Chapter 16
Zil raced along the rocky formations spearing up from the landscape around them as he deftly wove a swift path between and among them.
His chest rose and fell laboriously with every breath as he ran with his precious little female tucked safely in his arms. Despite the urgency of the situation, he was not entirely successful when it came to ignoring the way her body rubbed against his as he loped over the rough terrain.
If it were not for the fact that the entirety of his being was focused on keeping her safe, he might have allowed himself the tiniest pleasure in the circumstances he found himself in—but there was no space for that when alarm roared through him at the sound of the smaller fighter heading back toward them.
There may have been no immediate room for lust or his more primitive instincts, but his mind did not grow silent in their moment of peril.
It worked rapidly as he analyzed their situation.
Could he ambush their pursuers and steal the fighter?
Small drop vessels and fighters could not travel far on their own.
He was not even certain if they would be able to get to a reasonably civilized part of the sector before it ran out of fuel and required recharging.
They were not designed to cross larger segments of space on their own power.
Rather, they traveled while docked on a massive transport vessel or warship.
The fighter would not provide much of an option for them in terms of escape.
It seemed that their best chance still lay with the beacon tower.
Daisy peered over his shoulder and whimpered as she clung tighter to him, her heart thudding with such speed that it was mildly distracting.
He did not need to guess the reason. The whining sound from above alerted him to the enemy’s approach seconds before a stream of plasma fire hit the ground on either side of him.
Using his tracking systems to monitor his immediate surroundings, he wove a twisted path among the rocky spires that were quickly growing taller and more massive the closer they got to the mountain.
The fighter continued to rain plasma fire from above as it swept overhead and made a wide circle to swing back around them and lay another path of fire as he raced across the distance to the rising slopes just ahead of him.
“Only a little farther,” he rasped to the female in his arms. “We are almost there. My sensors are picking up a fissure within the rocks a short distance up the mountain. We can find safety in there.”
“Fuck, I hope you’re right!” she replied, her head whipping around as she attempted to get a look at the ship. “Looks like he’s coming back around and coming in low.”
Zil glanced back at the approaching ship and grunted in agreement.
He engaged his cybernetic boosters as he sprinted up the slopes, sacrificing his strategy of moving unpredictably for speed.
His sensors flashed brighter, outlining the presence of the entrance in the rocks within his processors as it drew closer and closer.
He bared his teeth with his exertion, his crest fluttering back as it caught the air.
The lower slopes of the mountain were a twisted network of jagged rocks that rivaled anything he had ever seen.
Black shards of glass thrust up from the ground in bladelike towers, and grotesquely twisted spires rose in such closely clustered formations that he could barely find a place to put his feet that would not potentially lead to damaging himself or Daisy.
Just brushing against them could split her delicate skin.
Growling low in his throat, he ducked between a pair of rocks that were partially collapsed against each other and slipped into the fissure just beyond that, as another round of plasma fire caused the glasslike rock outside to shatter explosively.
Zil whirled toward the sound as the towers collapsed into themselves, dropping to the ground with earthshaking crashes.
They were far enough inside the crevice that none of the flying shards reached them, but he immediately pulled the scarf up from around his neck and covered his nose and mouth even as Daisy yanked the loosely folded material around the neck of her TRS up over her nose, concealing the lower half of her face.
She exchanged a look with him and glanced toward the ground in a silent command that he obeyed as he slowly lowered her to her feet.
“Do you have any glow rods?” she whispered.
Zil nodded and handed one to her, and squinted in response to the sudden flare of light when she ignited it.
Light bounced radiantly off the surrounding crystalline structures within the cavern.
Daisy made an appreciative sound as she turned in place, lifting her light to the gemstones that caught and scattered the light’s beams in a dazzling display.
“Wow,” she whispered. “I never would have imagined that this planet would have a place like this!”
He nodded in silent agreement as his gaze skimmed with disdain over the shimmering surface.
“It explains why there is a beacon tower here,” he remarked.
“On the surface, this planet does not seem to have anything of value to the Daranthiki empire, but it seems that we have discovered what brought them here.” He shook his head in disgust. “Famine is ongoing throughout some isolated parts of the sectors. How is all this wealth not being distributed for the relief of our farming worlds? Gems like this on the intergalactic market could have bought enough provisions and seed to get them through at least two or three intergalactic standard revolutions of planting and harvesting new crops.”
“While this is an important question,” Diasy murmured in agreement, “I think our more immediate concern is how we are going to get up to the beacon when the Valthaan have us trapped in here?”
He turned and peered deeper into the cavern. At the far end it seemed to taper intentionally, like a carved-out tunnel that he found intriguing. What was certain was that there was more to this place than it initially seemed.
“This way,” he rumbled, and he struck out deeper into the cavern, making for the far tunnel. “If there is an active mine, then there should be a Daranthiki mining outpost here where we might receive assistance.”
“Let’s hope so,” Daisy quietly commented as she hurried after him.
It didn’t take them long to find the carved staircase that descended into the belly of the mine.
From the corner of his eye, he watched as Daisy’s head angled upward and turned to take in their surroundings as they silently passed through the support posts that framed the entrance.
Gradually the gemstones around them grew larger, and as the path continued deeper within the cave system, it began taking on ordered characteristics of an established route with a main road that led through the center of the mountain, complete with sturdy bridges that stretched across steep drops and fissures.
Zil gazed down curiously at the inky depths as he walked across.
It was odd. He did not hear anything. No sound of operations.
No workers. The cavern was immense, so even distant sounds within the mines and the mining village should have carried.
He could easily hear Daisy whispering under her breath, the light reflecting off structures made of the black stone that resumed in that part of the cavern wall.
