Chapter Three
It was when he was sitting there in a kitchen chair staring at her that he heard something.
At first he thought it was his sister returning, but as he strained his neck to stare through the window above his desk, he realized her truck wasn’t turning down the driveway. Plus, whatever hum he now heard was distinctly different from the rumble of that old rust bucket.
It sounded like thousands of insects. He’d been unlucky enough to see a swarm of locusts once, and the buzz that now filled the house reminded him of it distinctly.
Standing up, he snapped his head towards the Tarkan spy, Ki, as she claimed to be called. She opened her eyes, her chest lurching forward as she gasped in clear shock. With eyes pressed open, her cheeks practically dropped from her face as her mouth slackened, lips limp.
He wanted to believe she was faking it. It would be easy to close off his objective mind and pretend the expression she now wore was all an act.
Yet it still tugged at his heart, as if she had reached right into his chest.
“Stay here,” he turned to head for the door.
It was a useless thing to say; she was tied to the chair. There was nowhere she could go. Instead of Ki acerbically pointing that out, she crumpled, her body weighing against the rope. Shivering, she started to shake her head repeatedly.
Staring at her, he backed off.
The hum suddenly stopped.
Silence filled the house. His heart raced against the sudden change, adrenaline filling his body, tensing his muscles, preparing his senses.
Before he could turn to head through the door, he saw something move beyond the window. Low to the ground, it darted forward like an Ashkan wolf. White, whatever it wore glinted in the sun.
Suddenly there was a sound from the front of the house. At first a soft, almost imperceptible scrabbling, seconds later an explosion ripped through the building.
Slamming himself down, he locked his arms over his head.
Before he could turn to push Ki over and pull her under cover, the window over his desk shattered. Glass scattered through the room in a powerful blast that saw chunks of it slash past his exposed arms, cutting the flesh easily.
Ki screamed, but the keening, desperate cry cut out quickly.
He looked up to see a man next to her. He’d jumped in through the open window with agility and strength any hardened soldier would be amazed at.
Dressed in an unusual, pure-white, metallic armor from head to foot, the man grabbed Ki by the neck and pushed her head up. Though his armored fingers were tight around her throat, she did not make a noise. She stared up in shaking-eyed desperation.
The man pulled a white device from the wrist of his armor and brought it in front of her face. It pulsed with a blue light, beeping intermittently.
Finally Jackson acted. He snapped up, getting ready to lunge at the soldier.
He didn’t get the chance.
The soldier reacted with impossible reflexes, reaching for his gun and pointing it at Jackson without ever turning around or removing that device from next to Ki’s face.
Frozen on the spot, Jackson heard soft footsteps from the front of the house.
“Target acquired,” the soldier in front of Ki said aloud, his voice distorted somehow. “Scanners confirm no other life signs in the building.”
Scanners? Life signs?
The soldier closed the device, returning it to his armor. It fitted in neatly.
Jackson had never seen technology like it. From the armor to the dexterity of the soldier, something wasn’t right. If the Tarkans were this developed, they would have taken Ashka easily in the last war. If they had only recently invented this kind of technology, they would have used it to their immediate advantage.
Still frozen on the spot, he heard several people approaching, and two more soldiers dressed in exactly the same flawless white armor entered the room. All wore opaque helmets. There was no glass fitted in the front, no gap to see out of, just continuous, smooth metal. Yet they all clearly could see.
They approached with their weapons locked on him.
“Don’t shoot him; remove the levi device first.” The soldier in front of Ki lowered his own weapon, bringing his hand down sharply. A blade shot out from the back of his wrist. Long and sharp, it too was perfect, clean, glinting white.
Ki flinched, turning to the side.
The blade was a bare centimeter from her cheek.
Tight fear seized Jackson’s chest as he watched the soldier move around her. Instead of plunging the long blade through her back, he cut the ropes that bound her to the chair.
She did not lunge forward and try to run away. She sat there limply.
Jackson had seen people surrender before. In the last war, he’d watched close friends give in to desperation. Their faces would turn white, their bodies limp, their expressions cold and dead.
She looked no different from those men he’d seen.
“Who are you?” finding his courage, he snapped at the men. “Ashkan Guards are on their way.”
The soldier before Ki tipped his head to the side, that faceless helmet directed at Jackson. With a seamless move, the blade disappeared back into the armor of his wrist. Then he brought up his gun instead.
