47. Chapter 47
Chapter forty-seven
-Bryce-
T he shuttle in front of us tipped and smashed into a tree that stood above the others, leafless and solid, with twisted black limbs. Its branches ripped into the side of the shuttle, a huge tear opening in a shower of sparks and splinters.
“Oh shit,” Clay hissed.
I gripped the console.
Please be ok. Please be ok.
As I watched, the shuttle lifted, rolled, and two figures fell through the ruptured metal and black smoke, tangled together. Purple skin flashed as they plummeted, spun end-over-end, and disappeared into the canopy.
“No!”
They were gone.
“Stop the ship!” I shouted.
“What? Why?” Clay had been too intent on keeping a close but safe distance from the floundering shuttle to notice what had happened.
“He fell! I just saw him fall!”
Clay looked around desperately. “There’s nowhere to land! I need a clearing.”
I pressed my face to the clear screen as we sailed over the treetops, searching for any trace of Kitari. Nothing. I pounded on the door; it had to have some kind of emergency mechanism.
“How do you open this door?”
“What?! Are you crazy?” Clay said.
I grabbed a spear off the nearest Aldar, wrenching it from his grip before he could react, and slammed it into the clear screen. It was thick and triple-layered, and bounced off, only managing to jar my shoulder. Suddenly, I was shoved aside by a huge hand. Arcay wrenched the door open.
“Babe, what the fuck?!” Clay shouted above the roar, struggling with the controls.
“You would have done the same for me,” Arcay said, detaching one end of a twisted cord from a panel next to the door and handing it to me.
Clay set his mouth in a hard line. “I’ll take us as low as possible.”
“Thanks,” I gasped as the wind tore the air from my throat. I waited for as long as I could while the ship slowed and dipped towards the trees to what would hopefully be a non fatal height, gripping the cord in both fists.
I jumped.
The weightlessness, and then the crashing bombardment as I hit into the trees, felt similar to the thunderous pressure of jumping through the waterfall with Kitari. Only this time, there were way more sharp bits. The cord extended as I plummeted, slowing my fall enough to stop me being shredded.
I fell between the branches, trying to brace for each impact as the world wheeled around me. The cord ripped from my hands as the breath was knocked from my lungs, and then, with a thud hard enough to rattle my teeth, I hit the ground.
I landed face up, just in time to see the Aldar ship shoot by overhead. I had to waste precious time getting my breathing back to normal before I could even consider moving. Then, groaning, I rolled over and pushed myself to my hands and knees. It didn’t feel like I’d done any permanent damage past some scratches, grazes, and probably a whole host of bruises. Nothing I couldn’t handle, but it would hurt like hell tomorrow. Thankfully, the branches and cord had slowed my fall enough to stop me from becoming a smear of jelly when I hit the ground. At this point, I felt like I had falling from heights down to a pretty good art. Hopefully, this would be the last time.
Using the tree trunk that had dealt me the most damage, I hauled myself to my feet. My leg was still working too.
It’s all good.
Kitari was close enough for me to feel the, by now, familiar tingle on my skin, and I followed it. I’d overshot him by some way and headed back. He was still alive; the dead can’t feel pain. And he was damn furious. I hoped the feel of my approach would be reassuring for him, and, sure enough, as the tingle grew, his rage subsided slightly with a mix of confusion, concern, and relief.
“I’m almost there, Kitari, just hold on.”
Two figures had fallen from the shuttle. I hadn’t been able to make them out through the smoke and debris before they disappeared, but I had a feeling, and it wasn’t good.
The ground was a steep, downward slope, rocky with bare patches of earth between the wide trunks of trees. A stream wove its way past me, running a groove in the soil that had been worn away to just bare rocks. The air felt thinner here, and I must have been high up because there was a fine layer of mist over everything.
As I moved, I automatically touched my ear, but of course, the comm earpiece was no longer there. Chief was out there somewhere with Kitari. Now I’d become the hunter, tracking my prey through the jungle.
“Where are you?” I murmured, scanning the trees.
Chief could be dead, but a part of me—the same part that knew it had been him that fell with Kitari—didn’t believe it.
There’s nowhere for you to go, Chief. There’s nowhere to run that I won’t follow.
The tingling grew stronger as I drew closer, moving as quickly as I could until it covered my entire front side.
I looked up sharply at a noise ahead and broke into a staggering run.
Before me, the trees opened up somewhat into a wide, rocky area, hemmed in on one side by a steep drop.
Chief was dragging Kitari face-down across the ground, one hand knotted in his hair, the other gripping his arm. His weapon hung from its strap by his hip while he manhandled Kitari. Kitari fought back, struggling and hissing, but his hands and feet were bound behind him and tethered together. His lips were peeled back in a snarl, his white teeth flashing as he snapped them at Chief. Bloody wounds littered his body, and his movements were heavy with pain, which I felt like an echo in my own body. Even so, Chief was having a difficult time with him.
Chief himself was a mess. He had a rivulet of blood running from his hairline down the side of his face. It coated his bared teeth. His armor was dented and dirty, and his earpiece hung from his ear by its wire.
Kitari twisted and managed to bite Chief’s hand. Chief shouted and dropped Kitari, wrenching his hand free and tearing it open in the process. Kitari snarled, blood dripping from his mouth.
“You fucking—“ Chief swung his leg back to kick Kitari.
“Don’t touch him!” I said.
Chief spun towards me, the weapon in his hands in the blink of an eye. I was unarmed, I didn’t even have my standard armor. Everything had been stripped away.
Kitari bared his teeth at me. “Bryce,” he hissed, alarmed. I could feel what he wanted to say; Stop. Get away. Don’t get hurt.
I looked at him and squared my shoulders. I wasn’t going anywhere.
“You’re in a whole world of shit, Son,” Chief said.