feeling of being sore and achy after a day of hunting.
She considered how she felt about the thought of inviting him to sleep next to her.
The thought of him lying in the bed next to her crept through her mind, and she shoved the thought out of her head. Companionship of the more intimate kind had been out of her reach since she had screwed up and Beks had saved her. She had been so single-minded on saving up that intimacy had been off the table. She didn’t need it, and she was content, and the few men that had come through life since then had been unremarkable. Kind men, busy men, men who she would have been lucky to have in her life. But none of them had that spark she was looking for.
Tobias rolled over again and before she could think herself out of it, she leaned over and yanked at his pillow to get his attention. Their faces were close together as he sat up to listen to her. Yeva glanced at his mouth and then away. She said in a gruff voice, “The bed is more comfortable, you can sleep next to me… if you like.”
She leaned back onto her bed and listened to him. She heard a rustling, and he crawled up into the empty space on the bed, covered himself with his own blanket and stared up at the ceiling.
The sound of his breathing began to even out, and she tried to relax. She felt a twinge in a deep place and rolled over to face away from him.
She’d only been around him a day, yet she felt something; she felt that she recognized the spark of what she wanted in a person in Tobias. It could be as bad as silly girlhood crush if she wasn’t careful, so she closed her eyes tight and fell asleep convincing herself that he would never be interested.
Her dreams weren’t content to let her alone. Instead, the strange amalgamation of thoughts, memories, and unconnected faces drifted through her mind, but he was there drifting near her like a sturdy facet in an otherwise meaningless dreamscape. In her dreams she found herself at one moment trying to save him, and at another trying to impress him, and yet a third trying to convince him of something. It was all lost and faded when she woke.
She awoke to him moving his arm… an arm that was draped over her. Her eyes popped open, and she was resting her head on his pillow staring nose to nose at him. He was still sleeping, the movement of his arm had been some minor adjustment in his sleep. There was a light smile on his lips, and she longingly stared at them.
Yeva mentally slapped herself and scooted back. His arm grazed over her, and his fingers fell across her exposed stomach. His eyes sprang open and widened comically when he realized where his hand was. He snatched it back and started to apologize. “No, no, it’s okay. My fault. I think my sleeping brain ignored common sense and forgot you were there.” She said and felt her cheeks burn hot. “I'm used to having the whole thing to myself.”
“Nothing wrong with a little cuddle between friends.” Tobias commented lightly and scooted back a bit to give a bit more space between t
hem.
He looked over at her, and they shared a look. The awkwardness of the moment stretched out between them, and suddenly, his expression changed, and Yeva started laughing. He started laughing too.
“I didn’t realize we were friends already.” Yeva chuckled.
“Why not? A little peril brings all types together.”
They were lying there on their sides staring at each other each uncertain of what to do, then they started to reach for each other at the same moment
Then the ship shook strangely. Yeva stopped moving and listened. The ship trembled again,and Yeva’s eyes widened. She had to crawl over him briefly, straddling him. Their eyes connected for a brief moment, and Yeva saw the flash of heat in his eyes. She felt that twinge again and hopped off him to open the gangplank door. The gangplank groaned unhappily as it strained against crisscrossed vines. Vines that hadn’t been there when they had gone to sleep.
“What the hell?” Yeva grabbed a knife from her pack hanging near the door and swiped at the vines as the gangplank continued to try and open. Barefoot and not dressed for adventures, Yeva hopped out onto the tarmac and started to circle her ship. The vines had come out of cracks in the tarmac and were starting to work their way up the ship. It wasn’t nearly as bad as she had seen on Tobias’s ship, but she had no doubt the longer the ship sat there the more likely it was that the vines would devour her ship.
Tobias joined her outside, and they both stared at the vines.
“Those bastards work fast,” Tobias commented.
“What are these things? I’ve never seen a plant act so aggressively.” Yeva yanked away some vines that were trying to invade the engine exhaust.
“Another bizarre thing about this planet. I wonder if it might be a defense mechanism.” Tobias followed her back inside the ship where he yanked on his boots and tried to act like he wasn’t watching Yeva out of the corner of his eye. She saw him watching her and wondered what was behind it.
“If it’s a defense mechanism, what is it defending? The temple? This artefact?” Yeva folded up the blankets and shoved them into the cabinets before pushing the bed back into its table and booth configuration.
“I have a feeling the temple. The artefact is… out of place.” Tobias sat at the table and took a proffered mug of hot malva from Yeva. She was obsessed with malva and kept a large box of it on board so she could have a mug with nearly every meal. Tobias didn’t seem phased at all by the offer of malva from the night before or now, so she assumed he liked the stuff too. A point in his favor. Malva was one of the few treats she allowed herself, and it was harder to find this far outside the primary galactic sectors.
“What makes you say that?” Yeva asked.
“Nothing in the temple is adorned in jewels or other shiny nonsense. I feel like it was placed there for safekeeping or something. It’s a feeling I get. I literally have nothing to base that feeling off though.”
It was just as she had assumed earlier. Something like that necklace had to have sentimental value more than anything. The monetary value was probably less than a large box of malva. That’s one of the reasons why the amount offered for this bounty was incredible.
“I’m going to head back to my ship and see if I can salvage anything. Shall we meet up in about an hour?” Tobias drained the last of his mug of malva and nodded to her. She half-heartedly waved at him and closed the gangplank behind him.
