Page 74 of Sway’s Peace (Delivery Service #2)

Sway

For the first time since Sway had agreed to work with Tanin, he was walking around comfortable in his own skin. In his own power. It wasn’t just freeing. It felt right . Like finally he was who he was supposed to be.

That night, Sway and Loyalty snuck back into the city. Loyalty couldn’t control the glow of his eyes or his quills, but he could be slathered in mud, hiding at least the latter.

The door they had come through to escape had been fixed since they left.

However, the fix was a temporary one until proper maintenance and repair could be done.

They had boarded it up from the other side.

An obstacle a combined kick and body ram from Sway and Loyalty respectively was able to take down after a few hits.

His people were peaceful, and they were the only ones on this planet.

The only thing they had to fear from the wild was the wild itself, and the beasts were far too frightened of the city to approach.

And, as a consequence, the security of the surrounding wall was lazy and ineffective.

No one tried to stop them, or even came to investigate, when they broke through.

The two of them snuck into the city easily, aiming for the inn they’d stayed at. They really were convinced of their own superiority. So accustomed to being peaceful, they had become useless.

Sway didn’t know where Grace was being held.

Otherwise, he’d go to her immediately. But Veesway could have hidden her anywhere in the Song.

A smart, experienced male would put her in a random place that held no significance and could be closely but surreptitiously guarded.

Veesway might be intelligent, but Sway didn’t know how far that extended into practical, underhanded things.

Though, if the wall security was anything to go by, the answer was not at all.

Regardless, he’d have to track her down somehow. But first, he needed his family.

The inn might be part of the Song, but it was a business. Sway had paid for his room in advance, which meant the door locks were keyed only to him. The inn staff wouldn’t be able to open them until his paid time ran out or unless there was a legal override.

He supposed Veesway could use his position as leader of the Song to command the override, but that seemed underhanded.

And, as Sway hoped, he hadn’t actually done it.

When he and Loyalty snuck into the back of the inn and up to his room, the door opened as it should and everything was where he last put it.

Of course, Veesway wouldn’t consider that Sway might return.

As far as he was concerned, the problem had been thrown away, and there was no problem anymore.

He likely didn’t even consider Sway’s belongings as something to deal with.

It was the inn’s problem and they’d discard them as they willed once his paid time had run out.

“He may be my father,” Sway mumbled, picking up his bag. “But it doesn’t appear that I’ve inherited much from him.”

Loyalty snickered as he walked past him to the privy – no doubt to wash off the mud dampening his quills. “You’re the exact same shade of blue that he is, but that’s about it. You must take after your mother.”

“Perhaps,” Sway muttered, upending the contents of the bag on the bed. He didn’t really have many memories left of his mother. Like his father, he’d locked them away in the deepest part of himself, buried them and left them there.

Well, stirring up the dirt on that grave had earned him nothing from his father. He’d rather just let the childish, innocent feelings of warm, motherly love lie there undisturbed. A fragment of a dream to be remembered when he was older.

Maybe when his female bred for him, he’d rethink them again. For now, he pushed them back into the deep recesses of his mind as he reclaimed his true identity.

The lightweight, gauzy fabric of his farasie style clothes were tossed aside on the floor.

Grace looked breathtaking in these things, but he didn’t much care for them.

The high necked, sleeveless black shirt and jumpsuit that he pulled on his legs and tied around his waist were much more comfortable.

Familiar. He sealed his boots back on and, from the bag, he took out the emergency beacon – the one that connected only to the ship – and his claws.

His style of fighting was based around kicking – not an uncommon thing for his kind.

Male farasie had thickened skin on their legs and knuckles specifically for defending their females and nests.

He’d just used that to his advantage as he grew and trained on Rik-Vane.

It was easier, he could deal a lot of blunt damage, and it meant his enemy didn’t bleed.

He’d like to say that he considered that a mercy, but he didn’t.

Blunt wounds could easily be worse specifically because the damage they caused was all internal.

The real reason was simpler, more morbid, and much more selfish.

