CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

MELISSA

Her chest hurt.

Her chest hurt, her muscles ached and breathing became a trial. But Mel would not stop. She forced herself to keep moving. She stoked the anger inside her, letting it grow higher and higher, until she couldn’t tell if the buzzing in her head was from her thoughts or her suspected fever.

Either way, she had to keep going.

The tunnel walls became a blur of brown. She kept her head down, plodding along. Occasionally, Jahle stopped long enough to check the path markers. At one break, Mel leaned against the wall, taking a breather. Her left lung felt like it wouldn’t inflate all the way. She felt jittery and lethargic all at once.

I need a doctor, she thought. But I’m not going to find one here. Gotta get back to Earth.

“Are you okay?” Jahle stepped closer, shining his lamp on her face.

She winced and raised her arm to block the light. “Yeah, I’m fine. Let’s just keep moving.”

The worst part was she couldn’t figure out what went through his head. One minute he pressed himself against her, making her knees weak, and the next he pushed her away, as if she would burn him. He helped her, but he also helped Dogan.

What did Dogan mean by Jahle’s messages?

Irritation pricked her skin. She knew next to nothing about Jahle. All along, he had been working toward his own goal. He hadn’t wanted to help her. Not really. He had used her. And somehow, he sent a message to Dogan, giving up their location. Yet he had saved her from Dogan? A last-minute change of heart?

You picked another winner, Mel. Way to go!

So why couldn’t she drown her doubts that maybe this was all a misunderstanding?

Men. She snorted. Can’t live with them, can’t watch them being eaten alive by a giant centipede.

They stopped for a meal, and Mel drank deeply from her canteen. The water churned in her stomach, but it cooled her burning body. She tried to force down the protein mush Jahle offered her, but despite all her activity, she had no appetite.

Jahle watched her, a crease of concern building between his brows. “You are unwell.”

It wasn’t a question. “No, I think I’m getting an infection.”

“How deadly are human infections?”

She shrugged. “I’ll either heal or I won’t.” She didn’t have to spell out what would happen if she didn’t heal.

He sat silently for a moment. He ran his hand through his hair. “Dogan will be waiting for us. There is no doubt he knows our next move.”

Mel grunted and stood. “Then we should keep going.”

He didn’t argue.

As they walked, Mel noticed a change in the tunnels. They grew wider. The stone markers grew larger, with more words upon them. And…

“Why is so much junk lying around?” She gestured to the broken carts, machines, vehicles, and wooden struts littering the tunnels.

Jahle paused, studying their surroundings. “The evacuation. I assume people brought as many of their belongings with them as they could. When they realized how little time they had left to leave Geran, they abandoned the excess here.”

“Easier to travel light,” Mel said, kicking the cracked spokes of a wheel. The cart resting on the wheel shifted. Mel stepped back. With a snap, the wheel crumbled, and the cart tipped. The bags spilled out, sending clothing, toys, and dishes rolling across the floor. A metal dish hit a rock and rang like a bell. The scent of mold rose into the air.

“Be careful,” Jahle said, bending down to gather up the items.

“Leave it,” Mel said. “We gotta go.”

Jahle shook his head and examined a toddler-sized dress. “It will only take a moment.”

“What?” Mel tapped her foot. “Are you serious?”

Jahle folded the dress into a bundle and tucked it back in the cart. “These goods belong to someone.”

“The owners of this junk are probably long dead,” Mel said. She clamped her lips shut at the stricken look on Jahle’s face.

Jeez, he really does care.

His shoulders hunched, he reached for a pair of pants. “Even more reason to treat them with care.”

With a sigh, Mel bent down and grabbed a tunic decorated with faded flowers. “Fine, let’s hurry.”

They returned the bags to the cart, and Jahle hauled it upright while Mel stuffed broken beams of wood under the axle.

She dusted off her hands. “There. Good as new.”

Jahle stared at the cart before tucking a doll’s hand back to its side. “It will never be good as new.”

“I think we did okay,” Mel said, squinting at the cart.

“More than just the cart.” He swung his arm around in an arc. “The caves. The city. Everything. Geran.”

Mel bit her lip. What could she say?

Nothing.

If Jahle felt helpless about the state of his home planet, Mel didn’t even have enough influence to change the state of his mind.

No, she only had control of her own fate. She needed to find Jenna and get back to Earth. Where she could wash out the dried salt off her skin, climb into cozy pajamas, and stuff her face full of pizza and pints of Rocky Road.

Nothing else matters.

“Come on,” she said, steeling her heart against his misery. “We should go.”

Reluctantly, he left the cart behind, and Mel made sure to step with more caution. The enormity of Geran’s destruction began to sink in as she saw more and more abandoned baggage. Kastik had been a huge city, with many buildings. She hadn’t really considered to where all the inhabitants of that vast city had vanished.

“Jahle,” she said after a pause. “So, all these people came from Kastik?”

“They were fleeing the bombing.”

“How did they know to run?”

“Cadam warned us.” His mouth twisted. “Gemet Ar’Cadam let us know exactly why they attacked.”

“Their leader?”

“Yes, lord of the Ennoi Cadam. I hear his son, Kovos, rules now.”

“Why did they attack?”

Jahle kicked at a rock, sending it skittering down the tunnel. “Revenge. Retribution.”

“Revenge?”

“Gemet claimed we hired the Sykorians to attack innocents.” He slammed his fist into the wall, making Mel jump. “Lies! I know my family. We would not do something so cowardly.”

