As the headlights bobbed, Warrian saw Radek go still on the front step of the house. Talan was draped over his arms, completely still. There was so much blood, it was hard to tell if he was even alive.
Beside him, Isa let out a pained gasp. “Oh God, no. Talan.”
Warrian pushed the truck over the grass, nearly to the front steps. “Stay here,” he ordered as he got out of the truck.
“Stay back,” warned Radek. “The place is covered in traps. I’m on a trigger now. Come take Talan and get him out of here.”
“What about you?”
“I’ll figure something out. I can probably survive a bit of fire.”
“Probably?” asked Warrian as he gently took Talan’s body from the warrior. Now that he was close, he could see the faint rise and fall of Talan’s bleeding chest.
“It’s the best shot we have. Get the empress and Talan out of here. Now, before something goes boom.”
Isa had ignored Warrian’s order and stood near the front of the truck. “We’re not leaving without you.”
“Yeah, you are,” said Radek. “Warrian isn’t going to sacrifice you or Talan. And he knows it.”
That was true. But it was also true that he wasn’t leaving a fellow warrior here to die.
He laid Talan on the back seat of the truck, wincing as he groaned in pain at the slightest movement. “Isa, drive the truck to a safe distance. If you see the Raide, drive away and keep driving.”
“Talan’s going to die if we don’t get him to a hospital,” she said.
She was right. Only not about the hospital.
Warrian pulled his rings free and handed them to her. “Take the garala and do what you can to stop his bleeding while you wait. Radek will call my phone if he sees danger approach. When you hear the phone, you must leave immediately.”
“I don’t want to—”
He covered her hands with his, curling her fingers around the rings. “You must do this or Talan will die. I must stay or Radek will die. There is no time to argue.”
She gave him a grim nod, then grabbed his braid and pressed a hard, fervent kiss against his mouth. “For luck.”
Warrian savored the taste of her on his lips as she climbed into the truck and backed it away to a safe distance. She made sure the headlights still shone on Radek, as if she knew he would not want to be in the dark while his life hung at risk.
With a force of will, Warrian shoved her from his thoughts and gave Radek his full attention. “How does the device work?”
“I don’t know. I can’t exactly move around and check.”
“Cut line,” came a low, rumbling voice from inside.
Warrian leaned to the side and saw that the voice had come from a Dregorg slumped against a wall.
He pressed his hands together to activate the garala, only to remember he’d given it to Isa.
“Chill, Warrian. He’s hurt. No threat to us. He even told me how to get Talan out of here in once piece.”
Warrian eyed the Dregorg with mistrust. “Why would you help him?”
“Battle Lord Kemp left me here to die. Mine care not for their war. They die. You die. They live. You live. All the same.”
“I think that’s his way of saying he doesn’t give a shit, Warrian. I suggest you trust what he says and find the line to cut. He already told me reinforcements are on the way.”
“If you don’t care about the war, then why do you fight?” asked Warrian.
“No choice. Offspring of mine must survive.”
Rage slithered through Warrian, making his hands shake. Death was too good for the Raide. Utter and complete extinction was the only way to be sure their infection didn’t continue to grow and spread from world to world.
“Fucking Raide,” spat Radek. “I really hope I survive this so I can kill a few more of them. Get me the hell out of here.”
Warrian shoved his rage down onto the growing pile of emotions that threatened to crush him. Isa had nearly died tonight. He’d failed to get her through the window. Talan was on the verge of death, and Isa was out there right now, suffering so that he had a chance at survival. Radek was trapped like a rodent, and there was a good chance that both he and Warrian wouldn’t make it through the next ten minutes.
Who would fight then? Who would willingly leave their home and the front lines to come to another world where they may or may not ever find a source of hope?
No one wanted this mission. So many had already come here, never to return. There was no glory to be had here, no safe haven or solace of family. It was a cold, desolate place so empty of hope that even the tiniest flicker seemed like a roaring pyre.
Even if they found all of the Taken, there was still a good chance that they’d lose the battle. And if they did, then those who were lucky enough to survive would be like this Dregorg, wounded and left behind to die on some alien world, hoping his children survived his failure.
It was all too much. And yet there was no one else who would stand here and fight.
So that’s what Warrian would do. He’d fight to save Radek. He’d fight to save Talan. He’d fight to keep Isa alive long enough to see her back to Loriah. Because it was the right thing to do.
The only thing to do. He didn’t even care if his success here was the key to restoring his family’s honor. If he failed, too many people would die. That was all he could let matter.
Warrian swallowed his emotion until it was a knotted little pile in his gut. Then he did as the Dregorg said, finding the line leading to a flammable liquid charge the Raide liked to use, and cut the line with Radek’s knife.
“It’s done,” he said.
“Anything else I should worry about on the way out?” Radek asked the Dregorg.
“I know none.”
“Okay then. Good luck to you.” He stepped off the mat and held his breath.