It was unlike anything Jackson had ever seen. Sleek, long, the barrel held a chamber that pulsed with a blue glow. There was no magazine for bullets, just that radiant light.
“Take the levi device from him. Be careful. Then remove him from the house and disintegrate him.” The soldier turned back to Ki, looping an arm under her shoulder and pulling her to her feet. She winced in pain, but she made no noise.
Disintegrate him?
Why not just shoot him now and take the device from his pocket? Why were they being so careful?
As one of the other soldiers moved towards him, Jackson formulated a plan.
The device was all he had. So he plunged a hand into his pocket and brought it out.
It was a strange-looking thing. Fitting into his palm neatly, it was incredibly light, feeling like nothing more than colored air. It was made of blue interlocking, filament-like sections.
With one press of his hand he confirmed it was soft enough to break though. Given enough force, he could snap it easily.
At his sudden move, the three soldiers before him all hunkered over their weapons, raising them higher with quick, sharp snaps.
None of them shot, neither did they stamp forward, punch him with their armored fists, and simply pluck the device from his hand.
They all acted warily.
“Drop it, try to break it,” Ki suddenly shifted forward, frantic, her eyes coming to life with something akin to hope.
The main soldier instantly grabbed her back, using force that saw her slam against his chest. He snapped up his free hand, pumping his fist closed. With a pneumatic hiss, a device extended from his wrist again. This time it was not a knife. It was a short, thin cylinder with a nib at the top.
He yanked Ki’s head to the side and held it against her neck.
Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as her body drew limp. The lead soldier fixed her against him with one arm around her middle as she fainted away.
All attention returned to Jackson.
He still held the device aloft, his fingers tight around it.
The soldiers inched closer to him, obviously trying to surround him. Yet none of them tried an outright attack.
They were evidently afraid of what he’d do to the device.
She’d told him to throw it on the ground. Though he doubted that would be enough to chip it, let alone break it, he raised his hand dramatically.
Instantly the soldiers flinched back.
“I will drop this,” he warned, opening his fingers a fraction to prove his point.
“You are outnumbered and outgunned. Return the device to us,” the main soldier began, then his voice cut out abruptly. He turned his head sharply towards the broken window he’d come through. “A veh
icle is approaching. Approximately ten life signs are inside. They are armed.”
The Guards.
“Deal with them. I will retrieve the device,” the head soldier nodded towards the open window.
The other soldiers immediately followed the order and filed out of the window, vaulting over the desk with admirable ease.
Jackson used all his training to keep control of his body, to stop his hand from trembling as he thought about what would happen to the Guards. Worse than that, what if Laura was coming back with them?
“You and your people are no match for us. We are technologically and physically superior,” the head soldier lowered his gun. “If you return the device, we will leave before the others arrive. If you do not, we will kill them and then we will kill you.”
Jackson’s gaze, of its own accord, drifted down to Ki. She was unconscious, her head flopped against the soldier’s shoulder.
Perhaps she had told the truth after all.
“You have approximately 28 seconds to make your decision,” the soldier shifted Ki, her long black hair trailing over her limp arms.
“Go to hell,” the words were out of Jackson’s lips before he could stop himself.
He brought the device up higher, then threw it as hard as he could at the ground.
The soldier dumped Ki. Lurching forward, his arm snapped towards the strange object like a spring.
He was too late.
The blue lattice struck the chipped and worn floorboards.
As soon as it did, light bled from it. Cracks snaked up the sides and a glow surged within.
The soldier scuttled backwards, bringing a hand up before his face.
The device exploded. It sent a shockwave blasting out in a boom. It picked Jackson up and slammed him against the opposite wall, but the soldier took the brunt of the explosion. He’d been closest, his body barely 30 centimeters from it.
The blast picked him up and smashed him into the desk, the wood crumpling under his weight.
Then the light came.
Just as before, it tracked forward slowly, moving like water.
It washed over Jackson, filling the entire room. As it did, something extraordinary occurred.
A weightless feeling built within his body. It chased away the pain that filled him. Though he doubted he had broken bones, being slammed against the wall had hurt like hell.
The light pushed that crippling sensation from his mind. Then it pushed him up.
He began to float.
In fact, everything in the room did. From his broken desk to the soldier.
The blue light continued to caress Jackson’s skin, trailing delicately around him like a warm and lingering touch. It was the most incredible sensation.
He was floating on nothing but light.
It would not last.
He heard the soldiers from outside screaming. Amidst their shouts, he picked up one statement clearly.
