| |
The fur on my nape tingled with urgency as if every second counted; if we didn’t leave immediately, we risked capture.
“Who do you think did this?” Millie echoed the question I’d been pondering.
“Hard to say. Terrorists. Rebels. LOP Protesters. Alien traffickers. Ordinary kidnappers.” I picked up a knapsack labeled emergency supplies that had fallen from a cabinet.
Inside, I found a med kit, nutribars, a solar blanket, a few bags of water, and a fried electronic beacon emitter. I tossed the EBE. No sense lugging useless equipment.
Many intact water bags littered the floor. I handed the pack to Millie. “Gather up as many water bags as you can.”
I searched the compartments for additional useful supplies, ending at one locked tight, a swipe screen and keypad embedded in its door. When the TEMP hit, rather than pop it open, the pulse had sealed it shut.
“Stand back.” I gestured. Lowering my head, I rammed the compartment with my horns. The impact vibrated from my head to my shoulders.
“Are you crazy? What are you doing?” She hugged the knapsack to her chest.
The control screen had shattered. Taking a deep breath, I charged. The metal caved. Once more should do it. Another hit busted in the door, and I ripped it off.
Inside, as I’d hoped, I found a blaster and a stun stick.
Her mouth moved, but no sound came out. I grinned. I’d never seen her at a loss for words.
“We’re armed now,” I announced. The faint ache throbbing in my skull would worsen, but to gain a couple of weapons it was worth it.
“Will the weapons work?” She found her voice. “Everything else electronic got fried.”
“They should. The cabinet is TEMP-proof.”
She was still clutching the knapsack to her chest.
“Did you get the water?” I asked.
“Uh, no.” She grabbed a bag off the floor and stuffed it in the pack.
After securing the weapons to my belt, I assisted in gathering water.
I eyed my ruined cape, debating whether to take it or leave it. The garment identified my connection to the king, which might secure our safety. However, it could attach a bigger target to our backs. I had to consider our crash and the disappearance of Prince Lomax could be related. That someone dared to accost royalty spoke to his willingness to take risks. Furthermore, wearing the cape in its despoiled state dishonored the king, myself, and all my forebearers.
With a heavy heart, I folded the cape, set it in a cabinet, and shut the door.
“I’m sorry about your cape,” she said.
“Compared to our lives, it matters not,” I replied. True words, but it would take a while before emotions could catch up. “Come.” I beckoned. “I’ll help you out of the shuttle.”
We were fortunate the crash had ripped a hole in the craft. With the electronics inoperable, the hatch wouldn’t open. We would have been entombed in the downed shuttle.
I grasped her waist and hoisted her upward with a firm shove. Lighter than I had expected, she flew through the opening with an alarmed squeak
“Catch.” I tossed up the med sack. “Stand back. I’m coming through.” I crouched then pushed off and leaped upward. Catching the edge, I pulled myself through the gap.
Standing on the ship’s underbelly, I surveyed the environment and the situation. The craft had smashed nose first into a massive wall. A mechanical emergency chute had deployed to slow our descent. I didn’t doubt it had saved our lives.
I saw no one approaching south of us, but the wall blocked my view to the north. Double the shuttle height, the barricade stretched as far as my eyes could see. A protective battlement, perhaps? What was on the other side? A city? The proliferation of moss and vines clinging to the nicked-and-gouged gray stone testified to the wall’s ancient roots.
Short, scrubby brush and near-skeletal trees offered little place to hide if we were spotted. Thankfully, I was armed. That Aurelia had been chosen to host the summit should have spoken to its safety, but recent events called that into question.
We faced a conundrum: we would be forced to approach the locals for assistance. But, how could we trust they were friends and not foe?
South of us lay open fields, not so much as a hamlet in sight. If there was a township that direction, it could be twenty, fifty, or hundreds of ypnots away.
“Shouldn’t we be leaving?” she asked. “Why are we hanging around?”
“Yes, we need to leave.” The danger I sensed hadn’t dissipated. “I need to see what’s on the other side of the wall.”
I backed up and took running leap onto the top. The wall spanned at least fifty exdats in width. Grooves worn into the top surface suggested the wall had been used as a road, most likely for wheeled vehicles to patrol the city perimeter.
I peered out at a dead city no longer in need of protection. The township had been reduced to rubble and ash. Anything wooden had been burned; stone structures had imploded. Residents had fled or died. Beyond the ruins, on the horizon, spires and towers scraped the sky. Another city? The capital, maybe?
“What do you see?” Millie called.
“The ruins of one city, but the existence of another.” I scanned the area, considering our options. “Passing through the ruins makes the most sense, I think.” I jumped down. “I’ll give you a boost onto the wall.” I crouched and cupped my hands.
