Page 19

CHAPTER 19

S asha

Eirik still hasn’t woken up and I feel sick to my stomach with worry. I fuss over him regularly, checking the wound that still bleeds a thick, shocking red through the makeshift bandage, but there’s precious little I can do to help.

Precious little I can do and even less I know. I’m no healer, no woman of knowledge. All I know is to hide and steal. All I know is to take from others.

Right now, I would give all of my skills as a thief to be able to help Eirik, but my wishes are useless to him.

The transport hums beneath me, a sound low and steady, like the buzzing of an insect. It sets my teeth on edge, but there’s nothing I can do about it. My fingers trail over the dashboard, searching for anything familiar. I run them along the surface, surprised to find it oddly warm. Warm and soft, more like leather than metal. Strange symbols pulse with an eerie blue glow, their meaning lost on me.

No. Not leather. I frown as I run my fingertip over the warm surface. It feels like skin.

What is this material? How is this transport powered? I’m not hearing the normal nanite-fusion sound of the engine running.

Too many questions. Not enough answers.

This is some piece of technology I never witnessed before. Something that doesn’t belong in the Empire.

Something entirely Huugwor.

The transport is sleek and black inside, its cabin a comfortable cool temperature even as it shoots through the landscape like a bullet. At this hour of the day, the relentless twin suns of Valcan wrap the desert in a suffocating heat, enough to kill a man in under an hour if he doesn’t find shelter. But as the transport glides at blinding speed, maneuvering through the dry landscape made of rocks, canyons, and dunes like a sentient being, the atmosphere inside the cabin remains cool and comfortable.

We can’t be out there. It’s too dangerous, I think as I move around in my seat to peer out. As we keep going, no one attacks us, not even the Enforcer patrol I see in the distance. In fact, they don’t even register our presence.

Does this transport have a scanner block? It’s possible, but those don’t work against the Enforcers’ nano-vibration stations installed all over the city’s perimeter.

Why doesn’t anyone stop us? The Enforcers control the comings and goings of any transport out of the city to make sure to keep Tartarus’s location a secret from the Empire. The entire population of our city rests on this one simple secret.

And yet, the transport glides over the land without raising a single alarm.

As I look through the windshield, I see its surface reflects our surroundings, like a mirror. No, not really. It’s more like it mimics our surroundings. And when a ray of sunlight hits it, it doesn’t reflect it the way metal would. It merely absorbs it.

It’s the perfect camouflage. It’s like the transport morphs into the desert landscape itself as it glides over the endless sand.

I’m more fascinated than I’ve ever been in my life.

Then a muffled sound to my right pulls me from my fascination, and I turn to Eirik. His eyes are open and he stares at me, his magnificent blue gaze dulled with pain.

“You’re awake.” I whisper the words, like speaking any louder could send him back to his slumber.

His gray skin has taken on a lifeless, ashen tone, almost white around his mouth and nose. Sweat beads on his forehead despite the transport’s perfect temperature control. His jaw clenches, the muscles in his neck corded with tension. He doesn’t answer and I don’t know if it’s because he can’t speak or won’t.

“Let me see your wound.” I lean forward, my fingers hovering over the makeshift bandage I wrapped around his torso. Blood seeps through the fabric, dark and viscous.

His hand shoots out, gripping my wrist. Even wounded, his strength makes me gasp.

“You need to tell them.” His voice comes out ragged, each word a battle against pain. “Tell them someone is working against the alliance. Tell them Chancellor Ry has been betrayed and needs help.”

“Why are you saying this?” My stomach drops as tears shoot to my eyes, burning the insides of my eyelids. “You’ll tell them yourself.”

Fear grips me by the throat, and I forget how to breathe. I know what Eirik is telling me, but my mind refuses to go there.

“I programmed this transport to take you to our Elder. Speak to no one else but him.” Eirik speaks with obvious strain, his skin a sickly pale gray. “He is the one who gave me this mission in Tartarus.”

Eirik’s grip on my wrist loosens, but he doesn’t let go. His eyes lock with mine, intense despite the pain clouding them.

“I wouldn’t even know where to start.” My voice is thin and broken, reminding me of the voice of the little girl I once was. The broken little girl, alone and afraid. The little girl I fought so hard to leave behind that I forgot. She’s still there, lurking underneath my ribs. Still broken, after all these years.

“Tell him that someone is looking for the Soul Stones and knows what they can do.” Eirik runs his tongue over his lips and blinks, clearly fighting to stay awake. “War is coming. They need to prepare.”

Even if I wanted to, I couldn’t have said a word. My throat is closed and air filters in as though through a straw. I know what he’s saying and I know why. Wordlessly, I nod my ascension and Eirik’s shoulders relax. He exhales a slow, long breath and his eyelids close.

