“I would comment on the irony of you almost dying for that, but right now I really ache too much to bother.”
He laughed as he rifled through it. Until he heard the soft whir of an engine drawing near. That sobered him fast. “Someone’s coming.”
Her face lit up with relief. “Oh please, God, let it be a rescue crew… one with a clean bathroom.”
He didn’t share her optimism. Instead, cold dread weighed heavy in his gut. “C’mon.” He pulled her toward the tree line, deeper into the woods.
She dug her heels in and slowed him down. “What are you doing?”
“We don’t know where we are or who they are. They could be our friendly assassin or an accomplice. Until we know for sure, let’s not be seen.”
Desideria wanted to scream in frustration at his paranoia. But not so deep inside she knew he was right and unl they discovered the intentions of whoever was coming, they did need to keep a low profile. “I really hate you.”
“Hate you too, babe.” He gave her a charming grin and a wink that managed to be adorable even though she wanted to kick him some place that counted. “Now, c’mon.”
Desideria groaned as she forced herself to run after him. How could he move on that busted leg of his? Did the man not feel pain? She glanced to the woods and winced. It looked so far to those trees…
Caillen doubled back to try and carry her.
She stopped him. “You’re injured too and I can walk. I am not helpless or weak. I’m simply pissed,” she growled.
He held his hands up in apology. “Fine, but we need to hurry.” He jerked his chin to the sky where she could see the craft almost on them.
Run!
They barely made it to the trees before the hovercraft came in. It hesitated over the remains of their pod for several minutes as if the occupants were photographing the area or conducting some kind of test or evaluation.
Caillen scowled as he tried to figure out what they were doing. Normally, they’d be out and scanning the ground on foot. But these…
They had a separate protocol that deviated from the norm, which meant he had no idea what to expect. Damn.
“Can you tell anything about them?” Desideria whispered.
“They’re Andarions.”
“How do you know?”
He pulled his FVG out of his pack and held it to his eyes so that he could see the pilots in the cockpit who were scanning the ground and talking to each other. “Style of the craft. It’s an older Andarion model S10-B60. Most humans are too short to pilot it. And now that I can see them, they’re definitely NHL.” Non Human Life forms.
“Is that good or bad for us?”
Caillen sighed. “Depends on their intentions.”
“You’re not funny.”
“Not trying to be.”
The craft descended until it was on the ground. As the door opened, Caillen motioned for her to be quiet while he shoved an amplifier into his ear so that he could hear their conversation even from this distance. Luckily it only amplified voices and not ambient noises, otherwise his hearing would have been blown out by their hovercraft’s engines.
Two officers came out of the back to investigate the crash site while the two pilots remained inside.
Desideria opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off with a fierce head shake. One thing about the Andarions, those bastards could hear for miles even without an amplifier. They’d be lucky if the soldiers didnnt hear them breathing.
And what they were talking about was making his stomach shrink.
No, they hadn’t landed on a penal colony. This one was worse.
Much worse.
12
Caillen grabbed Desideria’s arm and pulled her back, deeper into the woods. Every time she opened her mouth to speak, he motioned for her to be quiet. Something that was beginning to really annoy her. He made other gestures that she couldn’t even begin to identify in a way that said he thought she should understand them too. She only hoped they weren’t obscene because if they were, he was going to be limping even worse than he already was.
It wasn’t until he found a cave that he allowed her to stop moving. He sent her in deeper before he set the pack on the ground and pulled out two devices she couldn’t identify. Frowning, she watched as he attached one to each side of the small opening, then turned them on. A low-frequency hum started and the devices caused the light in the cave to darken even more. She could barely see in front of her.
Without breaking stride, he pulled a light stick from the bag and snapped it, then shook it hard before tossing it on the floor so that it landed not far from her. Everything was bathed in a dull purple glow as he picked up the pack and moved toward the back of the cave where she was waiting beside a monstrous black stalagmite that shimmered from the light.
Only then did he let out an elongated, audible breath.
Can I speak? She mouthed the words.
“Yeah, but keep your tone low,” he whispered.