Chapter 12 Varok
VAROK
Ishouted aloud, exhilarated, as we rode the crate off the Hive and into thin air. Stressed to their limits, the anti-grav lifters whined, and freezing air whistled past as we fell. Behind us, the Hive tumbled past, vanishing into darkness as the night swallowed us whole.
Penny pressed back against me, her body as warm and soft as the crate was hard and unyielding. She fitted against me as though our bodies were made for each other, curves delicious and tempting through the thin fabric separating us.
Then we struck the ground, or rather the deep drift of snow surrounding the Hive.
The impact drove us through the surface of the snow, and true darkness closed around us as the snow tumbled in on top of us.
In the small hollow space we found ourselves in, no light reached us from the stars, the Hive, or anywhere.
For a moment, I allowed myself to lie back against the snow, holding Penny against me and gasping for breath.
The moment ended when her elbow thudded into my ribs with surprising strength. She squirmed out of my grasp, pushing aside the light covering of snow that had tumbled after us.
“This was your plan?” She hissed the question as I coughed and gasped down freezing air. The snow cover gave way, leaving her a stunning silhouette against the stars above, and I savored the view.
“‘Oh, I know, once I’ve stolen the priceless work of art I’m after, I’ll just jump off the building. That’s bound to get me to safety.’ Idiot. Fool. We could have broken our necks!”
“Didn’t though,” I said, voice raw. “It worked.”
“Oh, if only it had fucking worked. We’re stuck, stranded at the foot of the Hive. We’re covered in snow, it’s the middle of the night, and the spaceport’s, what, two miles away?” Her eyes were invisible in the darkness, but I still felt her glare. My laugh did nothing to help that.
“It isn’t funny. Maybe you Argentians like it cold, but I’m going to freeze to death in this stupid dress before we make it half-way.”
“I am not such a fool that I forgot to account for the weather.” I heaved myself up from the snow, brushing it off my suit with some distaste and fishing out my comm. “And I told you, my plan worked.”
Beside us, the snow shuddered, lifting as though a giant animal were emerging from a burrow. Penny jumped away, slipped, and fell into my arms as my skiff rose from its wintry grave.
I didn’t laugh. It took an effort, but it wouldn’t be fair to mock her. I’d known what was coming; she’d had no warning.
Besides, anything that gave me cause to hold her was worthwhile.
“I paid someone to crash this here last year. It’s modified with extra shielding on the engine and power supply, so as long as I keep the speed low, there’s no signal to detect. So yes, my plan worked.”
Her indignant huff was all the answer I got, and all I needed. A small victory, but one that mattered more to me than the heist itself.
I carried her over to the skiff and, brushing the snow from a seat, set her down. Thank the Void that the human painting wasn’t as bulky as the sarcophagus. That left space for a passenger.
Once we’d secured our prize, I took the driver’s seat and got the skiff underway.
After a short but nerve-wracking push through the snow, we rose to the surface and followed a long-abandoned road just above the snow.
All around us rose the remains of a once-proud city, snow covering the ruins, giving them a stark beauty.
Hard to believe this city had once been the beating heart of the planet’s economy.
Built around the spaceport on its mountain plateau, housing the wealthiest merchants and the poorest workers in its narrow confines, it must have been a sight to see.
Now it stood empty and still. To the west, even the sea stood motionless, frozen over decades ago.
Beside me, Penny ignored the view, wrapping herself in the thin, metallic cloak of whisperlight mesh and hugging herself tight. Only then did I realize she hadn’t been exaggerating about the cold. For me, the freezing weather was uncomfortable. For a human, it looked life-threatening.
Especially barefoot in a party dress. I snarled at myself.
How could I have been so stupid? Despite the population of the planet abandoning it as it spiraled away from the star, it hadn’t occurred to me that she might be so vulnerable to the cold.
I had little help to offer, but I pulled off my jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders.
“Take this and don’t worry. We’ll be aboard a nice, warm ship soon.”
Her laugh emerged from her lips as a white cloud. “That, or in a monster’s belly. Honestly, at least the arena looked warm.”
I was about to reassure her, tell her everything would be fine, when an eerie howl echoed through the frozen city around us, a sound to send a shiver down anyone’s spine. Howls like that kept my prehistoric ancestors huddling around a fire at night.
Another howl answered it, and I cursed. Not a lone survivor, then. This creature was enormous, hungry, and worst of all, social. A pack hunter.
In this frozen wasteland, we were the best prey available. I gunned the engines, accepting the increased risk of showing up on the Hive’s scanners. I’d rather the Collectors spot us than become a meal for whatever predators survived in this desolation of ice and snow.
Penny stayed silent too, turning her attention outward and looking around with slow, careful, practiced movements. Despite the danger, I smiled. My human knew what she was doing.
She proved it a moment later, with a shout of “Left!” I swerved the skiff without hesitating, and thank the Void, because a giant, white-furred thing appeared as if from nowhere, its claws tearing into the ice where we would have been.
A glance told me everything I needed to know.
The thing was huge, bulky with muscle and white fur, red eyes gleaming out from its snarling face.
Its teeth were the size of daggers, and its claws bit into the ice with ease.
Six limbs propelled it forward at blinding speed, and I gave up on subtlety.
The engine roared to full power, and we shot forward, escaping its vicious claws by the narrowest of margins.
“Fuck.” Penny breathed the word, almost in awe, staring back. I understood her reaction. The creature had the harsh beauty of a predator or a weapon, and it moved with speed and silent grace. A magnificent, terrible combination to be hunted by.
