Kayla brushed past Malkor and made her way to the complink console.
No doubt the noise Corinth had heard earlier had been Dolan’s men searching the swamp for their hideout. Thank the stars they hadn’t located it while she was gone.
She could always escape Malkor later but she had to get Corinth off Altair Tri right now, tonight. Or this morning, or whatever time it was.
The woman muttering over her console stared as she approached. Kayla glimpsed a very sophisticated—by imperial standards—datapad before she tucked the device away.
“I take it you couldn’t figure it out, Rigger?” Malkor asked from behind her.
Kayla reached past Rigger and tapped a sequence into the keypad. She didn’t wait for the command to finish running before entering Corinth’s room. The holo field surrounding the hidey-hole melted away and Kayla hesitated. Had she made the right call? What did she even know about these people? What if they themselves worked for Dolan?
Just the thought of Dolan, the kin’shaa—an exiled Wyrd ritually stripped of his psi powers—sent a shiver through her. He had betrayed his own people. He had given the empire the coordinates to her homeworld of Ordoch in Wyrd Space. Had come pretending to be a mediator between the two sides and had instead helped the empire kill her family and take over her planet when talks failed.
However, if they did work for Dolan, she’d know it. Malkor clearly had no idea of her true identity, or that she and the “kid” she lived with were Ordoch’s last heirs. Dolan wouldn’t cook up the Empress Game plot to lure her with, he would simply grab them as prisoners of war, or, more likely, kill them.
As bizarre as it sounded, Malkor was probably telling the truth about his plan for her. And as Malkor was the only one of the two men who actually wanted her alive, she’d choose him over Dolan any day.
She slid the panel off the hidey-hole. “Come on out, we’re leaving.” She reached a hand to help Corinth up and out.
::I was sleeping:: his mental voice grumbled, before it abruptly changed when he caught sight of Malkor and his team. ::Kayla! Who are these people? What’s happening?::
“It’s all right. We need to get out of here quickly and they’re going to help.”
::Imperials don’t help Wyrds.:: His gaze fell on Malkor. ::Is he the one you mentioned, who approached you at the pit?::
Malkor looked at her strangely, reminding her that Corinth spoke only in her head, and that no one else must know about his psi powers. She gave Corinth a slight nod.
“Pack what you want to bring that will fit in one bag.”
“He doesn’t speak?” Malkor asked.
Not to you. “Nope.”
Malkor glanced at Corinth, who looked even smaller and frailer beside the impressive forms of the two specialists. “A word, please. Rigger, you stay with the boy.”
“No,” she snapped. “Rigger can watch him from the doorway, but stay away from him.”
Rigger raised her hands, palms out, away from her body. “I’ll stay over here.” She backed as far away from Corinth as she could in the cramped room. “I won’t go near him, I promise.”
::I’ll be all right, Kay, they’re a little afraid of you.:: Corinth tried to sound brave, but times of stress showed just how under-trained he was. Fear laced his mental voice. She placed her hand on his shoulder, willing strength into him.
“I’ll be right out here. Let me know if you need me.” She stepped out of the room after Malkor, never taking her eyes from Corinth.
Malkor positioned himself off-center from her, not blocking her view. Strangers hadn’t been this close to Corinth since they’d moved out here, and the certainty that she’d exposed him to danger gripped her like a vise.
“Are you serious about this?”
She didn’t bother to answer Malkor’s question.
“You want to take a child to Falanar while you impersonate a princess at the Empress Game? Do you have any idea what the stakes are, here? Do you know what they do to people caught cheating at the game?”
“Are you trying to convince me not to take the job?”
“Starfire. You know what I mean. Isn’t there someone he can stay with until this is over?”
This time she did glance at him, but only to make her point. “Do you think we’d be living out here if there was?”
“Who are you hiding him from? Dolan? Someone else? Who is he?”
“He’s my brother, and that’s all you need to know.” Brother—such an inadequate word. Her il’haar was everything to her. An imperial wouldn’t understand that.
“What if we left him with one of my contacts. I could—”
“No. I don’t know why this is hard to understand. You want me to fight, he comes with me. It’s either that or find yourself a new girl.”
“Damnit, Shadow. I’m trying to do the right thing here.”
“By buying a fighter to cheat with at the Empress Game? Could’ve fooled me.”
::He wants you to do what?!::
A half-smile came to her lips at Corinth’s outrage.