Their particle weapons would not work near the light.
It was all Jackson needed.
The main soldier started to stir. He was floating on the other side of the room, his armor keeping his body stiff, his legs and arms splayed. Now they shifted, his head snapping up.
Jackson moved.
He had a gun, and while the weapons of these strange soldiers might be useless, he doubted his own would be. It worked on nothing more sophisticated than a bullet and gunpowder.
When he’d brought Ki into the room, he’d placed the gun on one of the boxes by the door. In all the confusion, he’d never had a chance to reach for it.
Now it floated just outside the doorway.
He dived towards it, crunching his legs against the wall beside him and using it to push forward. He sailed through the air, the light churning around him like steam. He managed to reach the door, locking his fingers onto the top of the frame and using it to flip forward.
As the soldier stirred behind him, Jackson dashed in and grabbed his gun. It floated just above the hallway carpet, and he snatched it up easily, pivoting to face the man.
“Your gun won’t work, mine will,” Jackson pointed his at the soldier and hesitated no longer. He pulled the trigger. The bullet slammed out of the barrel, impacting the soldier’s chest, front and center.
Though the force of it knocked the soldier back, and he tipped head over heels, he soon latched a hand onto the wall and straightened up. As he did, Jackson saw his white armor wasn’t even scratched.
“Your primitive weapon is no match for my armor,” the soldier’s voice dipped, that distortion warping his tone suddenly growing stronger with a crackle.
From outside the sound of tires crunching over gravel filtered through the broken window.
The Guards.
The head soldier half turned towards the view.
Light was spilling out of the window and into the yard outside. How far it spread, Jackson could not guess, but he hoped it was far enough to ensure none of the other soldiers would be able to use their weapons. At least that would give the Guards a chance.
As the main soldier turned, Jackson acted. He dove towards Ki. She was floating just before him, head flopped to the side as her long robe and hair fluttered around her.
He grabbed her, anchored her with his arm, and did not hesitate to bring his gun against her temple.
The main soldier snapped his head around, body stiffening visibly.
“I will shoot her,” Jackson lied. “Somehow I think she’s far more important to you than that stone was.”
The soldier didn’t react.
So Jackson began to push himself backwards. It was a difficult maneuver, especially with the unconscious Ki in his arms, but he managed to get into the hall.
The soldier began to follow.
“Get any closer and I’ll kill her,” Jackson pushed the gun visibly harder into her head.
The soldier stopped dead.
“Call your men off. Get them to surrender.”
The soldier hesitated.
“Do you want me to kill her?”
The man began to speak in a muffled voice. He did not pull out a large radio, he did not shout either. It was as if his men remained in easy contact with him, wherever he was.
Using the wall as traction, Jackson kept on pushing into it with his feet and thrusting backwards. Soon he was out of the corridor and the soldier was out of sight.
The further Jackson moved through the house, the more that floating feeling began to wane. The furniture around him did not hover as high, and the sensation in his limbs all but dwindled.
By the time he reached the front door, his feet were almost touching the ground.
The blue light around him was a trickle now. With one final push, it ended, and his body landed back on the ground with a thump.
The jolt shifted through Ki, and she stirred against him.
She started to wake. He brought his gun down before she could see it.
Eyes fluttering, a groan escaped her lips.
“What... what’s happening?” her voice was small, her words croaked.
“We’re out of the house,” Jackson loosened his grip around her. He no longer had to question her story. It was clear she could not be a Tarkan spy. The soldiers that had come for her were almost beyond imagination. Almost....
He’d heard the stories as a kid. His grandmother had been particularly fond of telling them. The Zeneethians were the third race, the hidden race. Beyond any technology either the Tarkans or the Ashkans possessed, their sophistication was incredible.
They were meant to be a myth. No one had ever found any evidence of their existence. According to the legend, they lived in the sky. Yet as telescopes had improved, no one had ever seen a single floating city.
If the men in his house weren’t Zeneethians though, who were they?
As he hesitated, Ki’s lethargy lifted. He watched the muscles of her face tense, her eyes open wider.
“Where are they, where are the Others, the Scouts?” sh
e pushed away from him, though she still couldn’t stand. Despite her passion, her body hadn’t yet woken up properly.
“You mean the soldiers? I’ve warned them off, they’re still at the back of the house.”
She shook, lurching back. “We don’t have much time. We need to get out of here before they call for backup.”
