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The band of raiders rushed and surrounded him, ceasing their fire.

He did, too, and they fell into a stand-off.

They laughed under their peculiar masks and imagined they were telling him he was a dead man now.

‘Go to hell,’ he growled at them, glaring as they slinked closer.

He noted that one of the raiders stood out.

He was much taller, and when the wind shifted, pulling the edges of his hood apart, Riv spied a hooked aquiline nose and silver eyes, staring him down.

A Katánian, no doubt.

An older one, Riv concluded by the lined and mottled skin.

It seemed the dark hunters Élisa had been so worried about had broken through the nebula storm and found her hideout.

Riv sat up with a curl to his lip. ‘You’re akhora.’

The creature paused midstep, then cocked its head. ‘I am.’

It let its cloak fall away from its giant body.

To reveal a magnificent winged hawk-like Ka?'m??r? with feathers and mottled black skin with undertones that were crimson as cinnabar.

Its beaked lips parted, and Riv glimpsed three rows of ferocious teeth.

His eyes were deep set, and his nose was hooked and razor-edged.

Its muscled arms ended in hawk-like claws, and it thumped its tail plumes with impatience as it tracked toward him, the feathers bristling on each side of the tail. More emerged in a crest from the terror’s head, each a foot long and lined with serrated chrome.

Seeing how the pillagers flicked glances at him, Riv discerned he was leading the raid. He shivered thinking of Élisa, hoping she’d fended off the rear attack, wondering how she was managing. Worrying for her.

The Katánian lifted a taloned hand. ‘We want nothing from you, Galician,’ came a voice that screeched and howled all at the same time. ‘Except for a tidbit of insight on where we can find whom we seek.’

‘Who might that be?’ Riv hedged.

The creature’s gaze narrowed on him. ‘TheKintiof Katáne. Missing for over twenty-five years. We know she resides in that rock house with you, stranger.’

Riv studied thekhorafor a long moment before giving them a calm smile. ‘To coin a cliche, you want to get to her, you’ll need to go through me.’

‘Very well.’

The taloned hunter lowered his hand, and the assailants around him fired at will.

Riv surged to life, moving with rapid tempo among the pillagers.

He tapped into his noids and began to flit in and out of stealth mode, appearing and disappearing at such great speed the raiders screamed in frustration.

All the while, he returned fire, downing a few of his assailants, but they were relentless and had way more firepower than he did.

A laser grazed his power pack, and it took the hit. Energy fluctuated across his suit, his shields started to fail, and Riv dropped to his knees.

With a great leap, the pillagers shot straight towards Riv. One loomed over him, his finger on the fire button, determined to blow the Rider to pieces.

Riv was about to retaliate with akapomove to trip the man when a hoarse, whistling screech sent terror through him.

‘Kee-eeeee-arr!’