Page 110 of Bride of the Enemy Alien

Finally the figure turns away.

The transport is almost completely beneath the sand. Green light runs along the cage frame. For one second I can still see Rhazek through the narrowing gap, his head bowed and his wings pulled tight behind him.

Then he disappears.

The black frame follows. Metal slides under the ridge and sand spills down after it until all that remains is a dark seam at the base of the cut.

“They took him underground,” Renn whispers.

“Really?” I ask, sharper than I mean to.

I force myself to breathe before I do something stupid enough to make Syin right about me. Rhazek is alive. He knew I was here. I can still feel the thing using my rhythm pulsing beneath my hands.

Once.

Pause.

Again.

Then the version that is almost mine answers like a faint echo, trembling beneath the sands. I close my eyes, breathe, and press my hands deeper into the sand, feeling the call. I open them when I hear Syin crawling.

He’s staring down at the seam. The suns glint off his scales, casting tiny rainbows into the air around him and giving him a weird mythic look.

“We go after him,” he says.

Simple. Plain. As if it is as easy as picking up a glass and taking a drink. Except this is Tajss and there is no such thing as a simple drink.

I know all that. But I don’t care. They have Rhazek. And if anyone gets to kill him, it’s going to be me. Not these bastards.

“Yes,” I agree, not rising to join him. He takes a step forward, heading down the side of the dune towards the seam. “No, not that way.”

He narrows his eyes and flicks his tail hard enough to throw sand.

“That is where they went.”

“Exactly.”

I crawl backward until the ridge hides us completely, then get to my feet in the shadow of the rocks. They follow in the same manner and rise out of sight like I did.

“They know someone followed,” I say. “Maybe they know it’s me. Maybe they don’t. Either way, that entrance will be watched and guarded.”

Syin’s jaw tightens. “Delay gives them time.”

“And rushing gives them us.”

I hate saying it. Every second Rhazek is in their control is a second they can hurt him, use him, or turn whatever they put in his body against him again. But wanting him back doesn’t change the facts or make the obvious route safe.

I look at the ridge instead.

Routes are not doors. They’re choices. Whoever built something under this much stone had to move people, tools, air, and whatever else they needed in and out. The transport seam is one way in, but it can’t be the only way.

“Spread out,” I say. “Stay close enough to see each other. Look for tracks, disturbed sand, heat coming out of stone, anything that doesn’t belong.”

Renn nods and moves toward the slope. Syin stays with me.

“I can search alone.”

“No.”