Willow and I settle down into the water, completely relaxed and spent.

“I had a job I was suppose to do. My crew mates are going to be disappointed in my effort.”

“Well, I’m not disappointed by your effort. I am very impressed with your effort.”

“Well I’m glad you are impressed. Especially since it turns out this was your first time. That surprises me. You must have had to chase the men away on your planet.”

She laughs, looking almost embarrassed. “I did chase the men away but it was because of my scars.” She gently touches the scars that trail down the side of her face. Now that I look closer, there are scars on her shoulder and arm also. “They thought I looked like a freak.”

I look at her and see the pain behind her forced smile. “I barely notice your scars. I’m too distracted by your beauty.” She smiles and I like knowing it’s directed at me. “Tell me something good about when you were on Earth. What is your fondest memory?”

“That’s a good question. My most recent memories have been about loss. But before all of that, my best memories are of my family. I had a golden retriever when I was younger, that’s a type of dog, and we would always take her out to the woods by my house. Most of the time it was just my dad and me. We’d let Olivia off of her leash and she’d take off as fast as she could, chasing squirrels up the trees. I remember the way her legs used to shake just before my dad unclasped her leash. The fall was always my favorite. It was cooler and the leaves were changing into vibrant colors. We would walk home to the huge pumpkins sitting on our porch.”

“I don’t know what squirrels and pumpkins are, but it sounds like a really nice memory.”

“Yeah, it’s a good one.” She’s lost in thought for a little while and I regret bringing it up. I just thought remembering something good would help her push away the bad. Then as if the water had suddenly turned ice cold, she stands up and makes her way to the side of the bath.

“Sorry, I think the heat is affecting me. I need to get out.”

“Sure,” I say, following her out of the bath. She wraps herself in a robe and I do the same, drying off as best as I can. “Is there anything I can do?”

“No, I’ll be fine. I think I’ll just go lay down in my room for a little while. You said you had work to do, go ahead. Really, I’ll be fine.”

It’s clear she doesn’t want my help right now and it leaves me feeling somewhat confused. I’ve claimed her and now she is mine. I don’t like that she’s sending me away. Still, I don’t want to upset her further so I do as she asks. “I’ll be by to check on you later,” I say before the door closes behind me.

“Thank you,” she says just before the door shuts.

I walk down the hallway, my mind a mess of confusion. I’m supposed to be focusing on finding where the Dydrak might be keeping the weapon, or what they’re already doing with it. Instead, I am completely distracted by Willow. I want to know why she became so cold and what I can do to fix it. Instead, I have to give her space and see what I can do to complete my current mission.

I walk down the hallway, trying to focus on the job in front of me. I already checked most of the rooms on this floor when I came across Willow in the bath. Nothing looks like a room where they would be keeping highly dangerous materials or building weapons. Thinking about it, it doesn’t make sense that they would have anything out in the open while we are here. Anything they might have would be kept in a remote location or underneath the keep where they know we wouldn’t venture.

In order to keep my mind off Willow I regroup and decide to look for stairs that might lead me down. The only problem is that all of these damn hallways look exactly the same. I finish checking this hallway and double back to the banquet hall. My spirits plummet as I see the Dydrak warriors have finished their council meeting. Some of them are sitting at tables but others are just wandering around, making it easier for us to get caught.

I have just rounded the corner when I almost run right into Kayne. “How’s it going?” he asks.

“Not great. I didn’t find anything. You?”

“No.” He puts his hands on his hips, looking around in frustration. “I know it’s here. So where the hell could it be?”

“My guess … below us somewhere. I just haven’t found stairs that lead down. It’s also possible that they are keeping it in a remote location while we’re here. They’re not going to make it easy for us.”

“That’s for damn sure. Maybe instead of stairs going down we need to look for a trap door or something, maybe even in one of the rooms.”

Now that he mentions it, that makes a lot more sense. “I have an idea where we can start looking,” I say.

“I already know what you’re going to say. It’s a horrible idea … but you’re probably right.”

