“I’m going to have a look outside and see if I can figure out where the stone is.” Kayana took a step back. She needed space, but the cave was too small and Ax too large within it. Another step back pushed her spine against the rock wall behind her. Better, but still too close.

And damned if her body didn’t want to be closer still. Not that she had any plans to listen to it. Bedding someone so wildly inappropriate was not the way back to her family’s good graces. She squeezed into the passage and hoped he hadn’t heard the frayed control in her voice.

Rocks bit into her back, scraped across her all-too-sensitive breasts. What had she been thinking? Kissing him of all the sentient beings in the galaxy? A human! He had literally nothing to offer her. Even the wealth he had bargained with was only his insomuch as he required her help to get it.

As human—Gr’gori—he wasn’t part of the complex hierarchy of the Nine. Allegiances outside the Houses mattered nothing in terms of standing. They offered no bargaining chips to exchange in the careful dance of favors that typified sex among her people. Not that the Malebranki had shown her any particular kindness, but such was their nature—she’d failed her family and needed to make amends. To prove her value.

Completing the competition could do that; she wouldn’t risk her success on a Gr’gori with a talented mouth and sure hands. Regardless of the pleasure he’d sent racing along her scalp in the wake of his fingertips.

No. Moving on. Deadly creatures outside.

Fortunately, her eyes worked just fine in the low light. She doubted Octiron had expected any contestants with that particular trait. If they had, the company would never have picked a darkened world for one of their challenges. Humans always forgot the other species didn’t share their limitations. Not that Kayana was complaining—not depending on a light source made her job easy.

She spotted the enormous set of nostrils blocking the exit and reminded herself to be careful the next time she used the word easy.

A snort of surprise filled the narrow space with the creature’s fetid breath, and Kayana froze in place despite herself. The scales around the nose’s ridged edge flared, and the thing’s muzzle twisted to bring a pitted rostrum to point into the cave. She’d seen sensory pits like that before—many of the reptiles on G’henna had the same appearance. These might be bigger, but Kayana doubted that would make them less effective for finding targets in the dark based on body heat.

And thanks to her dalliances with a certain human, she was producing a lot of body heat.

The thing at the mouth of the cave let loose a whining howl of frustration. Giant claws scraped and scratched at the opening, sending small pieces of rock tumbling down the scree in the effort to widen the entrance. More howls followed, at least two other creatures, and soon she could see the additional muzzles shoving each other out of the way as they tried to “look” into the entrance and dig her out. The howls turned into snaps and growls, as the three animals pushed against each other.

“Don’t suppose I’d be lucky enough for them to kill each other off,” she muttered. Given the size of the nose, she could imagine how big the rest of the creature might be. There’d be no outrunning them, which meant she and Ax would have to outsmart them.

“What’s going on? Can you tell?” Ax’s whisper echoed down the narrow passage, triggering a new round of angry barks from the creatures outside and more frantic digging.

Kayana sighed and shook her head. “Yeah, they’re really sensitive to sound for starters.” A shower of dust rained down into her hair, along with a few larger rocks. The boulders had been tall enough that she hadn’t thought to check for an upper opening, a decision she was suddenly not especially sure had been wise.

“What about the Queen’s Eye? Can you see it?”

Right. The Eye. The whole reason they were down here in the first place. Not to spend time locking mouths with a thoroughly unsuitable Gr’gori. At least one of them was thinking straight, time for her to do the same. Had she been clever instead of panicky she could have brought the scanner with her. Now she had to hope the gemstone they sought might be visible from the entrance by luck. She latched on to the frustration. Anger and annoyance were a damn sight easier to deal with than...other emotions. “Haven’t seen it yet. They’re not exactly putting a flashing light on the thing.”

“Yeah, that would be too convenient. Like actually marking a buried treasure with an X.” He chuckled quietly.

