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Lion
She was lovely, and I knew I was no damn good for her. No sooner had we both finished when I heard a knock at the door. I groaned. I didn’t want to answer it. Didn’t want to talk to Jasper. Didn’t want to move from this little haven. I wanted to stay locked up here forever with her. Why couldn’t we do that? We could find out who owned the boat and buy it. Food could be delivered in. Then I could just stay with Asherah forever and fuck her to my heart’s content.
“Fuck off,” I called out.
“Can’t do that.” Yeah, it was Jasper. “We’ve got some attention on the boat,” he said. “We need to vacate.”
Attention?
Shit.
Asherah was already moving, slipping her dress over her head. She hadn’t bothered to take her shoes off, so she would at least save time having to tie them. She smiled at me and pressed a kiss to my forehead as she finished getting dressed.
“Thank you for that,” she whispered.
I hated this. There was so much more I wanted to say. I wanted to cuddle her. I wanted to bask in the afterglow with her. I knew that we couldn’t. I understood it. It just wasn’t fair. The two of us didn’t have nearly enough time together. I wanted more.
I could tell that she did, too.
Still, we had to move. I scurried to get dressed and we met Jasper and Jill in the main room.
“There’s a guard asking questions,” Jasper told me.
“What do you mean?”
“He’s two boats down. He just sent in a request for the owner to verify he’s on board. Owner said he wasn’t. Now the guard is calling for backup before they come in here.”
“Why would people care so much about a boat?” I asked. “And how do you know that?”
“Jill and Jasper monitor basically everything that people say and do on the planet,” Asherah admitted. “That’s why they’re so good at keeping me safe.”
“We have a lot of tech experience,” Jasper explained.
“And we’re good at what we do,” Jill added.
“Fair enough. Why this boat, though?” We headed over toward the narrow staircase that would lead above deck. Once there, we’d need to make a run for it. I still wasn’t sure where we’d go, but hopefully Jill and Jasper had a plan for that.
“All of the boats in this harbor are managed and owned by rich dudes on the planet,” Jasper shrugged. “I figured they wouldn’t notice one boat. Apparently, I was wrong.”
“Apparently,” I groaned. “Oh well, let’s go.”
“When we reach the deck, run to the section of the harbor that has spaceships. We’re running to slot 0716,” Jill told us.
“Why that spot?”
“What’s with all the fucking questions?” Jasper hissed. “Move!”
And then we moved. We hit the deck and leapt from the boat to the dock. Sure enough, there was a guard standing outside who was on some sort of holographic call. He was holding an umbrella, which let him project his own image visibly despite the rain.
“Hey!” The guard called to us when he spotted us, but none of us stopped or paid him any mind. If he was armed, I didn’t think he was going to shoot us. Not without backup, anyway. We took off running. Feet to the cobblestone, as it were, and we headed toward the space harbor, which wasn’t far. The guard chased us for a little while, but we were in better shape, and he gave up soon.
“He won’t lag for long,” Jasper told us. “Come on.”
“You three head to 0716,” Jill told us.
“Where are you going?”
“Me? Oh, I’m going to cause a little bit of a distraction,” she laughed, and she ran toward a different ship. She chose the biggest, brightest ship, and she climbed up the ladder beneath it. I wasn’t sure what tech she was using to hack her way inside. Most of these ships were locked, after all, but Jill had some sort of special prowess because a moment later, she was in.
Turning back ahead, I focused on running forward. The rain was still coming down in torrents, which made it hard to see. There were several rows of ships in this part of the harbor, but Jasper and Asherah both seemed to know their way around. The two of them moved swiftly and I kept up the same pace without difficulty. When we reached the right spot, I was surprised to see that the ship before us looked a bit...well, old.
“What is this?”
“It’s a ship,” Jasper told me, as though I was stupid.
“I can see that,” I growled. “Why this ship? Will it even make it to Malum?”
“It’s made it a lot farther than Malum,” he smiled. “This is my baby.”
“Your baby?”
“Yep,” he nodded. “It’s my private ship.” He was already on the ladder leading up to the bottom part of the ship. He disappeared inside as Asherah called out.
“I didn’t know you had a ship!” She turned to me. “I didn’t know he had a ship.”
“How’d you think he got to Oceaile in the first place?” I asked her.
Asherah laughed. “Public transport? I don’t know.”
We turned as we heard a loud, crazy sound. Jill was lifting off in the ship she’d stolen. Who knew where she was going to take it? I certainly didn’t. All I knew was that we needed to move as fast as possible. I wasn’t sure whether the guards were going to report to Dolion that there was trouble happening or if they’d just cause problems for the princess, but we didn’t need any extra attention.
We certainly didn’t need anyone to realize that Dex was dead or that Asherah was basically on the run. I hadn’t brought it up to her, but it didn’t exactly look good to have a dead brother. People might blame her, and I really, really didn’t want anyone blaming her.
Once inside the ship, Asherah and I had barely finished strapping into our seats when Jasper lifted off. I was shocked that the ship was quiet.
“No noise,” I pointed out.