I lean back in my own seat, fighting against the tears that sting my eyelids as Eirik slips away back into oblivion. I’ve never felt this powerless in my life, sitting here as he suffers.

As he suffers because he saved me. He could have left me and saved not only himself, but his people. Instead, he chose to save my worthless life.

Hours go on, melting into each other as the transport goes deeper and deeper into the desert. Fear creeps inside my chest, traveling up my spine and into my bones as I realize the vastness of it. The vastness of this endless desert where a creature like me has no hope of survival.

It’s a land made of cruel beauty, a land made for creatures such as Eirik and his people. I have no idea how far we’ll go. I don’t even know what direction we’re in. Not that it matters in the end.

We ride so long, the twin suns hang low in the sky, casting everything in a surreal orange glow. As the hours pass, I think I understand how the transport works. The constant buzzing from the morning fades as the light dims and the twin suns lower on the horizon until it’s barely a whisper inside the tiny cabin. I have no idea how, but it seems like the transport absorbs the energy from the suns and uses it to generate its own power.

It’s a clever way to use Valcan’s relentless suns, to turn their merciless rays into energy without needing any additional input.

But whatever its energy source is, it’s fading. Same as the transport’s speed.

“Will we be there soon?” I ask, but I don’t expect an answer. Eirik has been in and out of consciousness for hours, but now he slumps in his seat, his head resting on the closed window.

The transport slows down over the course of an hour as the suns disappear and the orange glow of the sky turns to a pure midnight blue. When it finally comes to a halt, the abrupt silence makes my ears ring. I twist, looking around to see … nothing. We’re in the middle of the desert, with nothing as far as the eye can see. Lost.

“Shit.” I slam my palm against the dashboard. “Shit, shit, shit.”

A massive rock formation towers to our left, casting deep shadows across the sand. At least, we’ll have shelter from the suns if the transport doesn’t start again in the morning. The thought makes the ringing in my ears even louder and I lick my lips, but my tongue is dry and my lips are cracked.

I haven’t taken a sip of water since we woke up this morning. The thought makes my belly squeeze. Eirik needs water. Heck, he needs a doctor, water, medicine, nano-blood transfusions.

“Eirik. The transport stopped. You need to tell me what to do.”

I turn to him, intent on waking him up to ask him if we’re where we’re supposed to be. The sight should be beautiful, but all I can focus on is the ragged sound of Eirik’s breathing beside me.

“Eirik?” My voice cracks. “Wake up. I need you to wake up.”

He doesn’t respond. Blood seeps through his clothing where the blast hit him, dark and thick against the fabric. It pools on his lap, seeps through the cracks of his seat.

So much blood.

Eirik’s head lolls to the side, and his breathing grows more labored. Panic claws at my throat. I’m trapped in this alien vehicle with no idea how to control it, watching the only person who might be able to help slowly bleed out beside me.

“Don’t you dare die on me,” I whisper, gripping his hand. “You hear me? Don’t you fucking dare.”

Nothing. His head stays slumped forward, and the stillness in his chest is like a stab wound to my heart. My hands tremble as I reach for his neck, searching for a pulse. He feels cold, impossibly cold, and his skin is covered in a fine layer of sweat. The tears that threatened me earlier come back with a vengeance as I press my fingertips harder into his neck. Then I feel it: a faint flutter against his jugular.

The relief crashes over me like a wave, and suddenly I’m crying. Hot tears spill down my cheeks as I press my forehead against his shoulder.

“Please.” My voice breaks. “Please wake up. I don’t know where we are or what to do. I can’t.”

The words catch in my throat. Around us, the desert stretches endlessly in every direction, empty and unforgiving. The rocky outcrop offers shade, but that’s all. No settlements, no people, no help. Just vast nothingness and a dying man who’s somehow become the only person I can trust. The only person I care about.

My fingers curl into fists as the tears continue to fall. “Please wake up.”

I let it swallow me. All that fear, all that darkness and the despair I’ve felt all my life. It’s like a dam breaking and it washes over me as I lean on Eirik’s cold shoulder, pressing my forehead against it. My tears fall, as hot as his skin is cold, so cold.

Somewhere along the way, I fall into the dark myself. And I dream of endless desert.

A sound makes me jerk upright, the sound of footsteps crunching on sand. I shed the fog of sleep immediately as fear grips me once more. There is only one species roaming this deep in the desert. I shoot a glance at Eirik, but it’s clear he won’t wake up.

“Shit. They’ll think I’ve abducted him or something.” As soon as I say it, I know it’s ludicrous. Who in the world would think a girl like me could kidnap a man like him?

But I don’t have time to dwell on this. My hand finds the knife strapped to my thigh as four massive shapes materialize from the shadows.