She pushed away from him, breaking his grip around her. Though she stumbled, somehow she stood. Then she turned around wildly, searching her surroundings.
She gasped, staggering past him. Turning, he saw where she was headed.
There was... something out in the hay field.
Sleek and large, it looked like a truck without wheels, though the body was continuous save for one rectangle door.
It was pure white like the armor he’d just seen.
She kept stumbling towards it.
“What are you doing?” he ran towards her.
“Need to get away,” she tripped, falling to her knees, but pushed herself up before he could lean down to help her.
He grabbed onto her arm, intending to steady her, but she yanked free. She reached the ship, flattening her hands onto the hatch-like door and running her shaking palms down it. As she reached the bottom, she pushed in, and with a hiss it opened forward.
Swaying backwards, she threw herself inside.
“What is this vehicle?” he came up beside her, but the door was not big enough for them both to lean inside at once.
“Scout ship.” She disappeared inside, her bare feet left dangling out the door.
They were muddy and cut. No doubt from her trek through the field. Seeing the smeared blood and dirt sent a pang of guilt twisting through his gut.
He’d done that.
Yes, she was Tarkan, but it had become abundantly apparent she was no spy. Whether she was a priestess as she claimed was a moot point. Those soldiers were desperate to get her back. And they clearly had no scruples about how they did it.
She fidgeted around, feet finally disappearing inside the vehicle.
He latched onto the hatch and pulled his torso inside, amazed at what he saw. There were four seats and a dashboard filled with flat panels that were covered in softly pulsing, moving lights.
Ki, still on her stomach, was under the main dash. She was trying to pry open a panel, but her shaking fingers kept glancing off.
“What are you doing?” he climbed inside.
“Try... trying to get to the crystal inside. Powers the ship.”
He moved forward. Crouching beside her, he periodically raised his head to stare out of the windscreen before him. There was no sign of those white soldiers. Yet.
He knew what he should do. Take her around the front and threaten to shoot her, to ensure those futuristic soldiers truly surrendered.
Instead he shifted forward, latched his fingers around the panel she was trying to open, and yanked it off himself.
She looked at him. Her features were still slack with fatigue, but her frown softened. Then she turned immediately, flopping back on the ground and plunging her hand into the circuits beyond the panel.
His brow twitched up, lips dropping open.
The circuits were made of a slim, flexible, silver filament. That was not what caught his breath though. It was the glowing lattice structure lodged inside them. It sent periodic pulses through the wires, a soft hum filling the ship.
Without warning, she latched her hand on it and pulled it free. Sparks erupted from the wires. Instinctively he grabbed her shoulders and wrenched her back. She didn’t seem to care that the sparks landed against her skin and clothes, singeing them. Instead she spluttered as she stared at the device, quick tears tracing down her cheeks.
It was exactly the same as the one he’d destroyed in the house. A unique, complicated blue structure unlike anything he’d ever seen.
She pushed past him, flattening him against the seat nearest as she scrabbled towards the door.
He followed. “What is that?”
She fell out of the ship, landing on the ground with a groan, but instantly raising her head to check on the stone. Crawling forward on her stomach, she held it up to the light.
He saw a glint travel across the surface, lighting up the blue crystal structure as she clutched it with a white-knuckled hand.
He jumped out of the vessel, leaning down beside her. His gun was still in his hand. He should pull her up and take her around front. He needed to ensure the Guards could overcome those soldiers. Yet the prospect of grabbing her again and forcing the gun against her head....
He’d always followed orders. He’d been a model soldier. Now he was a science officer in the Royal Academy, he worked with the military developing new technologies, not just for defense, but weapons too.
He knew the costs of trusting the Tarkans. All Ashkans did.
She tried to stand, but her hands buckled out from underneath her. As her face slammed down, she brought the device up instantly, trying to hold it back up to the sun.
“What are you—” he began. Then he stopped.
He heard footsteps coming around the side of the house. Ducking down, he brought his gun forward.
Before he could entertain the hope it was the Guards, he saw that glinting white armor.
Stomach sinking, he went to push his back flush with the vessel, intending to use it for cover. Then he stopped. Snapping down, he tucked an arm around her middle and brought her with him.
“Activate ship’s defenses, flush them forward,” someone snapped. He recognized the voice. It was the distorted baritone of the head soldier.
Getting ready to push himself away from the vessel, Ki suddenly locked her legs in place, keeping them anchored. She brought up the stone.
