Page 31

Artek

Sneaking into a camp walled by wood and metal was harder than it seemed, but the builders of the palisade had not taken Naga attributes into account.

I could slither between the cracks in the shade of the ship.

It had taken me well over an hour to get through unseen, though, and that time was eating away at me.

In the distance, the sounds of axes biting into trees could be heard, along with the hum of low male voices as they talked while they worked.

But here, in the camp near the ship’s entrance, it was much quieter. There were also far fewer guards.

Beneath the belly of the ship, I found a hatch I couldn’t access, but it seemed like the perfect place to plant my little gadget.

I never thought I’d have a use for it, but now I was especially glad I’d thought to take it.

At the time, I’d only been thinking that if I lost my weapon, I could use it to disable theirs.

But it was a larger field, one that drew on the atmospheric charge above us, amplifying its effects.

It would cut all power to the ship and disable the Krektar weapons.

They might be able to restore it if their ship was properly shielded, but this could level the playing field for rescuing all the humans.

Even if I couldn’t find Nala now, it would help when I returned with reinforcements.

I would find Nala; I would not accept another outcome.

Pressing the small device against the ship’s hull, I set its timer, then slithered away through the tall grass and around the edge of the camp.

Counting Krektar, I decided in which order I’d take down the handful of guards.

Then I tucked away my healing device in the insulated pouch meant for it, which would shield it from the effects of the pulse—in theory—but I’d never tested it.

There were about forty women working near campfires, skinning and deboning flesh, cooking food in large amounts.

Anything to sustain the many mouths of those they’d woken from stasis.

I scanned every face, searching for my mate, my tongue flicking out to taste the air and filter scents.

The stench of the Krektar overpowered everything and tasted foul on my tongue, but beneath that stink, the more subtle notes of the women could be found.

And then, there she was, my Nala. My Shavire. Delicate and sweet, and all mine.

With a sense of direction, I could finally find her at the edge of the group, on her knees with her hands inside a carcass as she cut meat to be roasted over the many fires.

Right then, a group of men, supervised by several Krektar, came in hauling firewood on their backs.

It was the worst moment to start the fight, with the guards almost doubled, but it was then that the timer on my EM device ran out.

The pulse was invisible and went unfelt, but not unnoticed.

Shouts went up from near the ship, and then Krektar began checking their weapons in a rush.

I moved like quicksilver, catching the first one from behind before he knew what struck him, rearing up from the thick grass and breaking his neck with a quick snap.

The next one wasn’t any more prepared for the danger near his feet, not expecting an enemy moving so fast or that low.

They were wise to me then, but so were the human males hauling firewood.

They saw a chance and took it, attacking their guards with their fists.

Good. I was all instinct and fight then, racing for my targets and adjusting my planned order as I went.

The chaos was great and amazing, and it wasn’t just the men who were fighting.

Much to my surprise, when I reached the group of women, they’d all risen to their feet and gathered in one big clump.

On the outside, brave females armed with slings were firing stone after stone at the nearest Krektar guard, accompanied by fierce shouts and screams. Nala was among them, her sweet face determined as she fumbled to arm her weapon and fling stones.

They turned to me when I reared from the grass near her, fearing what I was, but the stones bounced harmlessly off my thick scales.

“Stop! Don’t hurt him!” Nala shouted, and she broke ranks to throw herself at me amid the flying stones.

I caught her in my arms and spun, so she was protected from the fast-hurled projectiles by my back.

“Ah, mate, I’ve got you!” I told her. My hands roamed her back, clutching her tightly to reassure myself she was unharmed.

Her hiss of pain made me draw back and look down, and then I was the one hissing with fury.

Her wrist was splinted and bruised and had to be broken considering how bad it looked.

I wanted to reach for my healing device immediately, but when another stone hit my head, I knew I had to deal with the immediate threat first.

I raised my head, glaring at the woman who had dared to strike me with her stone. She had black hair with a bright pink streak, and her dark eyes reminded me of Min-Ji’s, Corin’s plucky mate. I bared my fangs at her and growled.

“Stop, Jasmine! This is my friend, Artek. He’s come to rescue me,” Nala shouted.

Then she grabbed a hunk of my hair and pulled on it, our mouths clashing together.

This was not a soft, passion-filled kiss in the safety of my home, nor a clash of fire in the middle of the woods.