She put her foot in the makeshift stirrup, and I gave her a shove. She grabbed ahold of a stone outcropping, not quite making it to the top of the wall. Palming her buttocks, I gave her another push.
“Hey, hey, buddy!” She scrambled onto the wall.
I threw her the pack and climbed up.
“Did you do that purposely, so you could grab my ass?” she demanded.
“I did it to get you on the wall.” Stifling a grin, I strode to the far edge. “Grabbing your ishta was a bonus.”
She snorted in disgust before joining me to peer at the ruins. “What do you think happened?” she asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know, but it wasn’t that long ago. See the char?” I pointed at blackened remains. Had the town been destroyed years ago, the rains would have washed away the soot and ash. “You can still smell it.” An odor of smoke tinged the air.
She wrinkled her nose. “Yeah. I’d noticed the smell but didn’t place it. What happens now?”
“We head that way.” I pointed at the distant spires. “My last reading of the prince’s location—or at least his handheld—put him in this vicinity or within a radius of fifty ypnots. If he was on foot, I surmise he would have headed for the nearest city.”
The city beyond might be Relia, the summit site, but with no way to know where we’d landed, I could only guess. In any case, from the city I could alert the LOP, get a transport to the ship for Millie, and then search in earnest for the prince.
“That sounds like a solid plan. Do you think what happened to us happened to the prince? He got zapped by a TEMP?”
“No, because his handheld still worked, and his shuttle landing beacon activated. But, I’m not inclined to dismiss his disappearance and our shuttle being shot down as a coincidence.”
She frowned and raised a finger. “So...our ship isn’t sending an SOS? Nobody knows we crashed?”
“No, hence the exigent need to get help. Cutting through the ruins will save time.”
She eyed the rubble below. “Wouldn’t it be easier to walk atop the wall? It’s probably a greater distance to go around the ruins than through them, but speed will compensate for the distance.”
“And it will make us easier targets. Standing atop the wall, anyone on the ground or in the air could pick us off,” I explained while bracing for an argument. She disagreed with every decision I made.
“Okaaay...nix the wall.”
I jumped off into the ruins below. “Throw me the pack.”
She tossed it to me.
“Now, you. Jump,” I said.
“Are you kidding me? I can’t jump the way you do. I’ll break a leg or something.”
“No you won’t. I’ll catch you.”
She shook her head. “No. I’m way too heavy. We’ll both get hurt.”
“You hardly weigh more than the pack,” I fibbed. She weighed considerably more, but still, her weight was inconsequential. Boosting her out of the ship and up the wall had taken little effort.
“I’ll find a section with footholds where I can climb down.”
“Whoever disabled the ship will investigate, either to take us prisoner or ensure we’re dead. The only good thing about the electronics being out is that our attackers can’t hone in on us. But, with a scope, they can see you standing on the wall from many ypnots away. You’re revealing our location and making yourself a target.”
“Well, when you put it like that.” She leaped.
I wasn’t expecting her right then, and I had to race to catch her.
She fell into my arms, her elbow punching me in the temple, but I absorbed her weight with ease. I saw confusion and surprise in her brown-eyed gaze. Her pink lips parted, but instead of the sarcastic comments I’d come to expect, she said nothing. She is not unattractive for a human. Not unattractive for any being, although lacking a broad ridged forehead, horns, tusks, and body fur, she looked nothing like Arasetans or Copans. It felt surprisingly satisfying to hold her soft form. I was so used to her brashness, the lushness of her body surprised me.
“You can put me down now,” she said.
As I released her, her form slid the length of my body, igniting a trail of unwanted heat. This female of a destroyer species, with whom I’d argued, who’d used words like a bludgeon, had awakened my libido and continued to fuel the flames of lust. Since assuming my position as the king’s advisor, I’d faithfully put duty before desire. It had been a long time since I’d felt a stirring toward a female, even longer since I’d acted on it.
I will not act on it this time, either. I could not imagine a more unsuitable sexual partner. Not that I would get the chance. Her body might be lush, but there was no tenderness in her feelings toward me.
The instant her feet touched ground, she sprang away and straightened her clothing. Had she gleaned how her touch had aroused me? Had she noticed my growing tumescence?
Avoiding her gaze, I donned the pack. Then, clearing my throat, I said, “We must go.”
A faint sun dipped in a gray sky. Soon it would be hidden by the wall. Days were short on Aurelia. We’d awakened in the morning; it was already late afternoon. On the positive, it meant we hadn’t been unconscious for as long as I’d thought. On the negative, it meant we wouldn’t get out of the destroyed city by nightfall.
