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I nodded.
She continued, keeping her voice soft, “You put up a barrier, didn’t you? I sensed your energy flowing over us. I hope it will block out noise as well.” Her eyes never left the fight.
I nodded again.
“Great.” She spoke a little louder, but not much. “Tamerin, my brother is what they call a witch on our world. He doesn't use his powers here because he found they don’t manifest the same as they do on Earth. But I guess that decision has changed. He created a wall of magic between us and them, so that group can’t follow us up here. Nor can they detect us using their senses.”
He shot me a quick glance, his eyes filled with questions. “I realized he was manipulating the energies somehow, but I figured he would either tell me or not. It wasn’t my business. But thank you for figuring out what would work well enough in this case. This world is different. In so many ways. There are things I could do on my home planet which won’t work here because this planet is different from the one I grew up on.”
He left it at that and I didn’t ask. We all had our own secrets.
Observing the fight, we could tell that both men were getting tired, but neither had given up yet. I wasn’t sure who I wanted to win, though.
In a move almost too quick for us to see, the contender flipped DS and slammed him to the floor on his belly. He dropped, his knees landing on the other man’s back, and a loud snap rang out. Grabbing the asshole's head between his hands, he twisted it hard in one direction and then the other. A louder crack sounded throughout the cave.
With that, Dumb Shit had lost everything.
The new leader panted, his head hanging down. He pulled himself to his feet, turning in a circle to meet every person's gaze. The surrounding men bowed their heads to acknowledge his win. He raised his head up higher and shouted something in their language before leading them out and back down the corridor they had come from.
They all streamed out after him. Every. Last. One.
The final two grabbed DS’s body and dragged him behind them like he was trash.
Tamerin cocked his head, watching as the group disappeared down the tunnel, following their new leader.
“Well, that I understood. He wasn’t going to waste anymore time chasing us and was taking the men back home. He will not come after us for a bit of… Well, let’s just say he won't chase after Lexi.”
My sister lowered her head to her hands. “Thank god!” she mumbled. “You know what I want most of all? I want to go back to the heated pools. I think I would like to soak for a day or so after these last few months.”
Rolling onto my back, I closed my eyes. “Is that safe?”
Tamerin answered, “I think so, but I would like to wait several days first. If I am correct, soon you will need to be back near the spot I first found you in, right? To return to your world?”
I opened my eyes to check my watch. I had set it to count down the time of this last year, marking the time until Stetamus would take us back home. “We have about another three moon cycles. And yes, we need to go back.”
Lexi groaned. “I think we are going to have to talk to Stet about the spot he picked later. That desert is wide open and hard to defend. Somewhere here in the mountains would be better.”
I exhaled, agreeing. Of course, we didn't always get our choice of where the gates opened. Some of them had opinions. “Perhaps I can hide us from sight while we wait. I will have to think about it, though. Magic works here, but it can have some strange results.”
She sighed. “Yeah, I know. Let’s cross that bridge when we come to it. We still have several more weeks to get through.”
Being the first one to slip down from our hiding place, I suddenly froze, causing my sister to run into my back.
“Move it, asshole.” She mumbled before peering around me.
Two men stood in the dim light of the tunnel, waiting for us. One was the new leader, and the other appeared to be his second-in-command.
I frowned, sure they had gone with the rest. I hadn't seen them return either.
“Oh, shit,” she whispered. A sigh escaped her lips, and then she straightened her back, moving out of the way of Tamerin, who trudged down the path behind us.
The older man didn’t stop advancing, walking past both of us as his eyes studied the bigger man.
He said something in their language, and when the man nodded, he barked out a laugh and grabbed his arm with affection.
Lexi and I exchanged looks, not sure what was going on now.
Tamerin turned, a grin on his face. “I didn’t realize it, but the man who took over for DS is someone I met a long time ago. He had been a boy and had gotten lost in the tunnels. I had found him and returned him back to his village.”