This was a kiss of recognition. I could not believe I’d never known about kisses before Nala, let alone the many ways we could use them to greet one another—to tell a story.

A last stone clattered against my shoulder, and then, abruptly, a silence fell, followed by a whistle and an “ooh” from one of the nearby human women.

When Nala raised her head, it was to turn to them with a smug smile.

“Artek is going to help us get out of here,” she said to them. “You can trust him.”

My chest puffed up, my scales rising along my shoulders in an instinctive response to make myself appear bigger.

The endorsement was a good one, but it did not appear to placate most of these wary, bedraggled women.

I couldn’t forget, though, that we were in enemy territory.

The ruckus we’d caused would soon draw reinforcements to our location.

Turning—Nala still clutched tightly in my arms—I appraised our situation.

Levant wouldn’t have reached Sun Fang yet and rallied my own backup; we were on our own.

The human men who had been tasked with bringing firewood had taken down their Krektar escort, and they were watching from nearby, equally wary as their female counterparts, but much more willing to solve that with aggression if I wasn’t careful.

Two women had pushed to the front of the group, and the rest were huddled behind them.

A second, much smaller and more bedraggled group was hovering to the left, near the palisade walls and beyond the cooking fires.

Three factions, not two. Everywhere, the bodies of the Krektar were strewn, but the males had divested theirs of their rifles, despite the weapons not working.

“Okay,” I said slowly, head spinning as I thought about what we should do.

There was no way Nala would leave without trying to take these people with her.

The truth was, it wouldn’t feel right not to try.

Our window of opportunity was also rapidly closing, so I had to make the decision now.

Picking Nala up in my arms, I nodded. “Tell them to follow me and stick close. We will make a rush for the woods before the Krektar from the second work camp can rally after us. Now move fast, keep up.” My mate translated rapidly, then spent a moment convincing the men, it appeared, to trust an alien and come along.

I was already moving, and the women were falling into place behind us.

My scales shivered with unease when we reached the gate.

It was closed, and I had to put Nala down to heave it open.

The men didn’t help, standing warily to the left of us, but they were the first out.

One was calling out short orders, and most obeyed, though one took one look at the Krektar working males—cutting trees and, farther away, building more walls around their ship—then he booked it across the clearing as fast as he could.

It appeared the other males had decided to try to protect the women and stick with me, but it was hardly an orderly retreat—especially after that male had chosen to run like that, choosing self-preservation over helping the group.

We weren’t moving fast enough, and one of the males appeared injured, struggling to keep up and needing the support of another to keep walking.

“Tell them Levant has a tent in that direction, should we get separated. Medical aid and food await them there.” I pointed, though I knew they would not be able to find the tent on their own, it was too well camouflaged.

Nala had only just translated that when chaos broke out, an unpredictable factor I cursed but could not change.

Krektar were coming out of the forest, a hunting party with several dead Vakarsa carcasses to show for their success.

Worse, they’d been away while I’d set off my EM blast, their weapons still functioned.

Catching sight of us, they dropped their catches and began racing downhill toward us.

At first, they did not open fire, possibly because they did not want to kill their cargo.

They pulled out their whips instead, flicking them through the air with loud snaps.

The sound caused the group behind me to falter, screams to erupt, and then people began to scatter in a panic.

They saw me then, and they had no issue firing in my direction.

I ducked and weaved, trying to make myself a more difficult target and to prevent them from hitting Nala as collateral.

They did not care. When we got too close, I was forced to put her down and fight hand-to-knife with these ugly freaks.

I tried to keep track of where Nala was, but keeping watch for the others was beyond me.

There was too much going on, and my body was still tired from the last fight, my endurance sapped from healing Khawla so much.

I caught a blow to the chest that made me stagger back, and when I came up, tail lashing to kill that Krektar, shouts went up behind us.

“Oh no! More Krektar from the other camps!” Nala warned, but it was no use then.

They surrounded us, held the handful of functioning weapons on us, and I knew I could not keep fighting. They would start harming innocents.

We were forced to surrender, and then they pulled Nala and me from the group.

She’d tried to urge me to go, to run and come back later, but I knew I couldn’t and that I wouldn’t be able to get away anyhow.

There were too many scouring the hills, swarming us from all directions.

Our only chance now was to wait for Levant and Sun Fang, if they came.