He understood. It must run the ship. Without it, whatever the soldiers were planning would not work.
There was an electronic beep, followed by the whirring down of an engine.
“Ship has been disabled, engines down,” one of the other soldiers noted.
“We have to get out of here... I’m, I’m sorry.” Realizing there was only one thing to do, Jackson brought his gun up.
She batted it down, bringing the device up again, reaching her hand forward, trying to lift the stone out of the ship’s shadow.
He grabbed her hand back before she could offer the soldiers a target, moving her around as he did, pushing further behind the ship and out of sight.
She kept trying to bring the device to the light.
“Don’t,” he hissed in her ear.
“Need to get warm. Needs to be warm.”
“Why? What are you doing?”
“Only escape.” She turned to him, pushing the stone into his chest. “Breathe on it. Warm it. Won’t work when it’s cold.”
Though he needed all his wits, he still took the stone. She pushed it further into him. Closing her hand around his.
The stone was cold to touch. It felt like it was eating the heat right out of him, reaching down to his bones and taking every trace of warmth it could.
He went to drop it, to yank his hand back, but she fixed her fingers harder around his.
“Our weapons will work now,” the head soldier said. He was only meters away, rounding the side of the ship. Soon he would be in view.
They were out of time.
“Sorry,” Jackson brought the gun up, pushed his arm around her neck, and got ready to stand.
She resisted, bringing her hand up and grabbing at the device.
The soldiers came into view, one by one, their weapons levelled.
He pulled himself up, arm still around her neck. It was as loose as it could be while still making it appear as if he held her firmly.
“Release her.” The main soldier stepped forward, gun fast in his grip.
“I will shoot her,” Jackson pushed the gun into her temple and hated himself as he felt her flinch against him.
“Do not make enemies of us. We will destroy your village if you get in our way. Kill her, we wil
l eradicate an entire province. Millions will have you to thank for their deaths.”
Swallowing, he didn’t release her.
Through the entire confrontation, she did not stop moving. With her sleeves pulled over her hands, she fidgeted with the stone out of sight.
“Release her. This is your final warning,” the lead soldier stepped forward. As he did, he shifted his head subtly.
It would be a sign. An order to one of the other soldiers.
“This better not kill me,” Ki shuddered back into him. As she did, light began to leak from between her sleeves.
“She has a levi device,” the lead soldier screamed, the distortion in his voice not hiding his desperation.
The light began to envelop her, streaming so fast from the crystal she held that he had to shield his eyes with his arm.
“Hold on,” she snapped at him.
Latching a hand over his arm and bringing it back to her middle, her body began to push up against his. She had not jumped. She was starting to float, and as he held on, she pulled him up along with her.
It was the oddest sensation, his feet lifting off the ground gently, body filling with that same light, airy feeling.
The soldiers toted their weapons and he flinched, getting ready to act.
“They can’t do anything. They won’t shoot this close to me, and their ship is disabled.” Ki breathed heavily, her chest tight against his arm.
They floated up, higher and higher, the stone moving them with no trouble against the pull of gravity.
He began to stiffen, body locking in place, arm tightening around Ki out of desperation. He could see his house below, he could see right into one of the chimneys.
“You’re choking me,” Ki pushed against his arm.
“Sorry but we’re... we’re flying.”
“Levitating,” she corrected.
They were above the tallest trees now, and he could easily see around the house. The Guard truck was open... but there were no bodies. No sign of people at all.
“What have they done? Where the hell are the Guards? What did those soldiers do?” he strained his neck to look down. “We have to go down and check on them.”
“We can’t go back down.”
“I have to find them,” he kept straining, but the higher they floated, the less he could make out.
“Leave it. You can’t find them. More... will be on the way,” her words were slurred, her body doubling forward as she spoke.
“Hey, Takar—” he began. “Ki. Ki, are you alright?”
Her breathing started to slow. Dropping forward, her arms brushed loosely against his own.
She was about to faint.
Quickly he grabbed at her hand and closed his fingers around it, locking the device in place before she could drop it.
“Ki, Ki,” he tried to wake her, but she lay loose against him.
The effects of whatever drug those soldiers had injected her with had obviously returned.
He attempted to wake her a few more times, but it would not work.
Which was a very bad thing. They were still rising through the air, and he had no idea how to stop it. He might not understand the technology that was causing this, but he knew one thing. Air got thinner the higher up you went. There was less and less oxygen at higher altitudes. Go high enough, and there won’t be sufficient to breathe.
