Page 32 of The Garnet Daughter (The Viridian Priestess #3)
Chapter
Twenty-Four
T he First Son soldier jogs across the valley below toward our location on the ridge. All three of us are tucked behind a group of boulders near the crash site of the second escape pod.
Half of August’s body covers mine, pressing me hard against the warm rock at my front. “He’s out of range,” he whispers with one eye closed and the other peering into the scope of the large, stolen weapon.
Sav glances over the rim, a little satchel I missed earlier gathered near her feet, metal fragments from the pod protruding out in a mess.
She did not flee when I ran down the ridge—she started tearing apart pieces of the pod, taking advantage of the distracted First Son soldiers.
She notices me staring and uses her boot to tuck it in closer to her.
“I can fold us closer,” I whisper to him over my shoulder.
“ Oh , I know you can. But let me get this one. It’s my turn to save us.
” He keeps one eye pressed into the lens of the scope, following the path our enemy takes, and grins at my words, sending electricity across my entire body.
His lip is still swollen from kissing me so hard, and even in the sobering predicament we are now in, I don’t regret kissing him back.
“He’s heading toward the other pod. I wonder if he has spotted it,” I whisper. “Why was the First Son soldier in there? Did he try to run?”
August huffs to himself. “No, I stuffed him inside when he got close to it and hit eject. One less to worry about.”
“He was dead,” I tell him, unsure if I was able to get that out in my ramblings before.
His eyes flick to me for a moment and then to my mouth. “I’m going to climb down closer.”
“Is that wise?” I ask.
“We are not in the birthlands to be wise, Callia.” He slides across the rock and crouches in a low crawl. “Stay here, both of you, until I return.”
“I don’t like it.”
“Don’t like it behind that barrier.”
The last thing I see is the tug of a smile exposing his dimple pressed so close to the massive First Son gun before he disappears around the boulder.
I slide down the surface to join Sav where she is curled up, holding her knees and scrap metal close to her chest.
Before I can even speak to her, the pop of a weapon discharging bounces across the valley, sending the noise in every direction.
I let out a sigh when I hear August’s quick steps returning, not the careful ones he left on when danger was still present.
“Got ‘em.” He reaches down, extending an open palm for me to take and pulling me from the sandy ground into his solid chest.
“We heard.” My stomach dances with a little flutter as he stares down at me, a shyness breaking out in my system that I am not used to.
Now that we are no longer in danger, emotions have evened out and the weight of the line we crossed together is very present, and from what I can tell, August would eagerly repeat it.
Sav briskly walks past, making her way back to the pod and slinging the fabric-wrapped metal over her shoulder, completely ignoring us.
“I told her she could take scrap from the pod if she brought me here. Mine landed in some kind of sinking sand.” I swallow hard. “It’s gone, everything. I barely got out, but Sav helped me.”
Regret creases his face. “I’m so sorry.”
I shake my head. He did what he had to, pushing me into the pod, and all that matters is that we are here now and alive.
“The spell book?” His hands clench at his sides like he wants to wrap his arms around me in another embrace but is unsure.
“Gone.”
He sits on a boulder, blowing out an exaggerated exhale.
“When they breached the cockpit, I took the first of them down and was able to disable communication. The fleet ships have a kill switch for cases like this. Cuts off the connection to home base so it can’t be tracked or used to corrupt the channel for spying.
” He gestures hopelessly back to the pod.
“We can’t send a distress signal from that or the ship, but at least we aren’t stranded again.
Are you strong enough to fold us back? I’m sorry, Calliape. We tried.”
“We aren’t going back yet. Look around. Does this not look like the area the drones were headed toward? I came from a flat portion, but once we climbed up this hill . . . There are so many rock formations around, we have to be close.”
“You don’t have the spell book.”
“I know, and we will figure that part out, but we can’t go back now.”
Sav grunts and pulls at chunks of the metal, now fully inside the pod.
He takes a stealing breath and stands, pushing his shoulders back. “Maybe she knows where it is. Do you trust her?”
I shake my head. She helped me, warned me about the others, but I am acutely aware she would leave me to die if the conditions were right. “If I had nothing to offer her . . .”
He nods in understanding.
