I soared to my feet and charged for the spot where she’d fallen. “Hold on, pajuara.”
Dark red sand packed the space in a distinctive circle with a diameter about half my size. The color was the lone differentiation between the patch and the rest of the desert plain. Glaring at it, I struggled to think between the worry and anger warring for supremacy within me. I’d fought in an endless war, lost my family to the Versaken, and seen too many brathers succumb to the emptiness, yet I’d never felt the emotional impact. I’d been lost to the hunger, but now…
Now, I was feeling. And it meant I needed to act before I lost everything.
“Drav it. Focus.” I scanned the environment for something I could use as a rope. The cluster of trees from which I’d run had thick roots sticking out of the ground. The closest to me thinned toward the end. I grabbed it and yanked hard. It stuck at the base, creating needed tension. I prayed it would hold.
Wrapping it around my forearm, I sent up a quick plea to Celestia and then jumped. The lightning sand rushed around me, filling my ears and nose as I descended. It seeped into the multitude of cuts along my body, deepening the shallow slices. I cared not. My only thought was getting to my pajuara. In so short a time, she had become my reason for drawing breath. I would not fail her.
The sand became less densely packed, opening to a wider hole. It curved to the right and my descent slowed. But I saw no signs of my Terran, and the root wrapped around my arm ran out of length. In that half a beat I made the decision to let it go. Another turn about the sand and the fall was over.
I landed on my feet and crouched low to prepare for any attack. I reached for my axe, only to grip empty space. “Crex.” I didn’t need a weapon to fight, my unique ability more than enough in battle, but that piece held meaning. Given to me by Hakon, it signified that he wasof my Brather, the vow of our kind. We forged the katra on our arms, along with six others of our Brather, the same day. It bonded us in blood as chosen family, more sacred than even born kin. I’d carried that axe through countless battles, each a hard won victory. I ached to lose it. Yet, a far more compelling sight drew my attention from the loss.
“Pajuara!” Her long brown hair was strewn about the ground, red seeping from a gash on her forehead. I raced toward her. I was no medic, but I had the basic training of all Rhonar warriors. I prodded the injury with my fingertips. Her head wound was thankfully shallow and her breathing even. I checked her for other injuries, terror gnawing at me like a hungry beast. Her thigh bore a bruise along the left side. She must have landed that way. I had no medpack but I carried emergency aid-shots in my leathers. I wasted no time in injecting her with one, watching the dark bruises fade and the cut close. When all had healed to my satisfaction, I grasped her shoulders gently. “Speak to me, my Terran.”
She groaned but blinked her eyes open. “Daegan?”
“Yes.” My chest deflated, the weight on it lifting with her voice. “I’m here.”
“Ugh. I feel like I got hit by a Mac cruiser.” She sat up and patted her forearms, torso, and legs in turn. Then, she tapped along her hairline. “But somehow I think it should be worse. What happened?”
“You stepped into a patch of lightning sand.” The image of her sinking beneath the crimson sands would forever be seared in my memory. “I jumped in after you, but the hole widened and deposited us here.” I waved around the place, which now that I wasn’t fearing for her life, I realized was a cavern. But that’s all I knew. “Wherever here might be.”
She nodded and stretched her neck. Her gaze fell on the cavern above and the spot through which we’d fallen. “Whoa! That’s high. How am I not worse off?” Taking stock of her body once more, her brow creased as if trying to make sense of it.
I drew out a second syringe. “I gave you an aid-shot.” Handing it to her, I explained its properties. “I didn’t want to take a chance with your life.”
“And I appreciate it.” She smiled and gave it back to me. “Now, how do we get out of here?”
She raised a good question, but we didn’t have an opportunity to consider it too long. As we rose to our feet, the stone ground trembled beneath us. It knocked her into me. I steadied her against my side. “Hold on to me.”
“With pleasure,” she teased, wrapping her arm around my waist. We relied on each other to remain balanced and upright as the cavern shook. Yet, wriggling her eyebrows, she added, “But we’ll have to save the best parts for later.”
My hearts beat hard with her light words. I loved her easy taunts. Even in a dire situation, she had room for merriment, and it delighted me to no end. “That is a promise, my pajuara.”
“You know, you really need to call me—”
The words died on her lips as the ground split in two. The crack glowed a neon orange, an unnatural color that harbingered ill tidings. The katra on my arms brightened to an amber hue, my ability alerting me to the danger. My senses heightened and honed in on the source. I felt my pajuara squeeze my arm, but I could not draw my attention from the looming threat. Then, in the span of a breath, a creature emerged from deep within, scaled tentacles clinging to the sides and snaking along the stone ground.
“What in the black hole is that?” My Terran braced her feet shoulder-width apart, releasing her hold on me and scanning the area. “We need a weapon.”
“Agreed,” I said through a clenched jaw. The cavern provided few options. A stray rock here or there might help in a crunch, but the beast was already massive, and it hadn’t yet fully emerged.
“Ah yes!” Dashing behind me, she dove for a space in the far corner.
I chanced a glance over my shoulder at her, eyes off the creature for a hearts’ beat. “What is it?”
“Look.” She straightened with a prize in tow. Holding up my axe, it glinted golden-orange in the light from the crack. “Think this will work?”
I laughed as she jogged back to me. Taking it from her and planting a quick kiss on her cheek, I said, “You are a wonder.”
“Save it for later.” Bending, she plucked two rocks from amongst a pile of stones. With one in each hand, she took up an attack position next to me. “We’ve got company.”
“You should get behind me.” The corded muscles in her arms were not lost on me, nor the posture of her fighting stance. Yet, having a female I’d come to care for—no, drav it, one I was already half in love with—battle beside me was enough to turn my stomach. “I don’t want you hurt.”
“Back at ya, big guy.” She wrapped the knuckles of one rock-laden hand against my shoulder. “But I don’t plan on losing.”
Any further argument was cast aside as rumblings rocked the cavern hard. With the noise came the bulk of the beast. A head as round as a moon housed three bulbous yellow eyes that each stared in a different direction. The creature had no torso; instead, eight spiked tentacle arms sprouted from a short, stubby neck.