6
Yeva dressed for the day, filled her pack with enough rations for the both of them and met Tobias at his ship. The slightly newer Deva-class ship was nearly demolished under the weight of the vines. They had nearly bisected the ship at some point in the night, and Tobias had yanked at one of the service hatches to get into the ship to salvage his belongings. His ship would never fly again. She helped him cart the important stuff back to her ship and stored it in the cargo hold under the ship.
“We have at most a few days before the vines do to your ship what they did to mine.” Tobias said as they pushed the last of his belongings into the cargo hold. “If the ones that grow here are the same as the ones that took my ship, I was having to completely clean my ship off every two to three days. The week I was trapped in the temple allowed them to completely cover it. Took two whole days to clean it off.”
Yeva wasn’t keen on leaving her ship to fend for itself out here while they explored the temple, but there wasn’t much else she could do. The temple was clearly made for two people to work through it.
“One more thing.” Tobias said before they headed back into the temple. He pulled a glowing trinary core out of his pack. “I figure if we have to do a suicide jump to get off the planet we can use the core from my ship to replace the one that will burn out from the jump.”
Yeva gasped. “That would be amazing, thank you. I was thinking I would have to call for help as soon as we got into orbit.”
“Might as well use all our resources combined, right?”
“Right.”
Yeva and Tobias made quick work of the part of the temple they had traversed the day prior, and once they were back in the maze it had completely changed. The route they had taken before was now obsolete as the maze had shifted to a new configuration. Instead of reaching the wall that said “Speak your truth” as the first obstacle, they found themselves standing at an open ravine. Below water gushed through a crack in the rock, and the only thing between them and a fall was a rope vine hanging down from the tree above them and a series of platforms.
“We’ll have to go one at a time,” Yeva said, eyeing the path they would have to take across the platforms. They were too small to hold more than a person, so one of them would have to jump two platforms up, send the rope back, the next person would have to jump two platforms up, send the rope back, and so on.
“Teamwork makes the dream work.” Tobias said. “You want to go first or shall I?”
Yeva might be afraid of the dark but heights had never bothered her. When she was young she had done rock climbing courses with Beks so this looked easy. “I will.”
Tobias and Yeva leap-frogged through the course easily until one of the less sturdy platforms collapsed under Yeva, and she started to fall. She was holding onto the vine and managed to dig her palms into it to keep from sliding too far down.
“Are you okay?”
“Yup.” Yeva grunted as she climbed up the vine. Her hands were shredded raw from sliding down the vine,and it took all her strength to not let go of the vine through her pain.
She started to swing back and forth until her feet touched another platform, and before she could let go from the pain, she threw the vine towards Tobias. He snatched it out of the air and stared at it in horror.
“You’re bleeding!”
“It’s fine.”
“It’s not fine, you’ll never be able to keep going like that.” He lifted his hand from the vine, and her blood came away on his palm.
“I can!”
“Ok, well, maybe you can, but I’m not going to let you. If you fall and die in that ravine below, then both of us are going to die here, and I’d rather just get ejected from here and come back in the morning when we’ve fixed your hand.”
“Tobias--”
“Yeva--”
“I’ll be fine.”
“I refuse to let you endanger yourself out of some kind of sense of pride.”
“Tobias it’s not pride, I really can keep going.”
Her hand protested as the skin broke further, and it started to bleed in earnest. She pulled her pack off and started to go through the contents for the skin patch kit. She placed the salve over the wound after dabbing it dry, and it reacted to the oxygen in the air and congealed into a tight seal. It wasn’t as grippy as she wanted it to be, so she did what she should have done in the beginning and grabbed a pair of gloves out of her pack. She slung the pack back around her and showed him the palms of her hands.
“See, I really can keep going.”
He sighed. “If you get killed,
don’t come after me.” He wiped at her blood on the vine and swung a few platforms past her and then threw the vine back. Her hands protested, but she ignored it and proceeded forwards. When they finally reached the other side, she nearly fell over from the exertion. Her hands were screaming at her. Tobias knelt down next to her and peeled off the gloves. The seal from the salve had cracked, and blood had begun seeping through the gloves.
“We could have waited for the temple to reset.” Tobias said unhappily.
“Where would be the fun in that?” She tried to say lightly, but it came out through a cringe as Tobias peeled the failed salve off her palms.
“If this is your idea of fun...” he started to say and looked at her. Her face was a mask of determination as she pushed past the pain with deep breaths.
“This means so much to you that you would do this to yourself?”
“Are you telling me you wouldn’t do the same?” That came out more snarkily than she had intended, but he didn’t seem offended by the tone.
“If I’m not alive I can’t do much for the people I love, can I?”
He pulled Yeva’s pack off her shoulders and dug through it for her skin patch kit. He quietly cleaned the wounds and reapplied the salve. She sat on the ground with him watching him work.
The simple comfort of having someone care enough to redress a wound made her want to cry. The only person in her life who had really cared about her enough to do something like this for her had been Beks. Tobias looked up and must have seen the conflict in her eyes and smiled reassuringly.
“If you’re feeling up to it we can continue.”
“Oh, now we can continue?”
“Well, last I checked I think we’re done with the ravine. No danger of dying from a fall.”
“The sooner we get out of here, the happier I’ll be,” Yeva said.
Tobias helped her to her feet and handed her pack back to her. They continued through the maze, taking turns choosing the next direction to go in. So far, they hadn’t reached any dead ends. But they didn’t traverse the maze fast enough. Some internal timer went off, and the temple began to rumble, and they were ejected again from the temple.
A Bounty of Love (Love Between the Stars Book 1) Page 4