Chapter Sixteen
The Vulfans screamed in agony, and Rosamund smelled burning flesh. She retched as Kodran ran through the door. The air around them was roasting hot, and sweat poured down her face. She felt her hair explode into instant frizz.
Some of the Vulfans made it through the doorway behind them before it slammed shut.
“How did you…? I didn’t even see that door!” Rosamund gestured at the door.
“We designed it that way. It only opens for me and my men,” Kodran said, hurrying along down a sloping tunnel. The air cooled off as they went deeper.
“Unhand me! I can ambulate on my own!” Dot-R called out weakly, and Rosamund almost wept with relief. If Dot-R was bitching and complaining, that meant she was okay.
They wound down lower and lower, through sculpted tunnels that plunged into the earth. Small panels set into the tunnel walls glowed with an unearthly light.
Kodran didn’t stop until they’d reached a well-lit, perfectly round cavern. Several more tunnels led off from the back of the cavern.
The Draell who’d been carrying Dot-R put her down. She staggered over to one of the lighting panels and pushed her palm against it. “Wooo, I need to recharge,” she groaned. “That experience was sub-optimal.”
The Vulfans who’d followed them had suffered terrible burns. They were pale with shock and panting from pain and exertion.
“I can’t go any farther,” Temra groaned, and sank to the ground. The other Vulfans sank down onto the cavern floor as well, their pained breathing making a ragged chorus of gasps.
“Where is Darfan?” Rosamund asked, looking around.
“Dead,” Temra said, and leaned over and vomited. His entire right side was red and blistered, with some of the burns on his leg charred black.
“Sekari betrayed us,” one of the other Vulfans moaned.
“Geez, ya think?” Rosamund snapped. “You bastards tried to hand us over to him. Imagine what he would have done to us.”
“You are traitors to the Federation,” Temra protested weakly, shivering from the pain of his scorched arm. “He only wanted to bring all of you to justice. That is what he said. Why would he lie to us?”
Before she had time to argue, a squadron of Draell rushed into the cavern from one of the back tunnels. One of them Rosamund recognized as Florian, whom she’d met on the night of the ball. Several of the men were carrying medi-kits, and they opened them and pulled out cans of some kind of spray. As soon as they sprayed it on the Vulfans’ burns, they started healing before her eyes.
“We have alerted the guard,” Florian informed Kodran. “Your family is safe. Currently there is a Federation Battle Cruiser headed here, and it will arrive within two hours. Sekari called them; we intercepted the communication.”
“But…why did Sekari try to killus?” Temra looked bewildered. “We did what he asked. We found the cyborgs so he could prove that Kodran is a traitor. He was going to wait until the Federation ship arrived and then turn you all in.”
“Let me guess,” Kodran said, his tone contemptuous. “He convinced you that my clan murdered a bunch of our own kind and sided with the cyborgs.”
“You did,” Temra said, staring grimly at Kodran. “We followed the human here by tracking her wrist-comm…”
“Oh God,” Rosamund said in dismay. “This is all my fault.”
“Mostly,” Dot-R called out, still leaning her hand against the lighting panel. “I told you this was a bad idea.”
“You most certainly did not,” Rosamund snorted.
“Well, Ishouldhave.”
Temra continued. “Once she got here, we scanned the area for cyborgs. And we found them. They are here, underneath us. There must be deeper caverns.”
Kodran exchanged a glance with Florian.
“Are the cyborgs sufficiently healed yet?” he asked Florian. “They need to be ready to travel.”
Rosamund gasped.
“What the hell, Kodran? There really are cyborgs here?” she said. “Youwere the one who told me that they were a bunch of sadistic robot sociopaths!”
