Chapter 23
Jolene
Khawla had a very hard time letting go of me after that fight.
Since I’d nearly been a goner—my throat throbbing painfully where that big alien had gripped me—I had a hard time myself.
In his arms, I felt safe, but I had a responsibility to my girls: to reassure them, get them out, and bring them to safety.
I was also the most suited person to take care of the injured, including Eva and a still-unconscious purple Naga male.
So, even though I wanted to bask a little longer in my loving mate’s big, brawny arms, I had to move.
Love. I couldn’t believe that had finally happened to me, but now I couldn’t imagine life without it, without him.
It was all going to be a giant adventure: the next few weeks, months, probably years.
There was so much still to figure out, but with my Naga scout at my side, I knew it was going to turn out just fine.
Jasmine was grinning at me, smirking and winking when she caught my eye.
I found myself blushing, which was so out of character that it caught me by surprise.
I’d never been the girl with the boyfriend, but now I was—and it felt good.
The other ladies were a bit more reticent, staring with wide eyes at me and Khawla or at the bodies strewn about the entrance area to the hold.
The Krektar always stank to high heaven, but dead, they were even worse.
I didn’t like it, and Khawla didn’t either, but we had to get back into action.
I had more girls to wake, and I definitely needed to check the wounds of the two Naga hunters who had come with us.
I found a compromise by looping Khawla’s tail around my waist with a meaningful look.
He still hovered behind my back as I got to work, and that was okay. I liked having him there.
The Hunter with green scales was up, but a little bruised and scratched.
He acted cool when I quickly bandaged him up, but I saw his tail shiver along the floor at the tip.
The other one had woken up, groggy and a little confused; he needed more help than I could give him, but his buddy from Haven could prop him up and help him outside when we were ready to go.
I wanted to check on the Dragnell too, but he told me he needed no help in a rough growl.
That made Khawla growl back, and the wolfish alien smirked as if that pleased him.
“Tell your mate I have no beef with him,” he said, bushy tail gently swaying behind him.
“Are you waking more than just the girls?”
I paused, wondering if leaving the men asleep would be good or bad in his book, and whether I could risk angering him at this point.
I knew he’d taken a few good blows from the big rhino guy, but he seemed sharp and able now, while Khawla and the other two Naga were both wounded.
When it came down to it, I really didn’t know where Thor’s loyalty would lie, either.
He was, however, the one with the ready answer.
Having stood nearby and clearly listening in, the large, strange alien spoke in his heavily accented UAR.
“That would not be prudent at this time, would it? Too many mouths to feed in winter, and an unpredictable element at that. Get the females to safety first.” I eyed him, but he was watching how Jasmine was waking the last of my girls while Jessie was quickly bringing them up to speed.
We couldn’t linger much longer, so as soon as I’d wrapped the last bandage and Jasmine had woken the last girl we knew about, we headed for the exit.
Thor had yet to explain whose side he was on, but it seemed, for now, everyone was taking his presence in stride.
Khawla was keeping a very sharp eye on both him and the Dragnell.
They went out first, unarmed except for their knives and fists, then crouched protectively beneath the hull of the ship as the rest of us crawled outside.
I was instantly reminded how incredibly cold it was; everyone was shaking, huddled together for warmth, and rapidly losing all heat.
We needed to get them to our landing site and to the supplies that had been left there.
Warm furs, spare clothes; my girls would not survive without them.
Jasmine, despite the cold, stayed on the outskirts of our group with her bow at the ready.
I did the same with my sling, we were dressed warmly and had an unfair advantage.
With Khawla and the two aliens at the front, we reached the edge of the ship’s hulking form above us.
It was then that I got a good look at the battlefield outside, where Thunder Rock Naga, Krektar, and Haven Hunters had clashed.
Snow had melted in furrows; bodies were strewn left and right, some Naga, most Krektar.
They were still fighting, but it was a last, dying struggle, with only a few remaining Krektar.
From the looks of it, the Thunder Rock group had either fled or fallen.