Clever, too. Once the skiff got up to speed, it didn’t waste time or energy chasing us. Nor did it give up—it howled again, and answering cries came from ahead of us while it loped on after us.
“We should slow down,” Penny suggested as we raced up the winding road to the mountaintop spaceport. “No point escaping a monster only to die in a car-crash, right?”
I swerved around one abandoned hovercar and almost hit the next, half-hidden in the snow.
“We need to reach my ship before the Collectors catch up with us. I’d prefer stealth, but they’ll have seen the engine flare, so that option’s out.
Now it’s a race to reach my ship before they can respond. We should have just enough time—”
Of course, that was when the forcefield flickered into existence ahead of us. I slammed on the reverse thrusters, pulled to the side, and still clipped the shimmering veil of energy between us and the spaceport. We scraped along it, leaving a trail of sparks until the skiff came to a stop.
“You jinxed it,” Penny said. “You just had to jinx it.”
This was a nightmare. A disaster. I’d messed this up, and now we’d both pay the price. I cursed the uncaring Void, my fingers clenching tight on the controls.
“Hey, hey, easy there, big guy.” Penny put her small, chilly hand on mine. “We kind of need that.”
I looked down to see the throttle crushed in my grip, metal bending and warping. With a deep breath, I forced myself to relax and released the controls. Letting go of my bitterness wasn’t as easy. “I don’t see why. We have nowhere to go.”
“Perhaps you’re right, but I’d still rather be able to get away if those six-legged polar bears come for us again.” She shuddered at the thought. I didn’t much like it either, though our fate if the Collectors captured us wouldn’t be much different.
No. I will not accept that. I refuse to. Penny won’t be a predator’s lunch, in the arena or out of it.
If only the passion gripping my heart came with a plan. All it left me was an unwavering certainty that I had to protect her, clashing with the equal certainty that the monsters had us trapped between them and the shield.
“I’m sorry,” Penny said. “I shouldn’t have hijacked your plan. You’d be safely on your way off-world, and I’d be back in the warm.”
I wrapped her in my arms, trying to offer some comfort and warmth. Her small body shivered against me, stirring interesting and futile reactions in my body. “Foolishness. This was my plan, and it went wrong. I could have left you behind. Should have.”
She drew in a breath, ready to argue, then chuckled and pressed her icy body against me. For heat, nothing more, I told myself. She needs all she can get.
Muffled by my shirt, her voice was weary. “Let’s not use our last moments arguing about whose fault it is, okay? That’s too depressing to bear.”
“I’d rather not die at all,” I said, looking down the winding road at the city below.
Well-camouflaged against the snow, visible only as occasional shadows, the predators stalked closer.
Uphill, the red shimmer of the forcefield blocked access to the port.
Our only other option was going off-road, down a steep and rocky slope.
The pack of hunters was our best bet, and that was still suicide.
“But I am out of plans. This was my backup.”
In my arms, Penny tensed. Slowly, carefully, she spoke as though her idea was a skittish animal she might scare off if she moved too suddenly. “I might have one. Maybe. It’s the same trick you used to get us down from the Hive.”
I snorted, looking over the edge at the steep, rough rock-face. “Back there, I’d prepared a soft landing. Here? We’ll eat a boulder before we get halfway down.”
“No. If we overload the engine on this thing, its anti-grav will lift us higher than most of the rocks. You’ll have power to spare for steering, too. Right?”
“We’re more likely to explode the battery or burn out the engine completely.
” I grimaced but, lacking any other plan, I turned hers over in my mind.
“It might be worth the risk, except the Collectors will see another energy spike, and I doubt we’d lose them again.
Even if we get off the mountain, they’ll find us wherever we run. ”
Despite my words, I pulled open the engine compartment and set to work removing the safeties. The task was quick, easy, and stupid, leaving us with a death trap that might survive the trip down the mountain without exploding.
Then…the Collectors would find us. Even if they didn’t, Penny would freeze to death. I snarled at myself. Why do I care about this human? She’s right; without her, I’d be safe on my ship and on my way to show off The End to my brothers.
Irrelevant. How we landed in this mess doesn’t matter, only how we get out of it. I cast about for a better idea than hers. It didn’t need to be good.
Penny pushed against me, squirming out of both my hug and my jacket. That snapped my attention back to her as she focused on the engine. Pale skin turning blue in the freezing wind, she still pulled off her cloak. I snarled and reached for her, wondering what madness had afflicted my companion.
Before I could restrain her, she whipped off her whisperlight cloak and wrapped it around the engine block. I paused, giving her the few moments she needed to pin it in place using hairpins and her brooch.
“There,” she said, teeth chattering. That did nothing to reduce the fierce intensity in her voice. “Don’t stand there gawking, get moving.”
“You’ll freeze,” I objected, mouth on automatic as my brain struggled to keep up. She just glared at me, impatient, shivering, beautiful.
“This won’t work.” I leaped into the driver’s seat and grabbed the controls as I spoke, my heart leaping with hope in defiance of my words. “You’ve blocked the air intakes.”
The skimmer hummed back into motion, several new error messages appearing on the control surface. I swiped them away as Penny pulled my jacket back on and pulled herself up next to me.
“Better ideas are welcome,” she said, squeezing in tight at my side. For my body warmth, I told myself. Nothing more than that.
Doesn’t matter. If I’m going to die, I will take what joy I can find. I slipped one arm around her, holding her to me as I gunned the engine.