Page 9 of Warrior (The Outlander Book Club… in Space! #2)

The distress on Daisy’s face settled into a hateful knot in my stomach.

“The Garoot are born to healing. I’ve seen whelps much younger than George set bones and dress wounds," I told her as I piled the rest of the baskets into my arms.

"One-handed?" One perfect dark brow raised in challenge. She didn’t wait for me to answer, slipping an arm around George’s shoulder and turning him toward the steps. “You need to come to the kitchen so I can bandage this properly.”

The Garoot’s sigh of acquiescence was so exaggerated I nearly laughed He fell in step behind Ewok, who juggled a tower of baskets.

I held back, falling into step at Daisy’s side. “George?” I asked with a waggle of my brows. I did not know many Garoot but knew enough to guess that 'George' was not his given moniker.

Daisy shrugged, her eyes misting slightly as they fell on the frail, pale blue figure before us. “He looks like my cousin George.”

“I did not think humans were pale blue with six fingers.”

She shot me a look, matched my grin, then sighed. In that small breath, I heard many emotions. “Like Ewok, he couldn't remember his name. Everybody should have a name.”

I glanced toward where the remainder of the children gathered their blankets. I doubted Ewok and George were the only nameless orphans and wondered what names she chose for the rest.

Once in the kitchen, Daisy parked George on a small rickety stool while Ewok and I tidied the kitchen. As usual, Daisy had taken care of everything. Only wrapping the leftovers remained, and there were few of those.

“How did this happen, George?”

Her voice wavered with shock as she gently lifted his small, blue hand, now bandage free with the extent of the damage displayed.

One of his fingers appeared crushed, the crack in the bone visible with most of the skin flayed away.

His arm held streaks of dried blood, and his fingers and knuckles were painfully swollen.

“The white rock is very delicate and must be removed from the vein with our fingers. I was removing some from a crater when a rock fell and hit my hand.” The Garoot youngling spoke dispassionately, as though he were studying a procedure not on himself.

“You don’t use tools to excavate the rock?” I asked, curious. In all my experience, fingers—especially youngling fingers—didn’t possess the strength to pull treasure from stone.

"The white rocks are very delicate. Our tools often reduce it to dust.” Ewok explained, wincing as he watched Daisy clean the wound.

“The guards are not happy if that happens,” George added, a faint frown crossing his thin lips.

“I bet the guards wouldn't be happy to have their hands torn up like this either,” Daisy huffed, frowning in concentration as she smoothed a thin, minty, scented cream over the wound.

Ewok glanced at his own pudgy hand and winced. “Only the ones with thin fingers can harvest the stone. The veins are small and hard to reach. That is why as we grow, we are taken from the mines to…. He glanced at George, and their shared look held pain and worry. “Somewhere else.”

Daisy's full lips pulled into a tight line, but she said nothing, focused on the task at hand.

“What is the name of the stone you mine?” I asked. The mining method described was foreign to my experience.

"They only refer to it as the white stone," Ewok grunted.

White stone. My mind ran through every substance mined within a dozen galaxies and nothing fit what the younglings described.

“Ewok, what tunnel were you working in today?” The need to know burned in my gut, the same churning feeling I got on the eve of a battle.

The tiny Kerzak raised curious eyes in my direction. “One of the smaller tunnels the level below the common area. Why?”

“Yes… why?” Daisy looked up from finishing George's bandage, the gold flecks in her hazel eyes sparkling.

I shrugged, trying to make my request innocuous. “Because I want to see what you are mining.”

“I can take you!” Ewok’s broad face lit up, and he bounced on his heels.

I took in his stout frame; the sharp angles of his build juxtaposed with a childish air.

His eyes shone with innocence, and his enthusiasm was infectious.

I knew he was Kerzak, the cruelest, most ruthless, and mercenary species in the universe.

This youngling wasn't anything like that.

He had already proven himself brave, loyal, and fiercely devoted to Daisy.

"I'm coming too," Daisy announced. Stepping to my side, her arm brushed against mine, sending a surge of conflicting emotions coursing through me.

Worry and fear warred with pride and admiration.

Every fiber of my being wanted to insist she stay behind, away from danger, but the need to have her by my side proved stronger.

Her eyes burned with an intensity that matched mine, and I knew there would be no talking her out of it.

With a deep breath, I nodded in acceptance.

