Chapter Four

 

Emerie stood after tying her shoe and Kyven swept her forward to kiss her again. Now that he had finally gotten a taste of her, he couldn’t get enough. He didn’t want to stop touching her or kissing her. It was almost as though he was making up for all of the kisses that he wasn’t able to give her through all of the long days and tortuous nights when she refused to accept the feelings that were growing between them. He wanted to cradle her in his arms and whisper everything that he had been thinking, all of the ways that he had adored and admired her since the moment that he met her. Kyven thought that if his passion for her was ever realized, if the anticipation that had been building unchecked for so long was finally broken, that some of the need for her would lessen and he would be better able to handle her draw. This wasn’t the case. Instead, it was as if the moment that he was able to rest his lips to hers and finally feel her body envelop him, any control, any distance that he might have from her dissolved away and he was completely at the mercy of his desperate love and devotion to Emerie. He knew more than ever before that he couldn’t bear to spend a minute of his life without her.

“I guess we should go back now,” Emerie said.

“We didn’t find out very much about this area of the planet,” Kyven said.

“Do you think that we should go further?”

“Let’s go back out there and make sure that whatever was up there isn’t there anymore. We can go from there.”

They gathered their belongings and headed back into the chamber. Emerie started up the steep incline to the gap in the hill and Kyven saw her feet slip beneath her. He reached up and grabbed her by the hips, supporting her so that she could get her feet back under her and then make her way up the incline. Just before she stepped out of the opening, he pulled her back slightly. Just in case whatever had blocked the light and forced them into the tunnel was still there, he didn’t want her to be the first one to step out into the vulnerable openness of the planet.

Kyven slipped past her and cautiously looked out of the chamber. He looked to either side, saw nothing, and stepped out. He turned toward the opening in the hill and reached his hand toward Emerie. She rested her fingers in his palm and he guided her out.

“Kyven?”

He turned toward the sudden sound of the voice coming at them through the quiet around them and saw Athan, Rain, and Lynx. Athan had his hand rested on the weapon at his hip and a stern look on his face as he stalked toward them.

“Is everything alright?” the older man asked.

“Yes,” Kyven said. “We’re fine. Have you seen any of the hybrids?”

“No,” Athan said. “The area that we explored was empty. Did you hear the screaming a few minutes ago?”

Kyven remembered the horrific sound that he and Emerie heard from inside the compound before going into the hill. He nodded.

“Yes. We went into the hill. Something walked in front of the opening, but we haven’t seen anything since then.”

Rain glanced around them. He could see the intensity in her stance and the painful memories in her eyes as she seemed lost in the recollection of the last time that she was on that planet. They each had reasons for confronting the war awaiting them that burned within them, going beyond the camaraderie among them and their current circumstances, and he knew that hers ran deeper than most.

“We need to keep going,” Rain said. “There’re here. We saw them. We heard them. We know that they are coming for us. Let’s not give them the chance.”

They all exchanged glances, coming to silent agreement before turning back toward the hills and continuing further into the planet.

“How far did you explore when you came here?” Kyven asked Rain several minutes later as they moved beyond the hardened hills.

“Not this far,” Rain admitted. “We landed closer to the compound and we didn’t have much opportunity to see the planet beyond it. The furthest I saw was the hills. I don’t know what’s beyond them.”

Kyven saw Lynx reach down and take his mate’s hand comfortingly in his own, as if offering her his own strength to bolster hers. She squared her shoulders and stared ahead of them, her eyes locked on the horizon. He saw no fear in her gaze. There was only determination and the distant, hazy memories that pushed her forward, compelling her to take the steps that she hadn’t and avenge what had been taken from her so many years before.

They sun traveled along the sky with them as they walked and Kyven knew that they had been walking for hours when they heard the sound of trickling water in the distance. His canteen was nearly dry and he was thankful for the possibility of filling it. They hurried toward the sound and soon found themselves at the edge of a large quarry.

“This is where they must have gotten the stone to build the compound,” Rain said.

Kyven remembered the enslavement of his kind by the Covra many generations ago as they were forced to build another prison on Uoria. His back straightened.

“Or someone did,” he said.

The others nodded. They looked around for a moment, scanning their surroundings to find the easiest way of entry down into the quarry. When none was readily evident, they started climbing carefully down, the men going first so that they could guard the women as they followed in case the rocky ground slipped out from beneath them as they walked. They reached the bottom and Kyven immediately rushed to the edge of the creek wandering its way through the jagged bottom of the quarry. The water in his canteen had become warm in the time that they had been walking, and filling his palm with the cool, fresh water and bringing it to his lips was invigorating. He took several long sips and then filled his canteen. The others followed his lead and soon they each had full canteens tucked into their bags and their cooled bodies felt energized.

Athan had just stood from the edge of the creek when Kyven saw his head turn sharply toward the other end of the quarry. The older man’s hand twitched.

“What is it, Athan?” Kyven asked.

“I hear something behind those rocks,” he said quietly. “There’s something here with us.”

“Then we confront it,” Lynx said.

They started toward the end of the quarry, each turned slightly to ensure that they were able to view their entire surroundings as they went. Out of the corner of his eye Kyven saw something dark rise above one of the rocks just as Emerie grabbed his arm beside him. He turned and saw a Valdician like the ones in the shuttle standing above them, his dark robes concealing his face and hands and hanging heavily around his body in the still air. There was a long moment of quiet before Rain suddenly burst forward, rushing toward the creature with her weapon drawn.

