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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Maddix didn’t have to land in the middle of a swamp. In fact, he’d have greatly preferred trekking to the Oraku village from the comfort of a nice, dry landing place. There was absolutely no need for him to pick one so utterly unpleasant. No need but one.

It would make the Vinchi twins miserable.

Oh, they would bitch and moan no matter what, as they always did whenever things got too hot or too cold, too boring, or not boring enough. This would at least give them a valid reason.

It was exhausting work babysitting the adult heirs to the chancellor’s seat of power, but the hunter just smiled and agreed with whatever inane things they might say, grinning like a subservient underling, as they expected of him, all the while cataloguing all the ways he could dispose of their bodies in their present environment without leaving so much as a trace.

And speaking of traces, Maddix had recalculated the route from the city, then averaged the pace of an untrained woman, plotting out the most like areas where they’d have made camp for the night.

They stopped at each of them for a quick survey on their way to the swamp.

But as for signs of their quarry, there had been none at any of their stops.

At least, none that were left intact for him to examine.

“What are you doing?” Maddix asked as Flagro kicked at some sticks and dry leaves under a rocky overhang, scattering them around as he poked around for clues. Clues he wouldn’t be able recognize if they jumped up and bit him.

“Just seeing if there’s anything here.”

“And is there?” the tracker asked, already knowing the answer.

“Nah. Just some rubbish. We should keep moving.”

“Right you are, of course. Let’s get back to the ship. We have one more stop before we head on to our destination.”

“About time,” the elite whined.

You have no idea , the hunter thought with great amusement at the prospect of forcing this pest of a man to hike in waist-deep muck for a while. He’d have to do so as well, but to make the siblings miserable? Worth it.

He looked at the mess the man had made, somehow refraining from shaking his head.

There wouldn’t have been much to go on anyway, but this was clearly an improvised camp site, and had Flagro not been so hasty, perhaps there might have been something he might have gleaned from it before it was so hastily strewn to the wind.

Waste of flesh and bone , he grumbled to himself as they headed back to his ship, the two elites making far too much noise for anyone remotely trying to be subtle and stealthy.

Hunters, they were not. But that didn’t matter. Not really. Not when they had a destination in mind. Anything that came up along the way would just be icing on the cake. Provided there actually was a cake, in the form of actionable intelligence, when they met with the Oraku.

If the fools don’t mess that up too .

As it turned out, they did have a smattering of luck, though Flagro and Galla seemed to give it little credence.

A trapper they encountered two days into their long walk had some interesting things to say.

The first was that they really shouldn’t walk through a swamp.

They smelled, and it was putting off his game.

Second, he did chat with a lovely couple a few months back.

One was Oraku, judging by his pale-green skin.

The other? He didn’t know her race, but she didn’t look quite like any race he’d encountered before.

Possibly human. Possibly not. But given the details of time, location, and direction he’d seen them, Maddix thought it likely that this had been his prey.

Interestingly, in the course of their search, he had also learned that there were other humans scattered around the planet.

Apparently, the Raxxian ship had quite a haul of them when it had crashed, and now there were scores of them stumbling through what to them was an utterly alien wilderness.

Many had perished immediately. Some had not.

But that wasn’t his concern right now. What was, was the village they were finally nearing.

“I’ll speak with the elders,” he informed the chancellor’s children, hoping they would just go with the plan.

Of course not.

“I am the eldest of the Vinchi heirs, first in line to ascend,” Flagro declared. “I was born for diplomacy. Leave it to me.”

“I just thought I might put them more at ease. They avoid technology, as you know, and your family is very involved in?—”

“I won’t hear another word about it, Maddix. Is that clear?”

“Crystal, sir,” he replied, dreading what a mess the fool was sure to make of whatever came next.

They came upon a hunting group not long after, and they took the visitors to meet the village elders. Flagro most certainly did not disappoint .

The puffed-up fool rubbed these people the wrong way the moment he greeted them, and it only went downhill from there.

He didn’t even realize he was insulting their way of life with what he believed to be witty comments about their avoidance of technology, but while these may have been rustic people, they were certainly not fools. Nor did they suffer them.