George hopped from the stool, his mouth open to chime in on the adventure, but Daisy cut him off, rubbing the top of his large head affectionally. “George, I want you to go to bed and get some rest. You’re hurt.”

The young Garoot made a face of disappointment, but he did not argue.

We moved down the steps single file, Ewok going to the pile of tools in the corner, pulling out a couple of small lanterns.

“You will need to be silent,” George cautioned as he turned toward the dormitory. “The guards often loiter in productive tunnels.”

"True," Ewok grunted. He pulled a long-pointed chisel from the pile, and tucking it into his worn leather utility belt—the only garment he wore.

The youngling led us through a small tunnel just past the common area, then pivoted to the left and down a steep rock staircase. Every step plunged us further into blackness—any light filtering through the overhead domes dimming away.

On the first step, Daisy stumbled, her human eyes not accustomed to the deep level of darkness. Instinctively, her hands grasped my bicep as she leaned into me, her softness melding against my muscle.

“It’s dark,” she whispered by way of an apology or excuse—I didn’t care which.

I was acutely aware of every inch of her highlighted by her scent of flowers and sunshine.

Everything about Daisy made me crave her.

It was an admission that filled me with delight and shame in equal measure.

As my cock stirred in response to my thoughts, I chastised the ornery organ with a sharp wrist tap.

I was a Vaktaire war chief. My desires paled in comparison to my duty.

At least, that's what I told myself.

The trek took longer than expected—almost half an hour.

The tunnel we meandered through was small, cramped, and cold.

The stone no different from that of the upper levels.

I was about to suggest we turn back when Ewok’s light illuminated a seam of pure snowy white amid the striations of orange and red.

“This. Here.” The youngling’s voice sounded reverent as he pointed his light to run along veins of pure white. He wavered his beam on an enormous crater in the wall where the vein widened.

“What is that?” Daisy released her grip on my arm and stepped forward, hand raised. “It looks like aspirin.”

I snagged her hand before she could make contact with the substance.

I lifted the lantern and leaned forward, the yellow light making the vein appear gold. Breathing deeply, I caught the faint acidic medicinal scent. Daisy stood close by, too close, and I gripped her arm, pulling her away as if the vein might come to life.

“I can’t be sure… and I’m certainly not going to test it, but it looks like mumje.” As I said the word, foreboding crept over me with an icy fingertip. “I thought the Alliance destroyed all traces of mumje eons ago.”

“Why? What is it?” Daisy’s voice held a mix of curiosity and worry.

"Mixed with water and carbon, mumje creates a highly toxic drug.” Mumje was outlawed before my lifetime, but stories remained of entire planets falling under its sway.

Daisy’s eyes sparkled in the darkness. “What’s the drug used for?”

“Subjugation.” The word tasted bitter on my tongue. “Even a small amount can turn a being into a mindless creature. The Ulkommanian and Trogvyk used the drug to take over entire planets until the Alliance outlawed its use on pain on death and destroyed all known supplies.”

“Whole planets?” Ewok breathed as though enraptured by another one of Daisy’s adventure stories.

My snort was harsher than intended, and when the little Kerzak flinched, I reached out and laid a hand on his shoulder. “It’s easy to subjugate an entire planet if the drug reduces all its citizens to nothing more than mindless beasts.”

“Like zombies,” Daisy murmured, staring at the thin white vein like it was a living, breathing creature.

“Zumbee?” Ewok’s voice wobbled.

Daisy's expression softened, and her hand joined mine on the youngling’s shoulder. “It’s a fictional creature in some of our Earth stories. Zombies are humans that catch a virus, turning them into walking corpses that feed on the brains of others.”

“Brains?” My stomach lurched. “Ugh, even the Kerzak don’t eat brains.” They eat everything else, but not brains.

“We do not eat brains!” Ewok agreed with a grunt. “Yuck, that’s gross!”

"Right, whelp?" I gave him a gentle shake before turning a playful glare at Daisy. “Humans are nasty.”

Her laughter echoed through the chamber, as brightening as sunlight. It swept over me like a warm breeze, so out of place in this cold, dark tunnel. A tunnel filled with the most heinous substance in the known universe.

“Ewok, are there any more tunnels with veins of mumje?

The little Kerzak frowned, his face scrunching comically. “I don’t think so. There used to be other tunnels, but they are dry now.”

“Is this stuff really that bad?” Daisy gulped.

I nodded with a grunt. “Yes. I must report to the Alliance we have found a new source of mumje.”