Page 48

This trip was pure hell. Getting the men of the Nine together for one event was like herding cats, Hakkik cats. The kind with the acid fangs and eight legs.

The Stone Folk wanted to do two things, the first was climbing the rocks and simply enjoy being outside, the second habit was Cavos’s alone. He enjoyed staring at Nik no matter what she was doing. After two days of it, she confronted him.

“What are you looking at?”

“A woman as lovely as a dark sunset over a granite cliff. You have a lithe grace that I find quite attractive.”

The Wilders were busy analysing a bunch of leaf samples from that morning, so they were no help in distracting Cavos. Trusk was trying to interpret the lay of the land from ancient symbols supposedly in the cliff face.

Niika sighed. “How about, I show you to your hidden city, you find what you are looking for and, then, we help the Wilders with their digestion problems.”

Cavos blinked. “You know where it is?”

“Of course. I knew the day we landed, but it was a little soon to show you what you wanted to see. I needed to see how you managed in the wilds of Gaia. Frankly, you would do fine for about three months. As soon as the seasons turned, you would be history.”

Cavos smiled and stepped close to her. He had been bathing in the waterfall, because she could find nothing in his scent but male and the lightest hint of dust. “History is my speciality. Please, show us what we have been missing.”

Niika whistled sharply, and Morro and Tidae walked over. “You called, mistress?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yes. We are going to find the ancient Stone City today, and the day after tomorrow, we can tag some herds. Is that acceptable?”

The Wilders looked at each other and nodded. “Can we still take a run before dinner?”

She sighed. “We will see. You will need knives, rope and one meal pack.”

Everybody prepared, leaving Niika to look around the campsite to check for possible dangers. The camp appeared secure, so as they walked out, she activated her favourite item designed by the Nine, the dome. It covered their meal packs, their bedding and the fire pit.

It should be safe enough if they ended up being gone longer than she anticipated. One day’s rations was a test. If they couldn’t feed themselves in case of danger, they could go hungry.

She settled her water and blades in place and set off to show the Stone Folk how to get into their own city.

They didn’t have a problem letting her lead, but as she walked down the hall created by the base of the crevice beginning into two towering cliffs that just jutted from the landscape in a growing swell, she could feel them getting close in their eagerness to see what was ahead.

She could hear Cavos and Trusk murmuring back and forth as they recognised the environment, but she kept walking until she stood in front of the entrance to the hidden city. “It’s behind there.”

A tumble of rock fifteen feet high spoke to something being hidden beneath. Cavos asked, “You are sure?”

“I am. The door glows red hot, but it glows through those rocks. I can find a few keystones in there as well, if you like.”

Trusk raised his dark grey brows. “Keystones?”

Niika nodded. “Keystones. Stones that you pull to bring the others down.”

Cavos smiled, “Not necessary. Just a moment.”

He stepped into the fallen stones and disappeared.

Niika looked at the Wilders, and they simply looked resigned to the Stone Folk showing off.

The rocks shifted, so they stepped back a moment before the landslide erupted outward in a shower of stone chips.

Nik turned and looked at Trusk. He shrugged with his hands open. “Blowing rubble is best left to the high families.”

She checked her arms and face for cuts, but none of the bits had broken the skin. She checked her companions and shouldered her pack once again. Cavos was standing in the now-open cavern, smiling and dusting his hands together.

He stepped aside as she moved forward. “Miss Baker, we are loyal followers.”

She gave him an evil look and moved across the stone, following the burning red that pulsed and flared as she got closer to the source. “Nice trick, by the way.”

Cavos shrugged. “We all have our skills. The Wilders can shift into a more deadly form of their already formidable selves, the Stone Folk can manipulate rock. It is what we are born to do in our different ways. This world shaped us, changed us just as it is changing your people.”

Nik tilted her head in acknowledgement and kept walking toward the heart of the tracking pattern. “Why do you want to find your city?”

Cavos chuckled and drew even with her. “Wouldn’t you?”

The laughter that came out of her did it with a rush. “I suppose I would.”

The scent of water rushed at them when they turned a corner. The suddenness caught Nik by surprise. She turned back and walked through the restriction and then returned to her party. “That is rather neat.”

With the turn of the corner, the light was gone. “Does anyone mind if I use a light source? We have a way to go.”

Morro and Tidae shrugged in the dimness, and since Cavos and Trusk were ahead, she had to assume they didn’t mind.

She removed her lamp from her pack and fired it up. The path they were on was no longer rough rock. The walls were smooth and the floor under their feet was tiled. “Wow.”

Morro and Tidae looked around nervously. Morro said, “We don’t like being confined like this.”

“Do you have a preferred method for being confined?”

She could swear that Morro blushed. “Never mind.”

Nik put her hand on his shoulder. “Don’t worry. We can feel fresh air on both sides, and this is a fairly clear path with no side tunnels. We can get out. I can always find a way out.”

He cocked his head and looked at the hand on his shoulder, reaching up to touch her but missing her when she pulled her hand away. “How do you find it?”

“I hunted it. I hunt what I need. When I need to locate a specific thing, I can locate it without hesitation. Right now, I need to hunt Cavos and Trusk. Those bastards have gone on without us.”

He laughed, Tidae looked relieved, and together, they moved forward.