The Last Hunter: Collected Edition (Antarktos Saga #1-5)

I turn to Xin, riding next to me. Thank you, brother.

Anything in service to my king.

Though he hasn’t spoken the words aloud, I still hear the humor in them. He must have heard talk of this on the surface, perhaps from the hunters I sent along with the escaped prisoners. And he knows, without a doubt, how uncomfortable it would make me feel.

I shake my head. King Solomon. Ridiculous.





29



The journey back to the surface is uneventful. The cresties carrying us move at a steady quick pace, far faster than we could have traveled on foot. The path we take—a long since dried up riverbed—rises at a steady incline toward the coast. The cavern is tall and wide, easily accommodating our oversized transport, which is probably why Xin chose this route.

“How long were we gone?” I ask. Wright’s timekeeping trick, while handy, won’t work because we weren’t always walking, and we were far deeper than any of us have been before. Xin mentioned that the prisoners reached Wright’s FOB. Traveling from Olympus, the journey would have likely taken weeks, so I’m prepared for his reply.

“A little more than a month in surface time.”

Good, I think. There is nothing worse than going deep and returning only to find far more time than expected had passed. I lost twenty years surface time that way. Even better, this time my enemy went deep with me. Nephil lost the month, too. Though I’m sure his army continued with their preparations.

“How long before they attack?” I ask him. “Best guess.”

He shrugs. “Could be today. Could be tomorrow. But I suspect we have several days still. The Nephilim warriors can travel great distances quickly, but they will strike from the land as well. Traveling the distance will take time and we have sentries keeping watch through the jungle at fifty-mile intervals. We’ll see them coming.”

“Were these defenses your ideas?” I ask.

“No,” he says. “They still fear me.”

“Then how do you—” I was going to ask him how he knew all this, but then I remember Xin’s special gift. He can be a fly on the wall from miles away. I tap my head.

He nods and says, “Your friend, Merrill Clark, seems to have sway with the leader of your nation.”

“The President?” I ask.

“Yes. Though Clark has never met the man, your President was fond of his daughter, Mira. Also, a soldier that served with Clark during their time here, a Marine named Cruz has supported Clark’s claim to be an expert on the Nephilim, how they will attack and what they want. To a large extent, he is right, but he knows nothing of you or Nephil’s desire to capture you.”

Knows nothing of me? I wonder, and decide he’s talking about my larger role in all of this. How could he know? Then I remember Aimee. She knows everything. Wouldn’t she have told him?

“A man called Brigadier General Kent Holloway is in charge of the base and its defenses, but he also trusts Clark’s opinions on the Nephilim, because they share the same beliefs. You will have to gain their trust to—”

“Don’t worry about that,” Kat says. I hadn’t realized she’d been listening. “Clark, Cruz and the President will all listen to me.”

I’m about to add that Merrill will trust me, and that Aimee will back me up, but Xin pulls back on the reins, slowing his cresty, which seems to put the brakes on the whole pack, even those ahead of us. “The exit is just ahead.”

I lean around the side of Grumpy’s head and peer up the tunnel. A speck of light in the distance reveals the exit. I breathe a sigh of relief. Almost there. When we started our descent into the depths of Antarktos, I wasn’t sure we’d see the sun again. But we’re close now and despite the darkness to come, the thought of walking in the light of day again brings a smile to my face.

The dinosaurs part, making a path for us.

“What are they doing?” I ask.

“The soldiers and hunters are aware of me, my allegiance and my control over the dinosaurs, but they do not trust us. If the dinosaurs were to exit first, the sentries posted at the exit might take action.”

“They would attack the cresties?” I ask in surprise.

“I believe they would call for help,” he says. “I do not have a firm grasp on what these things are, but I have heard terms like ‘surgical strike,’ and, ‘lase the target.’”

“That,” Kat says. “Would not be good.”

A laugh from behind turns me around. Kainda, Em and Luca are catching up, moving through the open path in the middle of the pack.

“What’s so funny?” I ask Luca, the source of the laughter.

“I like it when Xin makes them do things like this,” Luca says, motioning to the dinosaurs.