“Okay, let’s go.”

Jot’ohz’s quarters are located at the back of the keep. We know where it is, we’ve just never been inside before. We check the hallway and it’s quiet. It would be too obvious if we both stood at his door listening, so I keep an eye on the hallway while Kayne listens to see if Jot’ohz is inside.

When I look back, Kayne is motioning for me to come back. One more look around and I take off down the hallway to join him. I nod to Kayne and he opens the door. A quick glance tells us the room is empty so we both slip inside.

“What a greedy bastard,” Kayne says, looking around at all of the extravagances he spoils himself with. “Wall hangings, golden goblets, expensive fabrics for his bed … he definitely likes the finer things in life.”

“And now he wants more, I’m sure. It has to be the reason he wants this weapon. More land, more riches.”

“More women,” Kayne adds.

The mention of women makes me think of Willow and my heart feels heavy. I’ll find her when this is over and fix things, I tell myself.

Kayne searches the floor, looking for a door. There’s nothing obvious so I grab the rug in front of the fire and pull it back.

“Yes!” Kayne says excitedly. “Let’s find out what this creepy bastard is hiding.”

I pull back the door and all we see is blackness below. “Grab the light,” I say, pointing toward the door. I’m already beginning to lower myself when he returns a moment later with the lantern. He holds it over the opening, illuminating the stairs below.

“Let’s go,” Kayne says, handing the lantern down to me. The stairs wind down into a narrow hallway. We follow it and it goes on forever. There is the occasional light on the wall, which makes me fear someone might be down here. The strong musty smell in the walls indicates that we’re definitely underground. The floors are packed dirt, making it feel like we’re walking through a cave.

We reach the end of the tunnel and it opens into a large, cavernous room.

“Get rid of the light,” Kayne says. I bend down and quickly extinguish it. Only we’re not left in the dark. The end of the tunnel forms a large balcony overlooking the cavern below. We crouch down and move to the edge so we can get a good look at what’s going on below us.

“Shit,” I say. This isn’t at all what I expected to find. I assumed they would have a room somewhere in the castle where they were keeping the small capsules. This is a large-scale weapon making production. Kayne and I exchange a look. This isn’t good.

The room is busy below us, but it isn’t the warriors that are working. They are definitely Dydrak but not the warriors from the castle. It makes me wonder if there was another reason some of them fled to the village, so they wouldn’t be forced to work down here.

With so many workers, it isn’t smart to linger for long. Kayne looks at me and points to my wrist.

Of course!

I press a button on the band on my wrist, activating a small camera. A tiny lens pops up and I’m able to take numerous photos. Once I have a good amount showing the workers and supplies, I send the digital pictures to the Nightfall.

“We should go,” I whisper once the pictures are sent. If we linger too long, Jot’ohz will return to his room, ruining this entire operation. We crouch down until we’re safely back in the tunnel. From here, we run back to the stairs.

“Cross your fingers, brother,” Kayne says when he’s perched just below the trap door in the floor. I hold up my fingers, showing him that they’re crossed and then he opens the door, just a crack. My heart thunders in my chest while he takes a moment to scan the room, checking to make sure it’s empty. He gives me a thumbs up and opens the door.

We both crawl out and rearrange the rug over the trap door, being especially meticulous to make sure everything looks the same as when we first came in.

“Let’s go,” I whisper. We stand up to walk to the door and it’s at this same moment that a voice speaks to us from the bed.

“No, stay,” Jot’ohz says. He’s sitting on his bed, practically blending into the furs. Somehow, he doesn’t look surprised to see us.

“You didn’t check the bed?” I say to Kayne.

“I couldn’t see it from down there,” he says, annoyed with the situation we find ourselves in.

“It looks like we have much to discuss,” Jot’ohz says. “Guards!” he yells. The door bursts open and we’re quickly surrounded by some of his warriors. “There’s no use fighting. Not if you want to keep the rest of your crew safe.”

With another glance at each other, we raise our hands in surrender.