“You were safe, my sweet mate.” I clutch her face in my hands. “That’s all that matters. That and you find the strangest of new friends.”
“Do you have a horc?” Kes asks me, causing Driok to growl and flash his fangs.
Kes’s little nose is twitching.
“I had a horc,” Maggie advises him. “His name was Horace, but I left him in Xracak City. Driok has promised we’ll go back for him when this is all over.”
Kes makes a humming sound. “I thought I could smell horc.”
“I can’t smell horc.” I sniff all over my Maggie. “My mate is entirely clean of horc.”
“Stop it.” She gently slaps at my chest. I continue to sniff at her because she makes a very pleasing noise.
“Horcs are rare,” Kes says.
“Horcs are trouble.”
“But wearegoing back for Horace, right?” Maggie has her hand on my chest and her eyes on mine.
Something grinds within me, something which makes me want to tell the truth but at the same time keep the peace. “Yes, my mate,” I eventually get out.
“This is clearly a conversation we’re going to need to have later, Driok.” Maggie purses her lips up. “Regardless of whether you want to go back to Xracak City or not.”
“Do you want my bots?” Kes asks bluntly.
“I want your bots to go disrupt the Ulep systems,” I reply. “And to keep away from the Sarkarnii. The Ulep will take most of them out, but I’d prefer it if the warriors were concentrated on the Ulep.”
“Don’t like bots, huh?” Kes chuckles.
“On the contrary. I find bots are very useful for certain purposes. But my colleague Lord Dalox does not agree and will destroy them on sight, understand?” I growl.
“Understood,” Kes says.
“How many strong are you?” I ask, as Maggie watches the bots fall into line and begin a slow march out of the airlock, without the little Paralnyi apparently doing anything to muster them. “My mate says you are here to fight against the Ulep too.”
Kes scuffles in a pile of detritus next to him.
“There is just me and my bots,” he says eventually.
“What?” Maggie says. “I thought you were some sort of resistance movement or something.”
“Sometimes there is only one,” Kes says quietly.
“And sometimes the one becomes the many.” I put my hand on the Paralnyi’s head.
Maggie makes a strange noise and turns her face away from me, her shoulders shaking.
“I hope so because once the Ulep see my bots, I’m as good as dead unless you are able to deal with them,” Kes says, wriggling away from me.
“They have Kes’s family,” Maggie says. “It looks like we have more than just your warriors to release.”
I nod my agreement. “All will be free of the influence of the Ulep in this galaxy,” I intone.
Maggie grabs hold of my arm.
“I got some messages from my human friends back on Vorostor. Does that have something to do with Dalox being here?”
“Dalox says he was contacted by a Paralnyi who told him to come to this sector.” I drag my claws through my hair. “It doesn’t make sense.”