“It’s almost invisible, too, especially with everyone staring at my sister.” Jasper rolled his eyes. “She always did like making a big show of things, didn’t she?”
“It’s true,” Asherah agreed. Jasper didn’t lift straight up into the sky. Instead, he raised the ship just enough so that it didn’t hit anything else, and then he flew forward horizontally.
“What are you doing?” I asked gruffly.
“Getting to a better place for raising up in the sky. If their machinery lets them know two ships are lifting off from the harbor, they’re going to know to follow me. I’m moving low enough to the ground that they won’t be able to detect me just yet. They might not be able to for some time, actually.”
“Good plan.” It was. I was impressed with Jasper’s ingenuity. He flew for about ten minutes and then finally lifted in the air. Asherah watched a telegraphic news channel that showed how some of the guards on Oceaile were concerned about an “unidentified” spacecraft that was leaving the planet.
“Idiots,” she whispered.
“They’re your idiots, though,” I pointed out.
“My brother is the one who is into all this crap,” she shook her head. “I’m sure I’ll have a thousand messages on my desk when I get in tomorrow.”
“I’m surprised they aren’t calling you tonight,” I admitted. If we were on Malum and something like this happened, Andryssi would be up and dealing with everything.
“Well, you know,” she shrugged. “Things are different here.”
“Or are you ignoring your calls?” I teased gently. She smiled at me but didn’t say anything. Oh, I wished we were back on that little ship together snuggled beside the bed. She really had been damn fantastic.
We rode in silence for a little while as the ship hovered above the buildings and gradually headed to the ocean. As the ship lifted into the air, I looked over at Asherah. She was gripping the armrests of her chair tightly. She was nervous.
So was I.
*
DUE TO THE WEATHER and various other delays, it took us nearly two full days to reach Malum. We passed the time by eating, fucking, and sharing secrets with one another. At least, that was what Asherah and I did. Jasper was busy flying the ship and bitching about how long the journey was taking.
The only good thing was that we knew Dolion was only a few hours ahead of us, if that. Thanks to the storm and the weather, he could have lagged even farther behind. We had no way of knowing.
When we arrived on Malum, we landed quietly at the space harbor. I knew the guys who worked there, and I called ahead to let them know we were landing, who I was, and not to draw any attention to us. I didn’t want them notifying Alixei or Andryssi. It wasn’t that I didn’t trust the king or my friend, but I didn’t want to bother them. Andryssi was busy getting used to his new temporary guardians, I was sure. Alixei was doing something with his sister. I still didn’t really know what.
It was a lot to take in, and they were just ordinary people.
Besides, I had Jasper and Asherah. We could handle this on our own, which was good because Jill would not be joining us. She’d sent us a message about an hour into our flight that she’d dodged the guards and was going to lie low around the palace for a while. If anyone asked about the princess, she’d let them know Asherah was in her room and not feeling well. That would cover us for a few days, at least.
After we landed, the three of us exited the ship. Even though I’d asked for a search of ships at the harbor, nobody had been able to find anything. Dex’s ship wasn’t there. When he’d landed on Malum, he’d left his ship someplace nobody noticed it. There also weren’t any unnamed or unregistered ships that had recently docked from Oceaile or any other planet.
A dark figure approached us as we finished closing up the ship. I turned to see an old friend walking up.
“Henry,” I smiled, shaking the Earthling’s hand.
“Good to see you,” Henry said. He was big for a human, but still smaller than me. “And welcome to you both,” he added, looking to Jasper and Asherah. They both nodded but said nothing. Henry turned back to me.
“No other landings,” he reiterated what I already knew. “However, there is a private landing area outside of Tria that hasn’t been used in nearly a year.”
The capital city of Tria was where everyone decided to land. I had no idea there was a private landing area. Did the king know?
“What’s there? What’s it used for?” I felt the tension rising in me.
“Relax,” Henry held up a hand. “Andryssi is aware of it, but he also recently ordered it to be destroyed. It’s supposed to be completely demolished in a couple of hours, actually.”
“If my mother is there...”
“Your mother definitely isn’t there,” Henry said. “We would have noticed. We sent a couple of people there yesterday, but all of the ships look like relics. There was no sign of life.”
“She could be there,” Asherah was certain. “She’s very sneaky. And small,” she gestured to herself. “We’re all a bit small. You know, in case you didn’t notice.”
Henry pressed his lips together. “I noticed.”
“Look, what’s the fastest way there?” I asked Henry. I hadn’t been to that particular airfield. I didn’t know where it was.
“Take the hovercar,” he said.
“Hovercar?”
He pointed to a nearby car I hadn’t seen right away. It was resting between two ships. The bright blue car was hardly what I’d call discreet.
“It’s mine,” he said. “I’ve already programmed it to respond to you, though. Hop in and the address is already in there.”
“You’re a lifesaver!” I called out.
He waved to us as we ran over to the hovercar, climbed in, and started riding. The vehicle moved on its own, which was one of my favorite things about these suckers. Hovercars didn’t require you to pay attention or have any driving skill at all. You just told them where to go and they went. Easy peasy.