Enormous piles of rubble prevented movement in a straight line. Keeping the distant wall in sight, I set out with an unusually quiet Millie.
Not a single building had been left standing. Once-stout structures had been reduced to mountains of stone, cinders, and ash. Wood had burned, stone had crumbled, and polymers had melted into unrecognizable lumps. The air reeked of char and ash. Whatever had hit this village had blazed through fast, hot, and furious. Had anyone managed to escape and survive? Or had the entire population perished?
Millie kicked at a blackened stone. “What do you think happened?” she asked in a hushed tone.
What had happened was obvious: a city had been decimated. Who had done it and why remained a disturbing mystery. “I don’t know, and that is worrisome.”
“You think there’s a war going on?”
That would mean the possible future king of Araset had landed in the middle of it.
“If war had been declared, the LOP would have canceled the summit for sure. But, obviously a significant conflict had occurred, and it was irresponsible for the Aurelian government and the LOP to proceed with the summit.”
She swept her arm out to encompass the village. “You don’t think Prince Lomax’s disappearance is somehow related to this destruction, do you?”
The thought hadn’t entered my mind, but I couldn’t rule it out. The prince’s signal had put him close to the destroyed city. Coincidence? Possibly. But then we’d been shot down. How many coincidences equaled a probability?
“Without knowing who destroyed the city and why, it would be premature to arrive at that conclusion,” I said.
“But the people who bombed this city could have kidnapped him?” she persisted.
“Let’s not leap to conclusions.” I shuddered at the possibility. As soon as I got back to the LOP ship—maybe sooner, maybe when we reached a township—I’d research what had happened. Even a mere civil disturbance should have been made public. Had Aurelia hidden the information from the LOP—or had the LOP ignored an advisory? The king would never have sent his son here had he been aware. I had to get the facts.
Millie cocked her head. “You trust the LOP to tell the truth?”
“Trust is conditional. It is not absolute,” I hedged, uncomfortable to be speaking of such matters with a human. What did they know of trust anyway? They had chosen mutual destruction over compromise.
“That means no.”
“Not necessarily. Some people can be trusted with certain things but not others,” I said.
“Like you can count on the guy filching company office supplies to show up to work on time. Or that your cheating boyfriend would never murder you,” she said, her tone sharp.
Had that happened to her? Had she had an unfaithful mate? She did not deserve that. I had no great love of humans in general, but I had a soft spot for this one.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “A male who cheats on his mate is not worthy of her. A mate is a treasure to be honored, not disrespected.”
“Well, I kicked his ass to the curb. He’s cheating on somebody else now. Do you have a mate?”
“No.” I sped up. “We need to make as much progress as we can while there is light. Tomorrow morning, we’ll climb over the far wall and then, by afternoon, reach the city beyond.”
She had to trot-walk to keep up with me. “I suppose your job doesn’t leave much time for dating.”
Job? A servant had a job. A merchant had a job. To be the king’s chief advisor was a devotion, a life commitment. “I do not have a job, and I do not date,” I said. Dating was a human convention I didn’t fully understand, except I was certain I’d never done it.
“My bad. Wrong word. Mate.”
“I’ve already indicated I don’t have a bond-mate. Nor will I ever.”
“Well, you won’t if you continue to be so short-tempered and snarly.”
“I don’t know why you are so curious about my private life—”
“I’m making conversation—but do you even have a private life—”
“I will say this once and only once, and then we shall not discuss this again. My devotional service to the monarchy doesn’t permit me to take a bond-mate. In addition to vowing fealty, the king’s advisor also takes a vow of celibacy to ensure he can focus on duty and not be distracted by personal concerns.”
“You’re celibate? For life?” Her jaw dropped. “Seems to me you’d be better able to focus on duty if you weren’t horny all the time.”
“I am not horny all the time, and you do not understand our customs.” Did I regret my choice? No. The rewards and honor of service surpassed the benefits of a commoner’s freedom. The sacrifice had been worth it; I went for long periods without recalling what a sacrifice it was. At first, abstinence had been difficult. I had been, as she had delicately framed it, horny all the time. But, after so many years, I rarely even thought of the pleasures of the flesh, hadn’t missed them until lately. Until Millie came along and reignited my libido. Why her?
“No wonder you’re always in a bad mood.”
Was that how she saw me? I supposed others did, too. My position carried great honor and prestige, but it brought great challenges. It was not my job to be congenial. I was not a hospitality worker. I executed the king’s edicts, many of which were unpopular. People would dislike me regardless of how polite I acted.
“Have you ever had a mate?” Her eyes widened. “Oh my stars, are you a virgin?”