Huugwors. Their gray skin blends with the twilight, but their blue eyes gleam as they approach. And none are too happy to see intruders in their lands, judging by the deadly spikes protruding from their arms and shoulders.

“Stay back.”

I position myself between them and Eirik, blade extended.

“I said stay back.” My voice doesn’t waver despite the fear churning in my gut. “I’m here to see the Elder.”

One of them barks something in a language I don’t understand. They spread out, surrounding the transport. The one in the middle, the same who gave the order, steps forward, and I slash the air in warning.

Movement catches my eye—what I thought was solid rock seems to ripple and part.

The next moment, a figure walks through the opening in the rock. The opening that definitively shouldn’t be there. It’s a Huugwor, but his skeletal, tall frame is hunched over and he leans on a white cane as two female Huugwors help him walk.

This must be him. The Elder.

The two female Huugwors, if I judge by their dainty, exotic features and the generous curves of their barely clad bodies, look up at me with ravenous, curious eyes. They’re built like ancient goddesses, tall and muscular, with curves like sculptures. I feel more like a mouse than ever, staring at them.

The Elder moves with slow motions, his skin weathered, hanging on his bones like parchment. He looks at me through pale blue eyes, almost as pale as the sky at midday. An unsettling shade of blue in a darker blue sclera.

I need no one to tell me that this old Huugwor is the ultimate authority around here.

The old man’s eyes lock onto mine and I can feel the power beneath the wrinkled features. Even as his body is crumbling, his gaze is as sharp as a young man’s. No, that’s not true.

Sharper, like countless years haven’t dulled his mind, but honed it like a fine blade.

This man will decide if we live or die.

He speaks in that language I don’t understand, his voice like gravel, and the warriors immediately step back, their spikes retreating inside their skins. They’re less threatening this way, but the murderous glare in their eyes remains.

They don’t want me here. They’d kill me if they could.

The Elder takes another step closer and his pale eyes flicker to my weapon. At his side, the female Huugwors frown, their piercing gazes on me like I’m a stain on the sand.

“Drop the weapon,” he says in Common tongue, but his voice is laced with a deep accent. “They’re likely to strike you dead if you don’t, no matter what order I give. They’re quite determined to keep me alive for as long as possible.”

My knife hand trembles as he stares at it, and a second later, I drop my arm to my side and open my palm. My fingers scream in protest as I flex my knuckles open and closed. I didn’t even realize how hard I was clutching the tiny blade.

It doesn’t matter. I switch tactics and move aside, gesturing to Eirik’s painfully still form, slumped in the passenger seat.

“Please,” I whisper, hating how desperate I sound. “He’s dying. He needs your help.”

“Eirik knows better than to bring outsiders to this place,” the Elder says without a trace of concern for the dying man in the transport. If it was mercy I was looking for, I won’t find it here.

“He sent us here to warn you,” I answer, unable to quiet the anger in my voice. “A grave danger is coming to the entire Huugwor nation.”

His pale eyes flicker to Eirik with an unreadable expression, then back to me.

“Warn us of what?” This time, I feel all their gazes on me, blue and piercing. I know that with a single word from this man, my life would be spilled on the sand. They wouldn’t even blink an eye.

I promised Eirik I would warn them, but still, I hesitate. This secret is my only leverage. My only bargaining chip to save Eirik’s life.

“Save him and I will tell you.” I don’t know where I find the strength to speak like that, with my voice loud and clear and my head held high, but I do. Inside, I’m a crumbling mess, but I stand as tall as my small frame allows and I don’t flinch under the Elder’s merciless gaze.

“Come here, little one.”

My feet remain rooted to the spot until one of the warriors gives me a not-so-gentle push forward. I didn’t even notice them moving behind me. My brain is that frazzled.

The Elder’s weathered hand shoots out with surprising speed, catching my wrist in an iron grip. He pulls my arm up to his face, flattening his nose right on my skin and inhales deeply, his milky-blue eyes narrowing to thin slits.

A shiver runs down my spine as those ancient eyes study me with unsettling intensity. The silence stretches until I want to scream, but I force myself to stay still.

“The human is Eirik’s mate. She will be protected.” The old Huugwor’s voice carries absolute authority as he turns to the other warriors.

Mate? The word echoes in my head, but before I can process it, the warriors move toward Eirik. My heart beats so fast it hurts and all my instincts scream at me to protect him, but I remain unmoving. I can’t do anything for him now; only his people can help him.

They lift him with surprising gentleness, his blood already staining their gray hands. Then they walk right to the rock. Which opens again, like some sort of monstrous mouth.

“Well?” The old Huugwor’s mouth curves into what might be a smile, if it wasn’t so utterly terrifying. “Do you prefer to stay out here and become food for the thirsty sand?”

I hurry after them, trying not to stare as the living stone closes behind us.