“Ki,” he shouted in her ear.
She didn’t respond.
He could see the whole village below him now. Make out the central square, the Guard post, even the school.
They had to be almost 100 meters up.
If the levitation powers of that device cut out, they would fall to their deaths. No question.
He had no options. Drop the crystal and they’d fall with it. Ki was his only hope.
Trying to stir her by pushing his arm up into her torso, it achieved nothing.
He could see past the village now, make out the pastures and woods that surrounded it.
“Ki,” he shouted louder.
It appeared there was no way to wake her.
Allowing his desperation to overcome him, a cold sweat picked up along his brow.
Then he stopped. There was a way.
It was risky, but worth a try.
He pried the stone from her fingers. The second he removed it, they started to drop.
There was no warning.
He screamed, but didn’t let go of her or the device.
In free fall, with her sleeves and hair whipping against his face, he tried to twist around so he could keep an eye on the ground.
He had to time this perfectly.
The ground was rushing up so fast his eyes could hardly adjust.
They’d drifted on their trajectory, and thankfully were not heading back to the farmhouse. If he had to guess, they would land somewhere beyond the woods in the high terrain that led up to the mountains. Far enough away from the soldiers for a head start.
The sound of the air rushing against his ears was almost deafening. The sensation of falling enough to send him into shock. He held on though, right until the end.
As the ground loomed, less than ten meters away now, his heart stopping in his chest, he thrust the device back into Ki’s hand.
His gamble paid off. Their free fall ended instantly. There was no translation of force; their bodies didn’t slam into reverse, cracking their spines and breaking their limbs. Their fall simply cut out and that light sensation returned.
He grabbed the device out of her hand again, forced it back into her grip, then grabbed it from her one final time.
Then they fell to the ground. Not from a crippling height. From less than a meter. He rolled easily, trying to absorb the fall so Ki wouldn’t have to.
With the grass and dirt against his back, and Ki limp against his chest, he let out a delayed scream. It rang through his chest. When it was over, he slammed a hand over his eyes, closing them tight.
He’d just floated into the air and fallen down again. Soldiers with weapons that were not possible had attacked his home. And lying in his arms was the woman who had started it all.
Eventually pushing himself up, he stared down at her. It was the longest he’d looked at Ki without his face turning up in derision.
She was probably a couple of years younger than he was, her skin smooth save for the tattoos that covered it. He recognized them as an outdated written form of Tarkan. They were on the backs of her hands, around her throat and on each of her fingertips. If it had been any other language, it would have been an intriguing, almost beautiful sight.
Sitting up, he shifted her off his chest and onto the grass. He was far gentler than he had been before.
Ignoring his shaking knees, he stood up, the device still in his hand. He stared around him.
They’d landed on a grass hill just behind one of the woods that surrounded the town. As he stared behind him, he saw the mountains draw up into steep, snow-covered peaks.
Shielding his eyes, he saw the sun peeking out from behind them. They would have less than four hours of sunlight.
Looking back at her, he tried to figure out what to do.
Any Ashkan would be able to recognize the symbols over her body.
Shifting one hand onto his hip, he brought the device up and examined it under the sun.
It possessed abilities that should not have been possible. Levitation, a blue light that moved like water – he knew enough science to realize this could not be real.
The problem was, however, he’d just lived through it.
Pushing his hand down his face and sighing into his palm, he pocketed the device.
He had two options as far as he saw it. Go back to the village to try to find help, or head into the mountains.
If those soldiers had been telling the truth, they would think nothing of turning over the town to try to get their hands on Ki. If he took her back there, it would put everyone at risk.
Could he really take her into the mou
ntains instead? And then what? Head around Paladin’s Pass to the capital city?
Staring along the closest peak, he spotted the pass. It was long, steep, and treacherous. It would also be deep with snow by tonight. It may only be mid-autumn, but those mountains were far colder than the plains. He could see thick clouds gathering towards them too.
Shaking his head, he clenched his teeth, pushing a breath through them.
She caught his gaze again. For someone who had given him so much trouble, she looked entirely peaceful now. Her long black hair lay in bunches around her chin and over her chest. Those dark, thick eyelashes were resting against her warm cheeks.
He shook his head again.
There was another option. Leave her.
This wasn’t his fight. He didn’t know this woman. She was Tarkan anyway.
