Total pages in book: 61
Estimated words: 58483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58483 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 292(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Still, I’ve warned every warrior on board that if Taisha is captured we will fully engage. I don’t care about using toxins and making it look like an accident. I don’t give a veck if they know it’s Zandians who are poaching from their planet.
I will not let my little human be recaptured.
Not when it would surely cost her her life.
Or even worse—a lifetime of torture.
“Approaching Romon-3 airspace. Check cloaking.” Mirelle’s mate Domm speaks, as he’s the official captain of this mission. He didn’t say so, but I fear Master Seke wasn’t sure I’d be level-headed enough to lead this mission with Taisha along.
I told him she’s not my mate and my emotions are unaffected, but I saw the doubt in his cool gaze. So he doubled up two teams on board—Tarak and I to run fly, Mirelle and her mates to take Taisha onto the ground.
I clench my fist and force myself back to the panels and lights. “We are in position and cloaking is fully functional. Here are their search signals”— I point to Tarak’s screen, where pulses of green zoom out intermittently from Romon-3— “which our previous ships would not be able to avoid.”
Tarak nods. “But with our new tech, we can adjust our cloaking with their power waves to stay invisible. We’ll be down in three… two… one.”
Mirelle turns to Taisha. “Are you ready?”
Taisha’s face is tense, but she nods. So brave for such a sensitive being, especially considering she still suffers from post-traumatic stress from her enslavement here.
“I’m going along,” I say, deviating from orders.
Domm raises a brow, but to my relief, he doesn’t refuse. I grip the handle of my sword and follow the group onto the ground. We’ve landed in an unpopulated area of the planet, near a thicket of wall-eck trees.
The fruit will be the easy part, it’s the serpent venom that’s difficult. But Dr. Daneth says with a fresh supply, we should be able to match its chemical breakdown.
I’m in warrior mode, watching everything, as we guard the perimeter and gather fruit and seeds, so our human ag farmers can regrow the trees on Zandia.
“I was right. They keep the same schedule.” Taisha’s voice is low and quivery. “We won’t see them at all, Ocretions or… my frien—the humans.”
And I realize with a flash of insight that she’s not entirely happy about this.
“It’s the only way.” I nod at my foot soldier to close the sack that’s full of fallen fruit. “If we are seen, we are dead.” My voice is flat and firm. “There is no time for deviation.”
“I know it.” She stands tall. “It’s just…” She seems to sway before righting herself. “Being back here is more difficult than I imagined.”
I’m torn between the absolute desire to comfort her and the need to keep the mission on schedule. I squeeze her hand. “You can do this.”
I step closer and stare into her eyes. Her burnished brown skin glows in the light of this sun, and her curls blow in the breeze, and I wish to touch her face. But I cannot.
There’s no time to comfort her, so I hope my words convey how much confidence I have in her. ”Tell me where to find the serpents. You are the one who can do this for us. For Zandia.”
She waves a hand. “They prefer the soft earth alongside the river. It is there that they create burrows and lay eggs. We can go now, as all the slaves are on the southern perimeter for harvest.” She points across the shimmering landscape to a far-flung tree line that hovers on the horizon.
“Behind the woods.” She hesitates. “Although guards still make their rounds.”
I nod to our own Zandian guard, who raises his weapon to his shoulder and points to a fellow soldier, indicating he should bring the gear Taisha requested. “Let’s go. Follow and protect.”
Taisha walks quickly, looking around, taking an expedient route past low hills and rocky crags until we reach a grassy area that leads to the churning river. Then she stops short.
“Are you all right?” I touch her shoulder.
She stands still, staring. “This is where… he fell in. The one I saved. Where he, and later I, nearly died.”
“Because of you, the river holds life.” I do not know where the words came from. They are poetic beyond my normal capability, but I feel them to be true. “Do not be afraid.”
She whirls around and locks eyes with me, and the intensity of her gaze is startling. She nods. “Thank you.”
A guard interrupts. “Serpent!” He steps back. “Watch out, it’s angry.”
The brown and gray striped creature, sinuous, coils and raises up its narrow triangular head, and a bright red tongue flicks the air.
“Yes, that’s the right one.” Taisha’s voice is taut. “You must sever the head with one blow. At least, this is how we always did it. And for the sake of this experiment, we must duplicate everything possible.”