Sav climbs out of the damaged hatch, walks a few feet, then collects a palm-sized rock. When she returns to the interior, the sound of her using it as blunt force against the metal echoes into the air.
“We will be careful. If she wanted me dead, there were a few things along our path she could have not warned me of, but she did. We only need her until we reach the rock formation, then we can go our separate ways.”
“Only one way to find out if she knows of it.” He crosses in front of me and winks.
The banging continues even as we both approach the pod. Through the dirt and blood-covered windows, I can see her in the bottom, clawing at the control panels.
August peers in, leaning into the open hatch. “If you are looking for mineral, our pods don’t have any, but you’re welcome to try the ship. That part of it, however, has a bit of fire damage.”
She glares up at him, letting the rock fall to her feet.
“What is she looking for?” I whisper to him.
He leans close to me, blocking her view as she emerges from the pod. “Mineral found on Viathan, expensive. She probably knows a buyer.”
“This doesn’t cover my trouble.” She gestures to her bag of scrap metal.
“I suppose it doesn’t.” August flashes a charming grin at her. “I am grateful for your help all the same. But if you are interested, I have access to the mineral you’re looking for. I can arrange a shipment.”
“What do you want for it?” She crosses her arms, looking back and forth between us.
“We are looking for a rock formation, a bird beak,” I tell her.
Her eyes widen. “I don’t go there. Too dangerous this close to the conjunction.”
“Sav, is it? Sav, I know that scrap metal will not pay much, and the supplies on our ship are all gone, ash. If you take us to the bird’s beak, I can guarantee a shipment as big as me wherever you want it. I will deliver it myself.”
“Who are you that you have such access to it?”
“I’m August,” he says flatly with no other details.
She considers, looking over his dinged armor. “You’re a Viathan commander of some kind?”
“Something like that.”
She drops the metal bunch in her hands like it’s worthless. “Alright, I will take you to the area, but once in view, you are on your own. You do as I say. I won’t have you both getting me killed.”
August nods and extends his hand to her, and she shakes his forearm, sealing the deal.
August and Sav walk ahead of me, chatting as if they are trusted travel companions.
He glances back often to check on me but returns to his in-depth conversation with minimal pause.
At first, I thought it was odd. She was very silent when we traveled together, staying mysterious and focused on the path ahead.
But now with August, she opens up about her family, what areas they scrap, what metals burn down better than others. He even makes her laugh a few times.
I watch in fascination, staying a few paces behind and focusing on placing my steps where hers are.
I tried to follow August’s, but they were spaced too far, his strides longer than both of ours.
I remind myself that August’s friendly demeanor toward most people is a mask, a way to gain information.
Sometime ago, I would have thought he was flirting with her, but now I know what he is doing.
He doesn’t trust her, and the more charming he presents, the more he is signaling to me just that.
We walk for hours. They chat off and on, sometimes just about the terrain, other times about the conjunction and her peoples’ traditions. My legs ache, the sand is a laborsome surface to walk on, even compared to the soft give of the moss layer.
August notices me falling behind immediately and asks her to find a safe spot to rest. She guides us to a small cropping of petrified-looking trees and rocks, then stands atop the largest, surveying out into the distance at our vast surroundings.
August juts his chin away from her, beckoning me to follow him past a house-sized boulder and out of earshot from Sav.
I lean against the stone surface, catching my breath. The air is so hot and dry, my sweat doesn’t stay on my skin for long. For a moment, I think he will bring up our kiss now that we are alone, but he looks a little unnerved instead.
“Something is very off.” He rests next to me and leans in to whisper, “I don’t trust her at all.”
“I noticed.” I smile at him.
His eyes light up slightly at my correct observation. “If you see anything strange, tell me, no matter how small.”
“Like what?”
“Anything . . . off.”
Sav is odd. There is no doubting it. Her home is harsh and the life she leads seems to match it. Everything she does is a bit off.
“She saw you fold?” he asks. “Knows you’re Mother blessed?”
“She saw me fold out of the pod when it was sinking.”
His expression changes a tad, flashing to pain for a moment at the reminder of where I landed. “What else did she say when it was just the two of you?”
“Not much.” I replay it in my mind. “She mentioned other scrappers would have seen my pod landing in the area, gave me the impression they were hostile.”