Mel shuffled her feet and remembered Dogan’s treatment of the Water People. Of herself. Maybe they were capable of attacking innocents, she thought. You’re too blind to see the truth. She kept her mouth shut. She wouldn’t speak her conclusions out aloud. That was a fight not worth picking.

They walked on in silence. “So, as payback, those guys, the Cadam. They attacked your city?”

He grunted in affirmative. “As well as destroying half our terraforming machines, throwing our environment into chaos.”

“But they warned you first? That seems weird.”

“I cannot claim to understand their reasoning, but their warning saved lives. We had time enough to evacuate our citizens as best we could.”

“Where did all these people go?”

He considered her question. “In all honesty, I do not know. I suppose to where ever they were made to feel welcome. Geran had friendly ties to several colonies. Perhaps they sheltered our people.”

“But some of you stayed. You. Your brother?”

“Yes. We are more than Un’Geran, those born of Geran. We are Ar’Geran. Rulers of Geran. We cannot abandon our responsibilities. My father-” He broke off, dropping his head.

“You told me your family was assassinated,” Mel said softly. “What happened?”

Jahle cleared his throat. “My parents and my older siblings went to parley with the Ennoi Cadam. To deny the seriousness of the Cadam accusations. To beg for peace. Dogan refused. Claimed we were beyond such talks. He was ordered to remain at home to tend to me. I was a young child stricken with dolor for the first time. My mother did not wish for me to endure a long space flight.”

“The Cadam killed them?”

“Yes. Shot down as they approached Cadam. All of them gone. My parents. My sisters. My brother. Gone in an instant.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be,” he replied. “It happened a long time ago.”

“And Jenna is going to help Dogan avenge your family. Sounds solid.”

“His plan is misguided, but I am thankful to still have Dogan.”

“He raised you?”

“Yes, and made me his honor guard. At first the title was merely symbolic…” His voice faded away, and the corners of his lips quirked. “I wonder sometimes if it still is symbolic.”

“What do you mean? What’s an honor guard?”

“An adviser. One who keeps the ruler of a clan on the correct path. Yet, I fear my brother has never listened to my counsel.”

Mel snorted. “I think that’s a sibling thing. My sister never listens to a word I say, either.”

He grinned at her. “I am sure as an older sister, you bestowed great nuggets of wisdom upon her malleable mind.”

“Hey! Are you making fun of me?” She lightly punched his arm. “I’ll have you know I’m really smart and really wise.”

“So wise,” he agreed, dipping his head.

Mel rolled her eyes at him, but her heart grew lighter. She had made him smile. It was worth the ribbing and teasing if it wiped some pain from his past. She sighed, and frowned when the inhalation sent a sharp pain into her chest. Her head spun, and she took a moment to steady herself.

Fortunately, Jahle’s attention was on the path, and he did not notice her wince.

Gotta get that checked out.

And fast.

The further they traveled, the wider the tunnel grew. The ground began to slope upwards, and Mel found herself panting, trying to catch her breath as her fever began to grow. Her eyes felt gritty and her tongue dry. She stopped to drink from her canteen, hoping the cool water would soothe her parched throat.

She was returning the canteen to her pack when she spotted a familiar looking hole in the wall.

“Ugh,” she said, tightening her grip on the sonar evaluator. “Borebugs.”

Jahle studied the openings. “Large ones. But we have nothing to fear. If you spot one, fire the evaluator.”

“Why wait?” she said, raising the evaluator. “Let’s send them packing now.”

“Wait.” Jahle grabbed her arm. “Don’t fire the evaluator unless you must. It sends information back to a computer in Dogan’s possession.”

Mel’s eyebrows raised as understanding dawned. “Oh! That’s what Dogan was talking about. Messages. From you. He meant the info the gun was sending. Not actual messages.” She laughed and leaned her forehead against his chest. “I thought-”

“You thought I betrayed you.”

“No!” She dropped her hand and stepped back to study his face. “I mean, maybe? I guess, for a while there, I thought you were helping…”

Jahle’s jaw tightened. “Dogan is my brother. I owe him much. I love him deeply. But on this matter. On kidnapping you and your sister to use as tools against the Cadam. On this, I do not agree with him.”

“I know. I-”

“Do you condone everything your sister does?”

“No. Jenna is her own person. If she listened to me, she would be a happier person, true, but she is her own person.”

“It is the same with my brother, except I am indirectly responsible for his behavior, since I am his honor guard.”

She threw her hands into the air. “You keep saying that but I don’t get it! What does that mean?”

“It means I am to guide him. He has strayed. His hot-head needs cooling. I must help him find the way back to his honor. Do you understand that with your feeble human brain?”

“What?” Her nostrils flared.

“Understand?” He sounded out each syllable, as if speaking with a child. In her ear, the translator’s robotic intonation added an extra layer of insult.

“I really don’t,” she snapped back. “I don’t get why you have to drag yourself down to his level. Your brother is a jerk.”

“Yes, but he is my brother.” Jahle spun around and marched away, followed by Mel’s growl of frustration.

“You are so bone-headed!” she yelled at his back. “A bone-headed numbskull!”

It’s like he does everything in his power to piss me off.

“I can’t believe I ever thought you were nice,” she muttered. “Mr. Nice Guy, my ass.” She scowled down the borebug tunnel, daring one of the creatures to emerge, so she could vent her anger on it.

With a grunt, she followed him, but slower, giving herself plenty of time to stew in her own annoyance.