Chapter 9 #2
A shadowed form appeared in the storm. Vessa’s hand tightened around her hilt with anticipation. She craved a fight. There was no room for emotions or memories in combat. And gods, maybe it would warm her up.
The Orcru pushed through. He was dressed in armor tailored to him, and there was a deeper intelligence in his eyes. His posture was better and his muscles defined. A war Orcru, then.
He sent another arrow flying into the cave. Kedar caught it and turned it away from him as it burst. Show off.
The Orcru threw his crossbow at them before unsheathing his thick-bladed saber. Another one stepped in behind him.
“Let them come to us,” Kedar said, powering his plasma dirk. The light of it cast them into a red haze. “If there’s more, they can funnel in one at a time to meet their fate.”
She wholeheartedly agreed with him, which was exactly why she stepped forward to engage them anyway. He wasn’t her gods damn commander and these were her kills.
Kedar growled something behind her, and she drew up short. But not because of him. Behind her opponents, a strange shadow hung on the other side of the snow. A dancing, creeping thing. There one moment, gone the next.
Definitely not Orcru.
A thick, blue leg reached through the snow. Then another. From above.
Vessa took a step back. The war Orcru took her retreat as a sign of victory. He confidently stepped forward to close the distance.
She only had eyes for the Vydera, though.
Without a sound, it came through the snow.
Eight opalescent orbs were trained on the second Orcru’s back as two more legs anchored it inside the cave’s entrance.
It raised its fangs, stilled. Then its eyes, all of them, slowly rolled to look at her and Kedar.
Fear was ice in her veins. She couldn’t look away. Couldn’t move.
Vessa felt another presence within herself. It brushed against her awareness with a feather-soft touch, and understanding washed over her in a way she would never be able to explain. It was there and gone just as fast. Kedar’s plasma dirk powered down. Had he experienced the same thing?
Vessa held the Orcru at bay with a swing of her raze sword. He finally reached them in the same moment the female Vydera struck his companion.
She was a silent assassin. Her attack was so swift and exacting the second Orcru didn’t have time to scream. He was pulled up and out. The only evidence of his fate was a sickening crunch that could be heard over the storm.
The remaining Orcru whipped around, giving his back to Vessa and Kedar. She could have easily stuck her raze sword through a weak point in his armor, but that wasn’t the deal.
“You belong to her now,” Kedar said with an ominous finality.
As if summoned, the Vydera returned. She unfurled herself as she pushed fully into the cave. Her legs unfolded, stretched out in that elegant arachnoid way. Her armored body was wide and tapered into her plump abdomen, which bore complex markings. Snow stuck to invisible hairs and made her glimmer.
She was breathtaking and absolutely terrifying.
The battle-hardened Orcru lifted his saber with a shaky arm and invoked a god’s name. But only she answered.
Kedar and Vessa backed away as the Vydera struck.
Her prey didn’t stand a chance as he swung his blade uselessly at her.
It clacked against her legs, serving only to annoy her.
She trapped him with her front two legs.
Pulled him toward her impressive waiting fangs.
They sank deep into his shoulder. Unable to move or cry out, he was at her full mercy.
Those ancient and intelligent opaline eyes roved over Vessa and Kedar as she shuffled the body efficiently between her legs toward her backside.
Within seconds, the Orcru was enclosed in a silk coffin.
Then the Vydera backed out of the entrance, holding their gazes the entire time, before disappearing.
Vessa let her raze sword retract, but she could hardly believe what she’d witnessed.
Kedar lifted a shoulder in a lazy shrug. “That’s why I threw Orcru down to them. She knows me. I could come here centuries from now and her cluster, if not her entire colony, would remember me, and you by association.”
“Fine,” Vessa said, blowing a lock of hair out of her face. “Thank you for being a Vydera whisperer. I’m sure you’re looking forward to the future family reunion. Unfortunately, I’ll be unavailable. Busy.”
Just as she was about to once more put as much distance between them as possible, that same unnatural howl rang out.
“What is that?” she asked, taking a step into the tunnel.
“Don’t,” Kedar said. “You’re worthless in this storm. I’ll recon and—”
“You are so fucking irritating,” she growled, rounding on him.
Pits, she hadn’t even been trying to go outside.
As much as she itched for a fight, she was not trying to meet yet another creature that called this planet its home in the elements.
“I’ve never needed you to tell me what to do.
I did just fine before you and after you.
You’re acting like I didn’t beat you soundly seven years ago. You arrogant, odious—”
“Vessa!” Kedar lunged for her, but it was too late.
Something long and whip-like wrapped around her leg and pulled her out of the cave.