Maddix didn’t even stick around for the entirety of their conversation with the matron of the Oraku.

There was no point. He’d seen it in the woman’s eyes.

She was smiling and speaking politely to her guests, but she saw them for what they were, and she did not strike Maddix as the sort of woman who would sell out one of her own even under duress, which was not the case here.

Here, she was merely annoyed. Annoyed and insulted.

And so, she would waste their time and leave them the long walk back to their ship with nothing to show for it.

And with a lack of even the slightest confirmation, they were at a standstill yet again.

Fools. My plan would have worked if they’d just stayed behind. Or at least shut up and let me—argh, just let it go. Think. What else is there I can do?

He found a quiet spot and pulled out his remote link to his ship.

He’d kept it tucked away, not wanting the twins to fiddle with it, but he’d had the ship’s semi-sentient agent system running that massive records search while they were away, not expecting much, if anything, but to his amazement there was a solitary hit.

Maddix skimmed the data, noting the craft, its source of origin that day, and what its path had been prior.

Interesting. The spa is a long trek, and a difficult one to reach from the city, but it lines up, he marveled, impressed with his opponent’s clever tactics.

Avoiding any ships until far from scrutiny, and then only taking a short hopper flight?

It was inspired, and he was respecting whoever it was helping the human even more.

They’d taken a chance. One that it was likely no one else would discover.

But Maddix? He wasn’t the best for no reason.

“What a waste of time!” Flagro grumbled aloud as he and his sister walked out of their meeting, saying hasty farewells, and heading out of the village.

Maddix fell in beside them. “Were your tactful inquiries a success?”

“No. Idiots, they’re just a bunch of stupid bumpkins.”

Maddix glanced at the warrior casually following, escorting them out of the village, rolling his eyes to the poor man, who reciprocated with an almost imperceptible shrug.

They were professionals, and though on opposite sides of this exchange, both agreed these so-called elites were the true idiots.

“I’m so sorry to hear that, sir.”

“You should be. This whole mess was your stupid idea.”

“It was, and I apologize. I’ve already activated the auto-recall. The ship will be arriving any minute.”

“About time you made yourself useful.”

Maddix simply nodded and remained respectfully silent until they were out of the village, having left their escort behind. Only when they were alone did he speak.

“I was thinking. You and your sister have had a rough go of things these last days. Perhaps a stop to revitalize yourselves on the way back would do you both a world of good.”

“I just want to get home,” Flagro grumbled.

His sister, on the other hand, had perked up notably. “What sort of revitalizing did you have in mind?”

“A spa visit. Secluded. Refreshing. And very, very exclusive. But for the Vinchi heirs, perhaps they would make an exception and accept a same-day visit.”

Flagro snorted his disdain “That sounds?—”

“It sounds wonderful ,” Galla cut him off. “You will take us there at once. I, for one, very much need pampering. ”

“But—” her brother tried to object.

“Not a word from you, Flagro. You’ve had your way, now it’s my time.”

Her brother wisely shut up as the ship approached, setting down just in front of them, its door sliding open, fresh air and a clean change of clothes beckoning them from inside.

“Then it is settled,” Maddix said. “I’ll set the course now.”

He flew slowly, allowing his passengers time to clean up and change into fresh attire for their arrival, their egos glad for the opportunity to make a more impressive initial appearance than they had with the Oraku.

Wandering in with the filth of days of trekking was not to their liking.

For Maddix’s purposes it would have been ideal, cementing his faux identity and putting the Oraku at ease.

But with the Vinchi children it had been anything but.

Word had been sent ahead that the heirs to the Vinchi seat of power would be visiting for a tour of the grounds, and, as expected, a welcoming reception was waiting for them when they landed.

“We are here. The spa concierge is expecting you both.”

“Excellent!” Galla all but chirped, her excitement clear. “You did well for a change, Maddix. I will tell father as much when we get back.”

“Thank you,” he replied with a little bow as she and her brother stepped out to enjoy their respite.