She had no idea what he was talking about—why in the Nine Names would you bury a treasure once you had one? Humans were a mess. Maybe the AI would offer some insight into dealing with them. If it was feeling charitable. And she survived down here.

The creatures began their frenzied digging again, the echo of their excited yips and growls a potent reminder that survival was most certainly not guaranteed.

“Come back to the back,” Ax whispered. “I’ve got an idea.”

“Why doesn’t that sound promising?” She looked toward the entrance again, where snapping crystalline teeth and claws struggled to get closer. After a deep breath, she muttered the fifteenth maxim under her breath. “A bad idea is fixed more easily than no idea.”

“What’s that?” Ax scooted to one side, giving her room to come in without crowding her.

While she appreciated the gesture, it triggered a flash of disappointment. She told herself he didn't surrender the space because he regretted their encounter, but her skin's awareness of him made her wish he was less polite. Kayana collected her thoughts and answered him. “Al’kheri’s Fifteenth Maxim, essentially, that it’s easier to start with something than nothing.”

He made an interested noise, which surprised her. She was too used to people dismissing the philosophy as archaic and obsolete. Not that she had time to discuss the finer points of the Sixty-Six Maxims with him. It wasn’t something Gr’gori would understand, anyway.

“Anyway,” he said. “The plan. We just need a distraction, right? Something to get them away from the mouth of the cave until we can split them up?”

“You make it sound so easy.”

“Well, you said they were drawn to sound. What if we throw a big rock or something? They could chase it and give us a chance to get out of this dead end.”

She shook her head. “It would have to be sound and heat. Otherwise they’d be chasing after the scree they’re knocking down the slope from trying to dig in here.”

“Even better!” He used his normal voice in excitement and was answered by a howl from outside. “Just use your fire-shaping thing to throw a fireball down off the ridge, and we’re in the clear.”

She blanched, thankful his human eyes wouldn’t see her reaction in the dark. Of course, he’d lock on to that as a possibility. One errant mention in a moment of pride and he’d decided it was the key to their salvation. Never mind that she hadn’t been able to pass more than the most basic ranks in v’tana. She couldn’t throw a fireball any more than he could.

There was no choice but to admit her failing. If she could endure Endarion’s mockery over her shortcomings, then she could weather this human’s scorn just as easily. “There’s a problem with that.”

“You think they won’t fall for it?”

She thought about grasping at the out he’d unknowingly offered; she could say yes, and it would provide a believable excuse. So why couldn’t she lie to him? “No. It’s a sound strategy, surprisingly. But...my skills aren’t that advanced. I can shape a flame if one exists. I can’t generate them out of nothing.”

“But if you had a flame, you could make it bigger or smaller? Make it move?”

“Of course,” she answered, trying not to sound hurt that he thought her completely without skill. “That’s the easiest form of v’tana. Not that it matters. We don’t have a flame—”

“Would a flare work?” He held up a pair of magnesium flares in one hand. “Survival kits have two flares in them. I, um, got worried about not being able to see.”

She kissed him, claiming his mouth in glee and surprise. As she pulled away, she curled her fingers around one of the flares and tugged it from his grip. “Your cowardice may have just given us a solution. These would work perfectly.”

#

KAYANA HELD HER BREATH as she ignited the flare, half-expecting it wouldn’t work. Ax looked away, trying to keep his eyes from being seared by the white-hot light as it burst into being, but she couldn’t look anywhere else. V’tana taught that every flame had its own character, like metal or clay, which made them better for some shapes and worse at others. Blinding white magnesium was good for loose shapes, too consumptive to hold complex forms, and too bright to show much detail. All of which was just as well, since she couldn’t do those things anyway.

In that sense, she and the flame were perfectly matched.

She curled her hand around the end of the flare, pulling the flames up and away. She went through the exercises that helped her to visualize the oxygenation reaction happening, connecting with the state her people called the living flame. Despite her skill, she could feel the heat on her skin, the sting of its caress reminding her she was playing with a fire on the very edge of her ability to control.

