Chapter 8
ADRYEL
“You are so going to put me down,” Adryel said, pounding on the Kantenan who had just thrown her over his shoulder like a bag of food.
“You wouldn't be able to stand if I did.”
“I’ll be fine. I have to get back to the others. They need help. There’s—”
“Are you their leader?” he asked, his pace slowing. He seemed genuinely curious.
Or maybe Kantenans had a weird sense of small talk. Didn't matter. She was being carried over this big dude's shoulder.
Right next to the ridges coming out of his back.
She grabbed onto them and started using the protruding shapes as grips to raise herself back up.
“Do you mind not touching those?”
“Put me down, and I’ll let go.”
He growled.
Her brain started to swim. Which wasn’t helping her attempt to climb up this big guy. “Look, I don't want--”
Others called out to this male because he stopped and spun around. “Give me a moment,” he called back.
He kept moving with her, and she managed to raise herself up, getting a view of the chaos around them.
At the ship, many girls were standing near the edge and looking down. Some were crying and upset. Others were pointing.
“Let me down,” she said.
“I am going to get you--”
She grabbed his horn and started to pull on it.
“Stop that!” he snapped and shifted his grip on her. His big hands ran over her thighs and up to her rear. It pissed her off because she liked the way his big hands felt.
“Watch it,” she snapped and slapped his hand. “Put me down. I am not incapacitated.”
He lowered her to the ground. “Fine.”
She pointed at him. “And don't be touching me like that! My ass is not open for test feels.”
He glared at her. “If you had just behaved--”
“Look, buddy, I'm not your little pretend date. I have a purpose here, and I'm not about to let you muck it up for me.”
“As you should,” he said.
She nodded, and boy did that make her head spin. But she wasn't going to let him know that. Instead, she marched over to where the other girls were freaking out. When she got over there, some of the staff was attempting to get them back on the ship.
“We can't get on there!” one girl said that Adryel recognized, but she wasn't positive on her name. Chola. Chloe? Cholka? Something like that.
The ground still felt wobbly and unstable, though Adryel wasn’t sure if it was the landing pad or her own balance all mucked up from hitting her head.
“We have to get out of here,” Adryel said.
“We need to get back on the ship and get back into orbit.” Whatever had happened, they were safer on their ship and in orbit until whatever happened was figured out.
Was it an accident? Or something worse.
In Adryel’s experience, it was almost always something worse.
Space was amazingly easy to get lost in, the vastness made it very easy to hide in whenever it was necessary.
There were even known to be colonies that just lived in space.
They floated around from system to system, bartering as needed and generally keeping to themselves.
It would be easy for them to drift off somewhere until this whole mess was cleared up, and everything was safe.
It seemed the most logical thing to do, under the circumstances.
The girl pointed at the edge. “But, but, they're down there.”
“Who's down there?” Adryel asked, looking over the edge.
She couldn't see anything. Debris. Smoke.
All she could see was the jungle beneath the landing platforms. It looked like a huge pile of shades of green and black.
Where the floor of that jungle was, she couldn't make it out.
It was too far down. “There's nothing down there.”
“Graecey's down there!”
Adryel looked back over the edge. “Oh no.”
She glanced around for the big Kantenan who had picked her up. He seemed like an important guy. Others were deferring to him about things, anyway. He must know something to get them through this.
She finally saw him across the way, talking with other guards, some were with the Galactic Alliance, and others were more of the red-skinned Kantenans. None of them had the same fancy clothing that he wore, though.
“Hey!” she yelled. “Hey, you. Big Kantenan.”
He turned and looked her way. The horns on the side of his head looked bigger than they had before.
Maybe she just didn't realize how large they were, coiled around the side of his head. She glanced at some of the other Kantenans that looked her way as well. They all had horns, but they all varied in shape and size.
None of them looked at her quite like he did, either.
It was unnerving.
“Ship to Adryel. Are you okay?” The girl next to her, the one whose name she couldn't remember, smacked her arm. Adryel rubbed it, and they both turned back to the Kantenan. “Whoa. Do they always look at us like that?”
“Cholka, what are you... Oh,” another girl, this one Adryel did know--Tanny--said. “Oh my.”
The big Kantenan, followed by a few more, came over. His gaze darted over them all, then settled squarely on Adryel.
The Galactic Alliance people were coming off the ship with the volunteers and herding them to the other side of the landing pad.
“What is all this?” Adryel asked. “We need to get aboard and get everyone into orbit, and in safety.”
“Your people are being moved to a more secure location,” the big Kantenan said.
No, this was wrong. They needed to get out of there. Off this planet, as soon as possible. Not get stuck here in some cell where the Kantenans control their coming and going.
“On what authority?” Adryel asked. “Yours?” Sure, she’d just wanted his help, but it was to find those who had fallen.
To find Graecey.
Not to haul them all up and lock them away somewhere.
“In point of fact, yes.”
She waved her hand. “Great. You’re a male who just decides to start doing things,” she muttered.
He crossed his arms. “We need to get you to a secured location. And get you medical attention.”
“No.” Adryel said. Her side was starting to hurt, though she wasn’t about to admit that. She'd evidently hit the wall harder than she thought. “We lost people over the edge. Our leader, as a matter of fact. We need to go down there--”
“No.”
“What do you mean, 'No'? I have friends down there!” Adryel snapped. She gestured to the edge of the landing platform. “Who knows how many of our people fell over the ledge when this thing started to crumble—”
“All the more reason we are getting you to a secured location. We need to inventory your people and find out who is missing.”
“Inventory us? We’re not food stock!”
“Inventory! To count!”
“Again, our value to you ranks right up there with food stock.” She took a step towards him, and pointed to the edge. “Graecey’s down there, and I’m going to get her.”
“You're not going anywhere. You are bleeding.” He gestured to her side.
Adryel looked down. “Damn.” Sure enough, she had blood on her side. It couldn't be that bad if it wasn't hurting, though. She patted the spot.
It was tender, but she’d have to pull off her shirt to see the wound. Probably superficial.
“Oh wow, Adryel,” Cholka said. “What happened?”
“Doesn't matter. I'm fine,” she said, and glanced back at the Kantenan. “Still doesn't change information.”
“You're not going down there. You are wounded.”
“Well, someone needs to go down there,” she fired back.
“Not yet. You need to be healed. When the platform is secured, we will--”
The ground began to rumble.
Adryel started to shake.
She fell into the arms of the Kantenan as another explosion rocked the platform and Adryel to her core.