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KAIO
Ispent no small amount of time in the building Gwen called the “sheriff’s office” butchering the fladi lizard.
Had I been in a better situation, I would have kept the entrails, skin, and bones to use, as well, but here I worried that the smell of blood might attract predators—particularly those who Gladiator Games contestants with a predator’s sense of smell—and I had no way to transport anything but the most immediately edible of the meat, so I simply created an offal pile to one side of the wooden desk.
I had just finished separating out what I planned to keep when a wave of terror washed over me, and a single word echoed in my mind.
No!
Gwen?I asked mentally, even as I headed toward the exit.
When she didn’t answer, my hearts tried to crawl up into my lungs.
I hit the strangely hinged, swinging doors at a run, bursting out onto the single street at full speed, then skidding to a halt when I realized I couldn’t see Gwen—or Sandy or Trumble—anywhere.
Where are you? I’m coming for you, but I need you to guide me, I sent out in all directions.
Saloon. The message was hazy, but an image of the symbols atop the building accompanied the message.
It was enough.
I stalked toward the building, my resolve to destroy whoever had taken Gwen growing with every step.
The shift from the bright sunlight outside to the dim interior of the building left me blinded for a moment, and I paused, blinking to force my eyes to adjust.
“Oh, shit. It’s him,” I heard Sandy say from across the room.
Her words drew my gaze to the back of a large central space with seats and tables scattered throughout.
A tall counter ran along the back wall with a mirror in an ornate gold frame behind it. Bottles stacked the shelves in front of the mirror, but that wasn’t what caught my attention.
No—Trumble had Gwen stretched out on the countertop, the long rifle she’d used to shoot the fladi lizard jammed up under her chin, his gray, rough-skinned finger pressing on the trigger.
“Take one more step, and I shoot her,” the Rock Beast threatened.
Rage began building inside me, swirling to mix with the determination that had been building all the way over here.
Nonetheless, I managed to sound calmer than I felt. “Why?”
The rock beast shrugged, his boulder-like shoulders grating together with a rumble. “We’ll have to do it sooner or later. Better to take the two of you out now than have to fight you on the final battlefield.”
Sandy backed away from her partner. “He made me do it. I swear, I didn’t want to.”
Only partially true, Gwen sent to me, her voice clearer now than it had been a few moments ago. She’s more worried about you retaliating than anything. He told her to hit me over the head with a bottle, and she did it.
I glanced at her eyes, but her gaze was clear. I’m better now, she said. She doesn’t hit very hard.
What was in the bottle?I wondered, the astringent smile of something alcoholic wafting over to me. Don’t answer that, I instructed Gwen. It doesn’t matter.
They’re planning something, Gwen told me. Most of it silently, so I don’t know exactly what. Be careful. Her concern for me hit me like a Jaraffa tribal dart to the hearts, leaving me dizzy and disoriented.
My anger must have shown on my face. Trumble used the rifle to force Gwen off the counter. “I’ll make you a deal,” he called out, moving partway across the room toward me.
“What’s that?” I asked, keeping my voice steady, even as internally, a firestorm of emotions began in my hearts, flickering outward and gathering the rage and the determination to burn with it.
“Let me leave, and I’ll allow you to keep the woman.”
“You?” Sandy asked in tones of outrage. “What about me?”