::My ro’haar never cheats! You don’t have to. Tell him, Kay.::
“We need to pack,” she said instead, brushing past Malkor. “And I want my daggers back.”
* * *
Dawn brushed the eastern edge of the sky when they exited the shanty for the last time. Two more of Malkor’s team greeted them outside. Introduced as Trinan and Vid, they completed the box of guards surrounding Kayla and Corinth.
She studied Malkor’s back as he led the group in a northeast direction. Without a doubt he was in charge. Most criminal groups on Tri worked in smaller units of two or three men, yet here Malkor had four very competent-looking people with him, and Trinan had mentioned meeting up with more at a ship. Just how many people Malkor commanded, and what sort of specialist he was exactly, were the questions front-most in her mind.
The team traveled well for people unused to Fengar Swamp, but Corinth faltered often between the channels of murky water, muddy hillocks and patches of sludge. Kayla kept a constant hand on his arm to keep him from going down.
With the exception of her time at the Blood Pit, Kayla stayed away from imperial men. They made her uneasy with their size, physical strength and aggression. Oddly, however, she didn’t feel threatened by the men of this group. At least, not currently. They and Rigger had spread out in a protective formation with her and Corinth at the center. For the moment she had allies, albeit temporary ones. She let them watch the swamp for signs of Dolan’s men while she concentrated on Corinth.
“Are you doing all right?”
::I’m fine, Kay.:: Corinth’s foot sank deep into the soft earth as he spoke, wrenching him to a stop. He made no sound of exasperation, simply pried his foot free and took another step. He looked tired already. The earlier nightmare had robbed him of sleep, and he’d had similar nights this week. He hadn’t been eating enough lately and the trek was tough even for someone in healthy, athletic shape.
“Do you need me to carry you?” she asked Corinth. Malkor turned his head at her words. He looked a question at her as if asking if she needed help. Kayla waved him on.
::I’ll be all right for a bit more. I’ve never been out here at this hour, it’s spooky. Speak with me?::
Corinth’s presence approached the edge of her mind, brushing against her shields lightly, the way a feline might barely touch its nose to her hand when first scenting her. Kayla ordered her thoughts, directing them into neat mental compartments and sectioning them off. The practice was still second nature to her despite barely using it since they’d left Wyrd Space.
She took a deep breath and struggled against her deepest will to lower the mental shields protecting her mind. Though she loved Corinth and had been his ro’haar for the last five years, she still found it tough to open herself up to him. He rushed inside her head, too quickly. It caused an instant ache between her eyes.
::Sorry, I didn’t mean it.::
I know you didn’t, she thought, knowing he could hear her active thoughts. She pushed the pain to a corner of her mind and blocked it there, away from his reach. Little extra room remained. Corinth coiled himself inside her mind, filling her head near to bursting.
::Do you trust these people?::
How to answer that? She couldn’t exactly lie to him, but she could hide some facts by burying them behind inner shields.
I can’t say I know them well enough to trust them. I do think they’re telling the truth about wanting me to fight in the Empress Game.
::Because they know you’re a princess?:: His voice held a mix of horror that they might have been discovered and pride.
Only because they’ve seen me fight. I’m supposed to impersonate someone else, I think. They don’t know who we are and we need to keep it that way.
::Where are we going?::
Falanar.
::But— The military. Dolan. The IDC. You said they might be searching for us.::
We’ll have to be extra careful. She kept the knowledge that the kin’shaa Dolan was after them locked tightly away. Hopefully they would elude Dolan altogether and never have to worry about him again.
::Why did you agree to help them? We don’t need them, we’re doing fine on our own.::
We are not doing fine. You need psi training that I can’t give you. The sooner I get you to Ilmena or another Wyrd World the better. I know you hate this life. I hate this life. The isolation ate away at her. Once she had had friends. Family. People in her life. And I hate fighting in the Blood Pit. Gods, how she hated it. Hated herself and what she had become. It would have taken me at least another year to earn enough credits to buy passage back to Wyrd Space. Finding a pilot willing to fly into Wyrd territory against violation of Universal Occupation Laws would require an exorbitant amount of credits.
I made a deal with Malkor. I fight in the Empress Game and he takes us wherever we want to go afterward, no questions asked.
::And you trust this imperial to keep his end of the bargain?::
That was the question, now, wasn’t it?
Corinth stumbled again, falling to his knees in the watery channel. His shin connected with something hard and the pain shot straight through Kayla.