The Valdician’s hand lifted and Rain gasped as her body lifted from the ground and soared backwards, crashing to the ground several feet behind them. Lynx shouted her name and ran to her as Athan surged toward the cloaked figure. Kyven started around the rock to get behind the Valdician. He heard Athan grunt and the low thud of his body hitting the sand. Emerie was close behind him and together they started up the back of the rock. The Valdician was starting to turn when Kvyen reached forward with his blade, slashing across the back of its legs. The creature let out a growl, but the wounds stopped him from turning. It fell to its knees on the rock and Emerie planted a kick into its belly so that it tumbled down the side of the rock.

Kyven joined her on top of the rock and they looked down toward the others. Athan and Rain were standing again, and she caught Kyven’s eyes.

“Kyven!” she screamed.

Kyven looked down and saw a pale hand coming toward him from beneath the rock. It grabbed onto his ankle and Emerie took his hand, trying to pull him out of the grip. She gave a hard yank and her hand slipped off of him. She screamed as she fell and slid down the other side of the rock. Kyven stomped on the Validician’s hand to loosen the grip, distracting the creature long enough to allow Athan to run up behind him and plunge his blade into the back of its neck. Kyven turned and dropped to the edge of the rock. He looked down and saw Emerie clinging to the edge of the rock. He reached for her, but she had tumbled too far beneath him. Kyven scrambled down toward her. Just as he got to her side and grasped her around the waist, they both slipped.

Kyven wrapped his body around hers, cradling her tightly against him to protect her as they rolled down the face of the rock into a deeper section of the quarry. They hit the hard bottom but an instant later he heard a sickening cracking sound and the ground beneath them collapsed. Just as they had when they dove into the gap of the hills, they landed hard and waited a breathless moment to determine if they were injured.

“Are you alright?” he asked Emerie.

“Yes,” she replied. He watched as she stood carefully and looked around them in the hazy light filtering from above them. “Where are we?”

Kyven shook his head.

“I don’t know,” he said. “It could be a section of the quarry that they tried to fill in or it might be an underground cavern.”

Kyven looked at the opening of the pit high above them and then the wall. It was nearly smooth, no hand or footholds available to help them climb out. A moment later Athan’s face appeared in the opening.

“Kyven? Emerie?” he called down.

“We’re fine, Athan,” Kyven yelled up to him, “but we have no way of getting out. Can you help us?”

Athan evaluated the depth of the pit.

“You’re too far down,” he called. “We’re going to have to go back to the shuttle and get help. Don’t go any further into the cavern. Stay where you are. It will be dark soon. Do you have a light stick?”

Kyven reached into his bag.

“I have one, but it is partially activated.”

“It will have to do,” Athan said. “We’ll be back as soon as we can. Be prepared. The others might come for the body of the Valdician in the quarry. Be ready to fight if we haven’t returned.”

Athan’s face disappeared from the edge of the gap and Kyven felt the words fall heavily into his gut. He turned toward Emerie and cupped her face in his palm, stroking her cheek softly with his thumb.

“We’ll be alright,” he said. “They’ll get back to the shuttle, get Maxim and some of the others, and they’ll be back for us.

“It will be hours,” Emerie said. “It took us at least two hours to walk here. They have to get all the way there and back.”

“It will be fine,” Kyven said.

Even as he spoke he could see that the light coming from above them was fading.

“The sun sets quickly here,” Emerie said. “It will be dark in minutes.”

“It’s alright,” Kyven said. “I will protect you.”

They walked to the edge of the cavern and sat, leaning back against the wall so that they could rest while they waited. Kyven took Emerie’s hand in his and ran the pads of his fingers along hers.

“The Maccabees sheltered in caves,” she said softly, almost absently as if she wasn’t quite saying it to him but instead was reminding herself, reaching within her to what was comforting and familiar to soothe her as darkness settled around them.

He was beginning to respond when he heard a deep, rumbling breath close behind them. His heart gave a painful thud and he tightened his hold on Emerie’s hand.

“Do you hear that?” he asked.

There was another long breath and he felt Emerie’s head nod against his shoulder.

“Yes,” she whispered. “What is it?”

“I don’t know,” Kyven whispered back.

The sound of the breathing grew deeper and louder and he knew that whatever it was was coming closer. They stood and walked backward along the wall. He could feel the presence of the creature coming into the space with them and the low sound of the breaths filling the cavern around them.

“Get your light,” Emerie said, sounding slightly desperate.

Kyven reached into his bag and felt around until he found the light stick. He pulled it out and activated it. As soon as the bright green light spread around them, he heard a grunting sound and the shuffling of massive feet moving across the ground. The breathing grew softer and eventually disappeared, restoring the stillness of the cavern.

“It’s withdrawing from the light,” Kyven said. “As long as we have the light, whatever it is should stay away.”

Emerie nodded.

“You said that the light stick has already been partially activated. How long do we have?”

Kyven glanced at the light stick and shook his head.

“Not long,” he said. “But all we can do is wait. It will last as long as it has left.”

“And then?”

Kyven guided her back toward the wall and eased them down to sit.

“And then we decide.”