Page 24

Chapter

Twenty-Four

Tivek

“ G rek, grek, grek. ” The Drexian curses slipped out before I could stop them. The mud was sucking at my boots each time I lifted a foot from the muck, we were separated from the others and had no idea where they were, and we now knew our friends might be flying into a trap.

I glanced at Morgan, moving silently beside me in the night, her environmental suit adjusting to the dimness of the marsh and making her little more than a bobbing head.

Even so, I was glad she was with me. She was the only one in our group who knew the truth about me, who knew my secrets.

That was some comfort, even if I would eventually have to explain to my superiors why I'd revealed myself to her.

But that was a problem for another day, if we survived long enough for it to matter.

Right now, I needed to focus on finding the others and stopping the Kronock's trap from ensnaring more of our people. If Deklyn was leading the others to his hidden ship, I needed to think like my brother to find it.

“Where would he hide something so big?” I muttered, trying to put myself in my brother's mind. If I were a cocky Inferno Force warrior like my brother, what would I do?

"Are you talking about Deklyn's ship?" Morgan asked, her voice startling me from my thoughts.

I hadn't realized I'd spoken aloud. “Um, yes. I’m trying to figure out where he would have concealed it."

Morgan's brow furrowed in concentration. "If I were trying to hide a ship here, I'd probably use that range of hills that borders the eastern edge of the marshland. Natural cover, far from the buildings, and rocks that could help scramble sensors.”

I stared at her, impressed. "You might be right.”

I thought of Deklyn again. My brother might be a brash warrior, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t clever or trained in tactical warfare. He wouldn't have survived this long in Inferno Force otherwise. "That's exactly the kind of location he'd choose."

I recalculated our position relative to the eastern hills, mentally mapping the shortest path that would keep us concealed in the marsh as long as possible. We needed to adjust our course by about fifteen degrees.

"This way," I said, veering slightly left. "If we stay low, the swamp should provide cover most of the way."

I didn't add that once we cleared the marsh, there would be scant cover until the hills. Even in the dark, we could be spotted, but some worries were better left unspoken.

We walked in silence for a time, the distant light from the burning prison casting everything in a murky haze.

Time seemed to stretch and compress at the same time with every step the same and no way to see more than an arm’s length in front of us.

Had we been walking for hours or minutes?

The sameness of the terrain made it impossible to tell.

Gradually, the dark grasses of the marshland began to thin out. Through gaps in the vegetation, I caught glimpses of our destination, a low range of hills silhouetted against the night sky and rising from the planet like the spine of an enormous, buried creature.

"There," I whispered, pointing.

Morgan managed a weak smile that held as much apprehension as relief.

I did not blame her. Despite feeling relief that we were leaving the misty swap, we would soon be exposed.

If Deklyn had hidden his ship in those hills, we'd need to cross open terrain to reach it.

I scanned the expanse quickly, seeing no shadows of figures ahead of us.

Either our friends had crossed already, or they were behind us.

Or you’re going in the wrong direction, a little voice whispered in the dark recesses of my brain. I pushed that traitorous thought aside. This was the right way. It had to be.

A sound from above ripped me from my inner turmoil. I glanced up at the distinctive whine of thrusters cutting through atmosphere then quickly pulled Morgan down beside me.

My heart leapt as the ship passed overhead. It wasn't the angular, gray-hulled design of Kronock vessels. In fact, I couldn't see the ship at all. I only knew it was there by the sound and the slight distortion in the air where the sky became mottled.

It was a cloaked Drexian ship, using invisibility shielding.

It was our friends. It was rescue.

But then I remembered what we’d heard. It was a trap.

My momentary elation transformed into dread. Our friends were flying straight into an enemy snare. Once we’d unwittingly led them into.

“ Grekking hell,” Morgan whispered beside me. My thoughts exactly.

Something warm flickered in my chest at hearing our language on her lips, but there was no time to dwell on that now.

The ship was heading directly toward the hills, which was exactly where we believed Deklyn had hidden his vessel.

Did they know where my brother’s ship was?

Had they picked it up on sensors? Or had the other members of our team sent out another transmission without knowing they were luring our friends into danger?

“We need to get to that ship before the Kronock," I said.

But Morgan was already moving. “Then we’d better run.”

I didn’t worry about whether we should abandon stealth for speed as I gave chase. Water splashed around our legs as we left the marsh behind, our environmental suits flickering to adapt to the rapidly changing surroundings.

The cloaked ship had vanished behind the range of hills, but I could still track its descent by the faint displacement of air and the pale exhaust trails in the inky sky.

"If they're following standard protocol, they'll maintain cloaking even after landing," I said between breaths as we ran. “But that doesn’t mean the enemy won’t be able to track them.”

Especially if they were waiting for them, I thought.

Morgan didn’t answer me, as she puffed out labored breaths. Her human physiology wasn't built for sustained running in the thinner air, but determination seemed to drive her forward, as she matched my pace stride for stride.

The ground began to slope upward beneath our feet, any lingering marshland giving way to solid earth and sparse, hardy vegetation. My muscles burned and my lungs heaved, but I wouldn’t stop. Not until we were safe.

Behind us came the distant rumble of more ships. But these were undoubtedly Kronock vessels coming after the second rescue ship, the one they’d been expecting.

Time was running out.

"Almost there," I gasped, though I had no way of knowing exactly where the ship had landed. I had to say it to keep myself and Morgan going without despairing that we were too late.

We crested a small rise, and I pulled Morgan down again as the dark outlines of Kronock soldiers came into view in the valley below, moving with purpose toward the next ridge of hills.

They'd seen the ship arrive. They were closing in.

I met Morgan's eyes, but I didn’t see the defeat I’d expected. Instead, she looked enraged.

“I’m not letting those fuckers capture our friends.”

I blinked at her, not accustomed to hearing her talk like that. But it fired up my own battle instincts. “Then let’s reach those fuckers first.”

And then we were on our feet again, racing against time and against the trap that was closing around us all.