Enough of this, Corinth. You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone. You are an Ordochian prince, and you have skills that go beyond the physical. Come here. Without waiting for him to comply she bent and lifted him up. Stars, but he was thin. She should have done more physical training with him. Vayne had begged her to teach him some of her hand-to-hand combat arts, and had prided himself on his limited but hard-earned physical strength. Corinth preferred to exercise his mind almost exclusively, like most male Wyrds. She should have—
::It’s not your fault, Kayla, stop blaming yourself for everything.::
She set Corinth on his feet long enough to turn around and hike him onto her back. Hang on.
His arms closed about her neck and his legs looped over her hips like a human backpack. Thankfulness seeped into her from their mental link as he settled himself.
Around her the team kept moving, but Malkor took one look over his shoulder and dropped back beside her. “Let me carry him.”
“No.”
“I understand that you’re protective, but he’s going to get heavy real quick.”
“I’ll be fine.” Kayla continued to walk. Corinth’s added weight upset her center of balance and made her sink farther into the muck with each step.
Malkor walked beside her in silence. She glanced at him when Corinth’s attention split and partly focused on Malkor. There was a note of concern on Malkor’s face.
“I won’t slow you down,” she said.
::He doesn’t believe you.::
Thank you, Corinth, I can see that.
“Let me know if you need me to take him,” Malkor said. His gaze dropped from her eyes to the ashk that covered the rest of her face for a second.
::What does he mean you kissed him?!::
Corinth Reinumon, get out of his head this instant.
::Kayla—::
Now.
Just what she needed, a thirteen-year-old boy dabbling in the mind of a man like Malkor. Corinth’s curiosity seeped into her.
I refuse to discuss this with you.
::You’re no fun.::
Kayla shifted his weight higher on her back and settled in for a long hike.
* * *
Corinth’s weight rivaled that of a fully loaded hoverpack on her back, and each step was a small triumph over her tired body. When they finally hit the grassy outskirts that marked the edge of the swamp, she gratefully set Corinth on his feet. She steadied him when his numbed legs didn’t want to hold his weight.
The hike through the swamp, her second in the last eight hours, on top of a night spent in the pit, wiped her out. They walked on a few hundred yards toward two strange depressions in the landscape, and it wasn’t until they reached the flattened-out sections of grass that Kayla realized what she was looking at: the landing spots of cloaked ships. The inside of a ship revealed itself from the air when the outer hatch opened. Another of Malkor’s team jumped out.
“’Bout time, boss. Ardin’s been comming every fifteen minutes for way too long.” His gaze shifted from Malkor to Kayla. “This our girl?”
His too curious look had her resting a hand on one of her daggers.
“This is not our girl, this is Shadow Panthe, who will be working with us for the next few weeks.” Malkor turned toward her. “Shadow, this is Gio. You have my permission to hurt him if he gives you any trouble.”
Gio grinned.
“Just, don’t kill him,” Malkor said. “He’s somewhat useful to me.” He called to the rest of his team. “Load up.”
The cloaks of the hidden ships dropped, revealing two sleek interatmosphere shuttles. It had been years since she’d seen any advanced imperial space vehicles, but she was certain the empire hadn’t achieved this level of sophistication on their own. The shuttle design, though imperialized, still had a basic Wyrd feel that Kayla recognized, even if no one else did.
No doubt this was Dolan’s influence.
“Tell me you stole these,” she said to Malkor, as he hefted Corinth’s bag into the closest shuttle.
From the look on his face, he’d expected some sort of question. “No.”
“Who do you work for?” She put a hand on Corinth’s shoulder, a signal to be ready. He tensed at her motion.
Malkor eyed her hand, not missing her intent. “We’re working with a princess who wants to win the Game, no one else.”
Few people had access to shuttles such as this, and all of them were men she’d need to avoid. The IDC and imperial military sprang to mind, as they’d arrived on Ordoch in this vessel’s predecessor. Rigging the Empress Game, though? What motive would either have for that? Kayla considered her options. Alone, she might have made a break for it, but she couldn’t run with Corinth in tow. He couldn’t sprint past the people loosely guarding them and even if he could, he wouldn’t be able to keep up the pace.
Say they did manage to escape Malkor and his team, what then? With Dolan searching Altair Tri no place could be considered safe. Like it or not, Malkor was still their best bet for survival. She helped Corinth into the nearest shuttle and climbed in after him.