Stepping back from her, just to prove it was possible, he grated his teeth together, feeling the tension in his jaw lock the muscles in his neck and chest.
Walking away was the sanest, most reasonable plan. Those soldiers would do anything to get her back, and he knew there was nothing the Ashkan Guards could do to fight them. Risking himself and his people for a Tarkan was ignoble suicide.
Wiping his suddenly sweat-covered fingers on his pants, he took another step back.
He would warn the Guards, explain what had happened, and try to help them figure out who those soldiers were and where they’d come from.
A soft breeze picked up, swaying through the long grass and brushing at Ki’s loose hair. Though it was still sunny, and the hill was basking in it, the wind had a cold edge that made him shiver.
It would only get worse as the sun dropped. Tonight it would be freezing.
If she did not wake by then, she could succumb to hypothermia, or worse.
“She’s Tarkan,” he reminded himself through bared teeth. Her people had done everything they could to exterminate the Ashkans.
Lilly, his fiancée, had died at their hands. Four years ago, at the end of the last war, she’d been sniped by an enemy soldier just after the ceasefire had been signed. The order to stop shooting had not filtered out to all Tarkan troops, apparently. He would never believe that though.
The memory steeled him. He turned from her, heading down the hill.
He did not get very far – barely three meters until his conscious caught up with him.
She claimed to be a priestess. She’d said the Zeneethians had kidnapped her. If she was right, she was an innocent caught up in this.
If a Tarkan could ever be classed as innocent.
He stood there as the wind picked up, blowing at his pants and shirt as his morals battled against his duty to his people.
The only thing that shifted him was a gasp.
He turned to see her move. Her head lolled to one side, her lips brushing open.
If he wanted to walk away, he’d have to do it now. If he let her wake, no doubt she’d start shouting at him.
She groaned, turning her head from side to side restlessly, her hair a mess over her face.
The wind picked up louder, that cold edge harder now. It made him shiver as he stood there, body directed towards the town, yet head still turned towards her.
She trembled against it. Bringing her legs up and pushing her hands over her arms, she groaned again.
She would be freezing. When she’d clutched that device into his hand, her palm and fingers had been like ice.
She began to sob. It was the final straw.
He turned and walked back to her, despite the fact he was Ashkan. He leaned down and rested a hand on her shoulder gently, despite the fact she was Tarkan.
Her restless fits continued, sobs escaping her lips as she turned her head and pushed it into the grass.
“You’re alive. We landed... safely.” Though he could swear he’d bruised his side, she didn’t need to know that. There was only one thing she would want to hear. “Those soldiers are back at the farmhouse. It’s almost 20 kilometers from here.”
She faced him, eyes opening. Pupils dilated, she blinked against the sunlight, but did not look away.
“Ki, you are safe.”
Breathing steadying, she tried to sit.
He helped her up.
Lips loose, cheeks slack, eyes filled with a dead, fatigued look, she stared at him.
Then, like a wave, recognition seemed to hit her. She jolted back.
“I’m not here to hurt you,” he put his hands up.
Was that a lie? He had no idea what had compelled him to stay, but it was too early to promise anything.
“Where’s the device?” she searched the grass around her. When she couldn’t find it, she planted her hands on the ground and pushed towards him, stopping less than 30 centimeters from his face. “Where is it?”
“I’ve got it.” He swallowed through his words, straightening up.
“Give it to me,” she reached her hand out. “Please, give it to me.”
Backing off, he got to his feet, staring down at her. He shook his head.
“You have to give it to me. It’s the only way to get away from them. Hand it over,” she tried to stand, but her arms shook and buckled as soon as she put pressure on them.
To her credit, she did not give up. She kept trying and kept falling.
His lips crumpled with an expression uncomfortably close to compassion. “You’re weak, stay down.”
“Give me the stone. I have to get away from here.”
“You use that stone again, and you’ll die. I’m the only reason we got to the ground safely. You blacked out.”
“I’ve got to get away,” frantic, more tears traced down her cheeks.
He hated seeing them. Every time she cried, the tension in his gut twisted tighter and tighter.
“You’ve done enough. Just give me the device. I saved you, please, it’s the least you can do,” she could not stand, no matter how hard she tried. That did not stop her from begging though.
“I saved you. We would have died up there. We’d have run out of oxygen.”
“I saved you from the scouts. They would have killed you. They’d have destroyed your house, maybe your whole village. You should have listened to me. You brought this on yourself. Now give me the device.” She held her hand out to him, her arm shaking wildly.