Once she had connected to the v’tana and felt like it might obey her, she let out the breath she’d been holding. A glance at Ax revealed him watching in fascination at something Malebranki children could do without thinking. To him, in that moment, she was a thing of wonder and magic. She made a point of memorizing the mixture of awe and amazement on his face. When all this was behind her, not being a disappointment to someone would be a welcome memory. “Where’s the Queen’s Eye?”

When he didn’t answer, she prompted him again. “The jewel?”

“Right!” He shook his head as though ensorcelled then glanced at the tracker. “It looks like it’s pacing around the rocks.”

Kayana suspected it was the same one which had tried to find an upper entrance, showing itself to be more clever than its fellows. With luck that meant it wouldn’t be tricked as easily. “Okay, let me know when it’s opposite the entrance. Then be ready to act fast.”

She handed him the flare and started down the passage again, allowing the living flame to snake around her fingers. The two creatures at the entrance had succeeded in digging out a small amount of the rock, only to replace it with snapping jaws that grew more excited as the fire came closer. Behind her, Ax squeezed in tight while he read from the scanner. “Almost... Almost... Now!”

She fed energy to the flame, using her connection to shape it into a rough sphere the size of her head. When it was big enough, she bowled it along the ground. The two animals recoiled a moment, and the fireball bounced out the thin fissure and off into the darkness. Both creatures turned to follow the heat and then chased after it with baying howls.

It wouldn’t distract them for long. More important, though, another call sounded from behind the rocks. Not excited, but frustrated. Hungry. Kayana shoved the rest of the way out of the rocks in time to see the creature bounding around the curve of her and Ax’s makeshift shelter. As a whole, the beast was strange in the extreme—a broad, eyeless head atop a ropy, muscular body covered in loose-fitting skin. At another time, she might have been fascinated at its adaptations for the environment in which it lived, but now, the only thing she cared about was the collar attached to its neck and the bright gem hanging from the strap.

She called back to the entrance, “Found it. Toss me the flare!”

Ax did as she’d ordered, and both she and the creature turned to follow as the magnesium flame tumbled toward her. As soon as it was close enough for her to sense its connection to her v’tana she pushed as much energy into the fire as she could.

The flare, impossibly, blazed even brighter. The heat seared her skin and burned its image across her retinas despite her tightly closed eyelids. The creature reared back with a frustrated scream, its senses blinded by the overwhelming heat. Kayana turned back to the cave and shouted, “Now!”

Ax charged out from the cave, skidding to a stop as he saw the creature for the first time. Just when she worried that he might not recover, he dug a plasma cutter out of the survival kit. The energy arc wasn’t large enough to threaten the creature with harm, but it sliced through the collar easily while the thing swung its head back and forth. He grabbed the gem out of the dirt and ran to her side, while the holovid drone zoomed in for the action shot.

Through her v’tana, she felt the last of the fuel in the flare be consumed. With enough focus, she might be able to keep it as bright as it had been, but the flare had made the job easy. Without it, the light and heat were already diminished. Before long the creature would recover its senses, and she and Ax would be prey once again.

Ax’s hand snaked into hers, tucking a warm jewel against her palm. “We’ve got it. Let’s get out of here.”

She tapped the comm unit nested against her ear. “Ship! Bring us back aboard! Now!”

There was a frustrating pause where she wondered if Algol had heard them, followed by the dizzying nausea that immediately preceded a transmit beam. When she opened her eyes, she and Ax were back on the ship, and the multi-faceted holographic gaze of the AI watched them with disinterest.

Ax, breathing hard, leaned over with his forearms braced against his thighs. Once he’d recovered his breath, he looked at her with a grin that she had to admit might be charming for all its cockiness.

She held up the gem, the blue glow of the hologram shifting to purple as she viewed it through the red gemstone. “That,” she said with a pleased smile, “is one.”