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“Chax put his life on the line for me,” I said. “The least I can do is the same for him.”
“Fine,” Stari said. “We’ll do it. But I’m coming with you.”
“No,” I said. “The Yayora need you.”
“I’ll leave my best officer in charge,” Stari said. “There’s nothing I can do that he can’t. And he’s got a lot more patience than me. He won’t blow everything just because he gets a little antsy.”
I looked Stari over. She was being serious.
“I’m a fighter, not a leader,” Stari said. “My place is beside you on this mission. And you’re not doing it if I’m not allowed to go with you.”
I raised my hands in surrender.
“It’s your decision,” I said. “So, we’re really doing this?”
“We are,” Stari said. “I’ll get my seamstresses onto it. I’ll make sure they don’t make my ass look big. If I’m going to die, I want to die in style.”
“And I don’t want to die at all,” I said.
We shared a nervous smile.
Boy, did I wish I didn’t have to do this.
Stari met a lot of resistance when she told her generals our plan. It took some finessing, but finally, they relented. Short of tying Stari up and forcing her to lead from a cell, I didn’t think she was the kind of person to change her mind by consensus.
After that, everyone leaped into action. I was given a new set of clothes—haggard and torn, with holes and dirt rubbed into the pants and t-shirt. A makeup expert rearranged my hair and added dirt on my cheeks and nose.
I got off easy. At least I didn’t have to go under the knife as Stari and her comrade did…
Then we were bundled onto a device that reminded me of the winching machine people used to clean skyscraper windows. A pair of workers took us up the sheer rockface to a door at the top. Then we moved through endless dark tunnels. Stari and her friend, V’Sen, led me through the tunnels until I thought we would never reach the end.
Finally, a pinprick of light beckoned in the distance like the first star out at night. We stopped short of stepping into its warm embrace on the fringes of the outside world. I could smell the fresh air on the cool breeze that blew into the cavern.
“Are you ready?” Stari said.
“No,” I said. “I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.”
Stari attached the restraints to my wrists and hugged me.
“Try to stay calm,” she said. “We’ll be okay.”
She wore a plain skintight suit with a shaggy brown cloak over the top. The hood hid most of her face in shadows. I’d already seen her face after the surgeon had finished. He’d done an excellent job of morphing her features. Just looking at her made me shiver. The likeness to Trang was uncanny.
We needed a male Yayora, and he came in the form of Stari’s favorite foot soldier, someone she seemed to spend a lot of time staring at when she thought he wasn’t looking at her. His name was V’Sen and his boyish good looks had been morphed into the sinister and pointy features of Klang.
“He’s handsome,” I whispered to Stari. “You know, for a Yayora.”
“Is he?” she said innocently. “I hadn’t noticed.”
I kept my eyes firmly on her. When she glanced up at me, she couldn’t help but break into a grin. It was the first time I’d seen a blush rise to her cheeks.
“He’s… okay,” she said. “Better than most of the other guys, anyway. Which isn’t saying much.”
But it was saying a lot. She wasn’t the kind of person to throw compliments around.
“You know what I think?” I said.
“No. And I don’t want to know.”