When I noticed that, my eyes immediately went to the ridge where I’d seen the Queen overlooking the fight before. She was gone.
Zathar rose above the last dying Krektar with a bloodthirsty look, a pair of swords made of gleaming black stone in his hands.
Then he saw our group emerge, and his expression tempered.
“Khawla! You made it! That way!” He pointed with a sword, and I spotted the dragon guarding a makeshift camp in the shadow of the ship.
Even more interesting, a small, shuttle-like craft had landed there, and Artek was offering triage to wounded warriors.
It was still difficult to cross the deep snow to the temporary camp, and the sight of the dragon terrified my herd of rescues.
“He’s tame,” I assured them. “I even flew on his back! He’s like a big puppy, I swear.
There will be heat and warm clothes!” Jasmine concurred loudly, saying she’d had ample time to get to know the beast the past three months.
That got them moving, but not Thor. He stood by the side of the ship and stared at the now-quiet battlefield.
Zathar was directing his hunters to carry the wounded to Artek, but it wasn’t long before a small group also split off to point their spears at Thor and the Dragnell.
I thought perhaps the wolfish UAR alien would protest, call me a traitor—something to indicate he disliked this treatment—but to my surprise, he went quietly.
Thor too… I couldn’t figure him out for the life of me, and I didn’t try.
Then I had my hands full, and Khawla still hovered, getting in my way more often than not.
First, it was to help the girls into the warmth of the shuttle, where Kalani and I handed out furs by the boatload to get them all warmed up.
Then I ducked outside so I could assist Artek with his healing duties as best I could, and for a while, I forgot where I was.
It was just me and my patients—soothing worries, patching up cuts and bruises, and handing Artek tools from his bag when he treated the more seriously injured.
They brought in Thunder Rock’s injured too, and among them, to my shock, was Reshar.
I did not think he would want to be part of an attack party on the wreck; he hadn’t wanted me dead, after all.
Perhaps he’d had little choice, they had implied that obeying the Queen was their only option.
He was one of the worst, bleeding badly, and Artek seemed to struggle to stop it, even with his healing device.
When Zathar came to sit beside the makeshift cot, the family resemblance became obvious.
“Brothers—Zathar the oldest,” Khawla explained, as I dabbed blood away and then applied a fresh pressure bandage over the wound in the male’s gut.
“Unlike sisters, who are rivals from birth, brothers are often close.” He did not say it, but I knew he had felt close to his brother, Arosha.
Now outcast, it was unlikely they would see each other again, and I felt sorry.
“Reshar was particularly difficult to be close to,” Zathar admitted dryly.
“But that didn’t mean I didn’t try. He was brave today.
” Then the Haven leader left, turning away to attend to others.
He stopped by several of the Thunder Rock warriors who were awake but too injured to leave, speaking quietly to them without any hostility.
“Now what?” I asked hours later, cold and tired, when Artek and I had seen to the last patient.
They were all being loaded onto the shuttle now, which, Artek had confided in me between healing sessions, had been hidden at his home.
All Shamans learned how to fly them, but he’d been a little rusty since the last time, and very relieved that Min-Ji, a human pilot from Haven, had taken over after he’d brought Nala there first.
“Now, you get warm and eat something,” Khawla growled at me.
“Then we’ll figure out what to do with everyone.
” Getting off my feet sounded like a great plan right now, and I was only too happy to let Khawla lead me around the dragon to where the campfires were burning and tents were pitched.
To make space on the ship, my girls—now warmly dressed—had been brought back out, and they were huddled around one fire, clustered tightly together and staring distrustfully at everything around them.
I could see Thor and the Dragnell by one campfire, still under guard, and hunters circled the camp with watchful gazes.
I didn’t think anyone would try to attack with the dragon right there, lying as a convenient wind shield to one side, its wing raised like a big sail to offer a bit of shelter.
“Anyone talked to them yet?” I asked, pointing at the pair.
Zathar would be the most likely candidate, but he was with Artek by the shuttle, talking with the Shaman in hushed whispers.