Blood was so hard to clean out from his feathers.

But he’d rather that be someone else’s blood than his own.

He slid the claws over his fingers and locked the bracelet they were chained to around his wrist, keeping them on.

Armed, properly dressed, and feeling stronger and more like himself, he hit the button on the emergency beacon. It would only work if the Humility wasn’t in subspace, where communication was impossible. But to his relief, the connection was immediate and strong.

“ Been wondering when we’d hear from you. ” That was Alred. He sounded amused.

“Had some unexpected trouble,” Sway said, setting the beacon down – it wasn’t capable of flight like a combot since it was meant for simple, emergency communication – as he went about gathering his belongings.

He wouldn’t be able to get Grace’s since her door was keyed to her, but that was fine.

He’d just replace whatever she brought later.

“ I’m assuming the trouble has to do with this odd message telling us that you’ve decided to stay and that we should continue on without you? ”

Sway threw back his head, laughing. “Is that what they went with?”

“ Funny. Trove said the exact same thing, ” Alred laughed along with him.

“ It even thanked us for the opportunity you had to live and work with us. Like you were quitting a job or something. It’s hilarious.

We were already on our way back or we would have turned around.

We’re out in the system now. We were forming a battle plan.

Vytln and Rok wanted to just break everything and be done with it, but the twins thought a more subtle approach might be wiser . ”

“What did the captain say?” Sway tossed the last of his clothes into the bag and sealed it shut.

“ He was inclined to do both. Send the twins in secret and once they found you, extract you out and then break everything for good measure. ”

Sway grinned. Of course, that would be Tanin’s plan.

Their captain was a very calm male, agreeable in most instances, and it could fool a lot of people into thinking that made him unlikely to do anything drastic.

When, really, it was quite opposite. Tanin was much more inclined to leave a loud message so that no one would be foolish enough to mess with them twice.

He just didn’t do it with a loud show of a temper. That made it more intimidating.

“Well, you don’t have to find me,” Sway said. “So, let’s go ahead with the breaking everything for good measure idea. After I find Grace.”

“ Hm? What happened to Grace? ”

Sway filled him in on everything that had transpired since they left. Including the fact that he intended to claim her as his mate. It wasn’t really important to the story of his exile, but he knew that Tanin would be listening, and he wanted the captain to know.

Not just because he was going to be bringing her to their crew full time because of it, but also so he would know just how serious her being taken from him was.

If she was his, then she was one of the crew. And no one messed with their crew.

As he spoke, the door to the privy opened and Loyalty emerged.

Freshly cleaned, his quills were glowing brighter than ever.

He was shirtless and shoeless, having only pulled on a spare pair of Sway’s pants that didn’t quite fit.

They were tight on his thighs, and he’d had to rip the back to widen it for his much larger, more muscular tail.

He’d ripped the bottom of the legs off as well, probably because they were too short and tight around his calves, turning them into rough capris.

He looked like a wild beast, come striding in all untamed and unbound. He would, no doubt, drive terror into the hearts of the farasie here.

Sway was looking forward to it.

“ So, what do you want to do, Sway? ” Alred asked, and though it was his voice, Sway could practically hear the captain asking it on the other end.

What did he want to do. Because Grace was his, and that meant this mission meant the most to him.

What would a monster do?

What would the Pacifist do?

“They’ve not killed or harmed us,” Sway said, a grin pulling at his lips. “I want them to survive what I’m going to do to them as well.”

***

The plan was a simple one, but Sway considered it fair for their offenses against them.

Loyalty, using his superior sense of smell as a ratchi, was able to track Grace’s scent. It would be difficult now since it was a couple days old, but he could find her. But his odds would get better if she was outside.

So, they were going to force her out.

The Humility was a cargo ship. When they bought it, the only weapons it had were basic and old.

The previous owners were simple transporters, using common trade lanes.

Well-traveled and policed, pre-designated swing departure and re-entry places that no pirate would dare target.

Therefore, they had no need to update, or even maintain, their weapons.