That cold sensation in his gut twisted harder. He practically lurched forward. “You brought them to my town.”
“I didn’t bring them anywhere. I escaped. You tried to capture me just because I’m Tarkan. I warned you who was after me. You would not listen,” she spoke her words slowly, and the effect was chilling.
Because it was true.
He hadn’t listened. He hadn’t let himself believe a word she’d said. It had been easy to dismiss her wild allegations, far easier because of who she was.
“You think I brought this on you, then fine, leave. They won’t go after you. They’re only going to concentrate on me. Just give me a chance – give me the device.” She did not drop her hand, even though her arm bucked wildly, her shoulders shaking as she apparently used her last strength to hold it aloft.
They wouldn’t go after him.
“Your village will be safe. Just, just give it to me,” she burst into tears, letting her hand finally drop.
They wouldn’t go after his village.
He’d been right. Those futuristic soldiers would only concentrate on Ki.
He could safely walk away and put this incident behind him.
He tried to sit with that possibility, but he could not.
It struggled against his attempts to control it.
If he left her, he would never find out her secret. He would never find out who those soldiers were and where they came from.
He was meant to be a scientist now. He’d left the army four years ago.
Could he really walk away from this?
Clearly tired and overcome, Ki withdrew, pulling her legs up and latching her arms around them, burrowing her head between her
knees.
He relaxed. The tension that had seized him at her allegations finally drifting away with the wind.
“Can you walk?”
She looked up, cheeks hot and eyes red.
“Can you walk?” he nodded down at her.
“You’re not serious? You’re going to take me to prison? You’re not listening, the scouts will return. They will blast their way in and kill everyone in their path.”
He put up a hand. “I’m not taking you to prison.” He pointed towards Paladin’s Pass. “If we want to get out of here unnoticed, it’s our best option. We can head around past the mountain range and into the capital.”
She crumpled her eyes warily.
“I’m not going to take you to prison. I saw what those soldiers are capable of. We need to find out where they’re from.”
“I told you where they’re from. Zeneethia.”
He scratched at his nose, pinching the bridge. “Zeneethia is a myth.”
“You can’t try to help me,” she released her legs, trying to stand. Again she failed.
“Why not?”
“Because you’re Ashkan,” her voice pitched in desperation.
Her words steeled him. “You’re damn right I’m Ashkan. And I can help whomever I want. We’re going to head to the Capital. I have access to labs at the Royal Academy. We can analyze the device and find out what it is.”
Her jaw was slack, her open lips sagging. “There’s no way—”
“We have to try. These soldiers have weapons beyond anything I’ve ever seen. They could be planning a full-scale invasion, and there’s nothing to stop them.”
“The Zeneethians aren’t interested in us.”
“They are clearly interested in you,” he crossed his arms in front of his chest, bracing his jaw as he forced his head forward, daring her to challenge him.
“There’s nothing anyone can do to fight them.”
“You got away from them. And you’re only a priestess. I’m a scientist.”
Her gaze flared. “How dare you.” She finally pushed herself to her feet.
“You’re standing, well done. Now can you walk, or am I going to have to carry you?”
“Men are not permitted to touch the women of the priestess clan,” as she concentrated her anger on him, she swayed less and less.
“I’ll remember that next time you fall into my arms. Now we need to make a head start before night falls. If we can make it to the old shack before the pass, we can stay there until morning. We can stock up before our trek.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.”
“I have your device,” he patted his pocket. “And I’m not going anywhere without you. You’re the key to this, and you fell in my field.”
“I’m not your property,” she almost fell over, her response far too desperate considering her condition.
It stilled him. He saw the fervent look in her eyes, the way she shook back as she spoke.
“I didn’t say you were my property,” he softened his voice, “but you are my concern. I need to find out what’s going on. And I fancy your chances are going to be better with me than they will be on your own. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but you are covered in Tarkan symbols and you have a real thick accent. You won’t make it a day in Ashka.”
Her shoulders slackened, her fight falling from her swaying form.
“So come on,” he held out his hand.
She stared at it as if it was a trap.
He did not drop it. He kept it out. Not saying a thing.
As a gust of wind caught her long purple robe, her eyes shimmered with tears. She stared at him for one last moment until she took his hand.
Her fingers were cold. Icy. But the longer he held onto them, the quicker they warmed.
He led her up the hill towards the pass.