We were silent during the ride. Each of us was lost in our own thoughts. Asherah sat up front with me and we managed – somehow – to fit Jasper in the backseat. He was a mess, though. He was far too big for the backseat of this particular vehicle. As a result, he was sitting with his knees practically up to his ears. I felt pretty bad for the guy, especially after he’d had to do so much flying. He’d set the ship to auto-pilot a few times during the journey so he could sleep. Although I’d offered to take the reins, as it were, he had declined.
“What do you think?” I finally asked Asherah. This was my planet she was looking at, after all. No, I wasn’t from here originally. No, I hadn’t been here all that long in the grand scheme of things, but damn if it wasn’t one of the best places I’d ever lived.
“It’s wonderful,” she told me quietly. She looked over at me and smiled. “Very pretty.”
“Really?”
“Truly,” she nodded. “There’s a lot of land.”
Jasper laughed and that got a chuckle out of me, too.
“What?”
“It’s just that most people would comment on the fact that there aren’t proper roads in Tria because we use hovercars for everything or that our city has so many plants in it.”
“Oh,” she pressed her lips together. “Those are nice, too, of course. I’m just used to being on a planet with more water.”
“Have you ever been off of Oceaile?” I asked her, suddenly wondering. Maybe she’d never actually been to a place that had a lot of ground. She laughed though.
“A few times. Not much.”
“They keep the princess on a short leash,” Jasper offered. Before he could say more, though, the car slowed and then stopped. We were there. It hadn’t taken very long at all. I could instantly see why I hadn’t been aware of this place, though. It was surrounded by large, beautiful trees and there was no way to view it from the city. If someone wanted to land here, they would be completely unnoticed. I would wager a guess that this place also wasn’t on very many maps, so it was probably the kind of landing area you just had to know about.
The doors of the hovercar opened and we climbed out and looked around, taking in everything around us. Before we walked away, I fumbled around in the backseat for a moment and produced a jacket.
“Jacket?”
“It’s a bit chilly,” I shrugged, slipping the jacket on. It must have been Henry’s. It barely fit, but I’d take it. The truth was that it wasn’t super cold, but I didn’t want to walk around with my tattoos showing. I didn’t need Dolion to flip me any shit for having them. Before I could consider whether I was being dramatic or not, though, the door to the vehicle slammed shut and the car sped off.
Okay, so apparently, Henry was only offering us a one-way trip. I’d have to remember to yell at that guy later. I didn’t exactly appreciate that he was doing this to us, but whatever. If we had to make a quick getaway, we’d be screwed, but as long as we kept to the plan and kept ourselves moving along, things would be okay.
“I don’t see anyone,” Asherah murmured.
There were six ships. Five of them looked abandoned and dusty, as Henry had told us. One of them didn’t seem particularly dusty, but it did look like it had taken some damage during its latest flight. Was that one Dolion’s?
“Those two are from Oceaile,” Jasper said suddenly, pointing. “That one there is Dolion’s.”
“How do you know?” Asherah asked. “I’ve never seen his ship.”
Apparently, she hadn’t seen Dex’s, either. Strange for a princess, but I knew that her mom and brother strangely kept her out of the loop. That was bothering me more than I wanted to let on. If her mom was such a good queen, then why hadn’t she gotten Asherah her water tattoos? Why was that such a big thing to the queen?
I didn’t have a kid, but I almost did. One thing Zara and I both agreed on was that we’d get our child their tattoos as soon as they were old enough. Why hold our child back when we could help them fly forward? That was what we both wanted to know.
“He’s right,” I said. Dolion’s banged-up ship was easy to spot, but when I compared it to the others that were here, I could tell which one was her brother’s. “Look at the bottom of the ships.” She looked as I pointed. We started moving forward, and I began to explain. “Generally, the bottom of a ship is flat. Most of these ships are designed to hover in the air above the ground of whatever planet they’re on, but not those two.”
“They’re curved,” she realized. Then she looked over at me. “For the water?”
“For the water,” I agreed. The two Oceailean ships stood out because the bottom of the ships looked like they were designed for both sea and air. This made them unique. We were getting close.
We’d formed our plan when we were in the air on the way here. We were going to start by trying to find Asherah’s mother. Surely if she was in Dex’s ship, we’d be able to locate her, unbind her from however it was that he’d tied her up, and then free her.
Right?
That was the plan, at least.
Moving swiftly, we headed directly for the two ships. It was time for us to make our break this mission. Would we be able to rescue the queen in time? Would she be happy to see her child, or was there a chance that she would be too devastated when she found out what had happened to Dex? I didn’t envy the fact that Asherah was going to have to have such a difficult discussion with a woman who barely even knew her.
One thing was for certain, though: we needed to split up to be the most effective. I would take Asherah with me and Jasper could explore one of the ships on his own. He was strong and big. I knew he could take either Dolion or the queen in a fight, but Asherah was smaller than us, and I felt the urge to protect her.
“Jasper, take the one on the left,” I advised. “Asherah and I will take the one on the right.”
“Are you sure?”
“Just go.”