Chapter 28
Chapter
Twenty-Eight
Skye
Ieyed the woman who appeared not to be human. “You know about the Vandar?”
Her enormous, luminous eyes fluttered iridescent eyelashes at me, the dark pupils horizontal slits instead of circles. “I do. The Vandar liberated my planet when I was a child.”
Kolt took a step closer to her, his expression eager. “Then you are not from this world?”
She slid her gaze to him and smiled. “From Gollun Prime? No. But I ended up coming here after leaving my planet to find more opportunities.”
“And you came to a place controlled by the Zagrath?” I tried to keep surprise out of my voice, but it seemed like bad luck to go from a liberated planet to an Imperial one.
“We weren’t always under Imperial control,” Athena said as she walked gracefully to stand by the tiny female. “Vallia arrived when we were a free city. Kashara used to be a place where the arts flourished.”
“Then the Zagrath arrived,” Kolt said, a dangerous current running beneath his words.
“The Zagrath arrived,” Vallia said. “Everything changed. Suddenly, there were rules about what could be performed and even what could be said.”
“No more political satire,” grumbled Hal.
Athena looped an arm around Vallia’s shoulders. “Nothing that could be considered criticism.”
“All transformative art is criticism!” Hal threw his arms in the air and then deflated.
“But now you’re here.” Vallia tipped her face to meet Kolt’s eyes. “If the Vandar are here, that means the Zagrath don’t stand a chance.”
I watched a multitude of emotions flit across Kolt’s face—sadness, confusion, anger—until he finally settled on regretful. “I am only one Vandar.”
Vallia laughed, the sound high and melodic. “But one Vandar is enough. The things I’ve seen ‘one Vandar’ do.”
I realized that Kolt still didn’t remember enough about himself or his past to know what she was talking about. Tales of the Vandar’s impressive deeds were as fantastical to him as they were to the rest of the crowd that had gathered.
I stepped in. “He is a Vandar, but he can’t do anything to help unless he—or we—can escape from here.”
“You’re the convicts the guards were searching for,” another woman said, no question in her voice.
There was no sense in trying to hide the truth of it anymore. Either these theatre folk would help us or they would turn us in, but my gut told me they wouldn’t lift a finger to help the Zagrath.
“We are,” I said, lifting my chin. “But we aren’t criminals. We were taken as bait. The Empire wants to use us to draw the Vandar horde into a trap so they can be destroyed.”
Vallia drew herself up to her full, but still diminutive, height. “Well, that’s not happening on my watch.” She winked one eye. “And I’m tougher than I look.”
“She is.” Hal said in a voice that said he’d been on the receiving end of her toughness.
Vallia laughed. “You have to learn to land a punch when you’re small.”
Athena smiled and put her hands on her hips. “It’s not happening on my watch either.”
Murmurs of agreement rippled through the group, along with fervent nodding.
“You’ll help us?” My voice cracked as I took in the various actors and crew surrounding us on the stage. “Even though it means defying the Empire.”
“Why in the sand-blasted hells do you think we’re doing it?” a tall man in back rasped.
Athena shot him an exasperated look. “That’s not the only reason.” Then she slid a wink my way. “But it helps.”
“You’re safe here,” Hal said, before leveling a finger at the assembled group. “No one will say a word about you. No one will even whisper about you outside of this theatre. Is that clear?”
Athena patted him on the back as she gave a gentle smile to the people he’d just admonished. “These two are now a part of our family. And our family takes care of its own.”
More nods and murmured agreement as the energy on the stage shifted from curiosity to unity.
Suddenly, I remembered something. “That mark over the side door. What does it mean?”
The troupe members exchanged glances before Hal cleared his throat. “It’s a symbol we use here in Kashara to let people know that we’re a haven.”
“It’s been used by those who work against the Zagrath,” Vallia said. “I’m surprised you noticed it.”
“I first saw it in the prison,” I said. “It was carved on a bench.”
The female’s mouth thinned. “I am not surprised. Many rebels have vanished into the prison, never to be heard from again.”
A growl rumbled Kolt’s chest. “For rendering aid to a battle chief of the Vandar, I vow on the gods of old that we will liberate your planet from the Zagrath. ”
I glanced at him, curious that he’d used Vandar speak. It must be second nature to him, like muscle memory but with words.
“Battle chief?” Vallia’s gigantic eyes grew even larger.
I suspected that she probably knew more about what the position entailed than Kolt did, but I would not be the one to reveal his memory loss. As a matter of fact, the fewer people who knew about that, the better.
“This all sounds great.” A woman with ample curves and a blue bouffant snatched the dropped bag from the floor. “But why don’t we eat while we talk? I’m starving.”
More bags were opened, and flat rings of bread dotted with multicolored seeds were passed around as everyone sat down in a semblance of a circle on the stage.
The light pouring through the skylights overhead now shone on the audience pit, and faint sounds of the city crept through the high, open windows.
The bread was warm and soft, and the scent of yeast made my stomach growl.
I didn’t hesitate to bite into mine, moaning as the dough sank beneath my teeth and the flavors exploded on my tongue.
The bread itself was pliant, and it was only as I chewed that I tasted the full spectrum of flavors.
The seeds didn’t just provide texture. They were both savory and spicy, and the combination was strangely delicious.
I finished one ring and accepted another from an amused boy with shaggy hair and a crooked smile who told me I was a fast eater.
“But not as fast as him.” He hiked at thumb at Kolt who was finishing one circle of bread while already biting into another.
The Vandar swallowed and leaned closer to me. “Do you trust them?”
I glanced around to be sure no one else had heard him, but everyone else was too focused on eating and swapping tales of what they’d gotten up to the night before.
I nodded. “They don’t strike me as the kind who fall in line with a controlling regime.
” Then I thought about what had happened when the Vandar had come to my planet to liberate us.
“I also don’t think they’d take too kindly to you guys taking females as payment or leverage. ”
His brow furrowed. “Why would the Vandar do that?”
I’d been testing his memory, but I guess he didn’t remember the whole war bride thing.
I still wasn’t sure if I believed what he’d told me about it before he’d lost his memories.
If it had really been done to save Jasmine then my reasons for despising the Vandar were quickly vanishing. Especially since I was falling for one.
Clearly, Vallia thought they were the good guys. Maybe they were. The current version of Kolt certainly was, but was that the real him?
“I promised these people that the Vandar will liberate this planet.” He gestured with a half-eaten ring of bread, and some of the seeds went flying. “I do not intend to go back on my word.”
He was so earnest that I couldn’t help but believe him. “Then I guess we’d better figure out how to escape so you can keep your promise.”