“Zil, this place—” she began, and he nodded before she could even finish her thought, as his own were following in the same direction.
“It is a mining village deep within the mountain,” he observed. “Those brought down here would work within the mountain. They would also eat here and sleep here.”
“Their entire lives were underground,” she whispered with a shudder. “Zil—I don’t get it. Where is everyone? This place looks like a... a ghost town. I wonder what happened to them. There doesn’t seem to be anyone here now.”
He cocked his head, listening as his eyes trailed over one dark building after another as they entered the village.
“I do not know. Many offworld operations were shut down in the latter part of the war with your United Earth,” he said quietly.
“Although a mine like this would have brought in considerable profit for the empire to fund their war, it is at the far edge of Daranthiki space, which made transport ships coming and going from the mine vulnerable to pirate attacks and supplies slow to come in. It is not the first mining world that would have been closed. I supervised a few closures before I left my post as an elite legionnaire.”
“Or it’s because of something horrific coming up from deep within the mine and eating everyone,” she muttered.
Zil hesitated because that was not entirely unheard of either, but he was not going to tell her that. Instead, he glanced over at her and gave a rusty chuckle. “Your imagination is somewhat concerning,” he teased, and her lips quirked humorously.
“I’m not going to lie, being deep underground like this has always frightened me a bit,” she confided in a low voice, her eyes trailing over the dimly lit silhouettes of the buildings. “It’s so dark and possesses such hidden depths that it’s impossible to know what else might be lurking below.”
He grunted in agreement. “At least it will be easier to rest down here than on the surface.” He nodded to her burned skin. “I will not have to worry about you burning in the early morning sun while you sleep.”
Daisy made a face. “Great. So, my options are to die from sun poisoning or as dinner to some cave-dwelling monstrosity. I am sure wrapped in a dusty blanket I will make a great tamale.” She shook her head tiredly as she lifted her glow stick.
“I’m not going to lie. I could sleep for a day or two. But where?”
“Residential quarters should be this way,” he replied as he led her into a small, twisted network of small structures built into the side of the mine.
Daisy shone a light into a window and shivered. “No offense, but this is not giving off very restful vibes.”
“No. It does not,” he agreed. Whether it was even inhabitable was questionable. He could not believe that this was what passed for imperial-approved housing for miners.
Frowning, Zil ducked into one of the structures that served as humble quarters at one point for a resident miner.
With his enhancements, he did not fit quite as well as a standard Daranthiki, but the layout promised a comfortable place for them to rest. Rest he dearly needed after so severely draining his resources to escape from the Valthaan.
He sank wearily onto the bed. The bedroll was stiff with age and creaked under his weight, and the cloud of dust that rose was unpleasant, but it was better than sleeping on the hard ground as they had been.
He made room for Daisy on the bed and took her hand, drawing her down onto the bed beside him.
“Definitely not the Royal Intergalactic Palace Hotel,” she muttered as she set the glow stick on the floor and slid onto the bed. She moaned a bit, however, as she stretched out beside him, the sound shooting straight to his cock. “It does, however, beat sleeping on hard rocks.”
Daisy lay there for several minutes, and Zil’s eyes began drifting shut when he felt her stir and sit up abruptly. Cracking one eye open, he looked up at her, perplexed.
“Sorry,” she whispered with an apologetic grimace. “Do you mind switching?”
“Switching?” he echoed, and she nodded with a faint smile.
“Yeah, I would really rather be on the inside if that’s okay. This place gives me the creeps. Despite sleeping especially close to you in this bunk, I would really feel better if you could be the sacrifice between me and the door,” she whispered, drawing another reluctant laugh from him.
“Very well,” he agreed.
Zil climbed slowly out of the bed and stood at its side, waiting patiently as she scooted over to the far side of the bed, tucked up against the wall.
Drawing the quilt over herself, she snuggled down into it and plastered herself against said wall to give him room to lie down.
Rumbling gratefully, he stretched out on the bed.
His eyes began to drift shut again until he felt the small tremors of her small, shivering body.
It seemed that she was also easily susceptible to the cooler temperatures.
“Are you cold?” he growled.
“A bit,” she mumbled between the clicking sounds of her teeth.
He huffed and turned toward her, closing the space between them. “I do not know why you do not just say so. You freely comment and complain about everything else.”
“I... I know,” she chattered. “It’s all I have been doing. I kn... know I am spoiled and am accustomed to a certain sort of lifestyle, but I... I don’t want you to h... hate me.”
Those small, quietly spoken words touched something within him.
Zil sighed and curled his arm around her, drawing her against his body and into the heat of his embrace.
It was doing awkward things to his body, priming it in ways he was not accustomed to, but he did not have it within himself to allow her to suffer.
He inwardly cursed at how frighteningly cold her skin was.
Drawing her firmly against his side, he curled his tail around her legs and pulled the dusty blanket around them.
Daisy sneezed as the dust stirred anew, but soon settled against him with a yawn.
“You don’t think the Valthaan will find us in here, do you?”
He shook his head. “Eventually, but not yet. It will take them some time as they do not possess the scanning systems implanted into their heads and eyes as I do. You can sleep peacefully for some hours yet. I will be aware if someone approaches.”
Yawning again, she snuggled into him, and his heart clenched in response, warmth filling him.
“You’re sleepy too. Don’t stay awake,” she mumbled into his chest, and his lips curled affectionately as he peered down at her.
Her face was barely visible between her tousled hair and the press of her cheek into his chest. She felt perfect there, as if she belonged there and nowhere else.
“I will,” he whispered as he gently dragged the smooth side of his claw along her cheek. “Now sleep, Daisy. I’m here to protect you.”
He would always be there for her, for however long she let him.