Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Maloidians.
Illan frowned. “Why?” he whispered. “They have no reason to be on this planet.”
“Smells like they have lived here for years.”
The reality was remarkable the deeper they went. Along the rock walls, genkoo grew in gelatinous yellow globules.
“It is warm enough for the plant to thrive,” Brac said. “Perhaps they grew tired of rehydrator food?”
Illan couldn’t help but find the male impressive. “Traveled to Maloid?”
“Many a time.”
When they reached the bottom of the stairs, Brac slowed and lowered Illan to his feet.
Brac angled his head, listening intently. “They want to mate with Lady Faerar. Their one female died a while ago, and they are lonely.”
“So they kidnap any female?” Illan tried to hide his shock. After how the Yithians tortured him, he shouldn’t be astounded by the evil in the universe. Still, had they stumbled upon Ziamee on her rounds, she’d be in this predicament and not her mother. Either was bad, regardless.
“She is well, for now.” Brac raised his blaster past chin-height. “Stay behind me.”
Illan nodded. “My focus will be on her.”
“Agreed.” With a finger, Brac nudged the door aside.
It squealed, its grooves gritty.
Brac muttered a curse and charged in, firing seven times before Illan had breached the room.
The common was massive with several doors leading off it.
A center table had six males slumped over their bowls and drawn blasters, their yellow tentacles no longer swaying.
Another was sprawled on the floor, his pale-yellow face contorted in surprise, his weapon lying in his limp hand. They were all dead.
Faerar huddled in a corner, tied to a hook in the wall. Illan’s steps faltered when she met his gaze, her eyes so like Ziamee’s. Joy brightened her face.
“A Durn,” she rasped, her voice hoarse.
“Do not be alarmed. Are there more Maloidians?” he asked.
“Not sure.” She shook her head, bouncing her short-cropped hair. “Mm, never thought to meet another species on Vora.”
“Amet sent us to find you.” He gestured to Brac, who was checking each body for signs of life.
“An Etterian,” she said. “I’m so grateful to you both. I expected to endure an impossible hell.”
“What is this place?” Illan asked, holstering his blaster to untie her.
She staggered to her feet, shrugging off his offer to help her stand. Her stubbornness was so like her daughter’s.
“I’ve never seen this place. Oz didn’t even know Maloidians were onworld.” She rubbed her bruised wrists. “A habitable world left uninhabited?”
Illan took out his med-gun and ran it over the minor scratches across her arms and hands. “Brac says he thinks they have been here a long time.”
“I can’t confirm,” she said. “They’re speaking a language I don’t know.”
“Maloidians have an extensive lifespan, like Durns,” Brac said as he fiddled with a console set to the side of the common.
He hummed. “This is most intriguing. Leave me. Return to Amet. I wish to discover the purpose of this place.” He leaned in, typed a few buttons, then said, “That should lower the shield. Ulta, do you read me?”
An image of the pilot appeared on the many display vids. “I do.”
“We are inside the facility.” Brac ran his gaze over the common, then faced the male. “I am sending you its schematics. Analyze those while I sift through their logs.”
Illan pocketed the med-gun and smiled at Faerar. “Come. I shall summon the kuta when we reach the surface.”
“Amet saw the kidnapping?” she asked as they climbed.
“Yes, and requested we head to your location immediately.”
She scowled. “I do appreciate the rescue, but I have no intention of returning to the Haile. My home is the cave. Alone.”
Illan frowned, not liking their lack of concern for their daughter. He’d hoped her mother was more…maternal. “At least spend some time with Ziamee. She was devastated to learn you have been alive and well all these years.”
“Elorach’s ear!” Faerar punched a fist into a palm. “That male didn’t tell her the truth? I should’ve predicted this.” She faced Illan, peering at him from the higher step. “My sweet daughter believed I’d died?”
“Yes.”
Anger flushed her features. “Do you have a weapon?”
Giving her his dagger or blaster was out of the question. Besides, how could she ask him that when he stood before her with his weapons obvious? “No.”
“You lie,” she snapped, waving her hand at his blaster.
“I protect Ziamee. She does not need either of you wounded.”
Faerar stilled, her eyes widening then softening. “You love her.”
He cared. Knowing that and not digging deeper was good enough for now. “I cannot say.”
She harumphed and continued up the stairs.
“What truth did Amet omit?” he asked.
“I shall not repeat myself, so when I speak to Ziamee, then you, too, will know.” She stepped onto the path and drew in a deep breath.
Illan took a moment to enjoy the breeze cooling him before he activated his O.D.I. “Coll, to my location. You will need to lower a harness.”
“That is not necessary,” Ulta said. “Whatever you and Brac did has revealed the base. I can lock onto you and port you to Lady Faerar’s cave.”
“Do so,” Illan said, touching her on the shoulder. “Inform Coll of this.”
They appeared beside the fire pit.
She gasped, spun on the spot, then gripped Illan’s wrist. “Was that teleporting?”
“Much has changed since your crash landing.”
“Yes,” she said, smoothing her hair even as a wind tossed it. “The Haile wasn’t state-of-the-art when we bought it. I’d heard whisperings of this technology, but we encountered so few people…”
“Coll, how far out are you?” Illan asked his O.D.I.
“A few minutes.”
“What—” She clapped her hand over her mouth. When she removed it, she was beaming. “Oh, this is amazing. An O.D.I.? This’s real.” She laughed. “Are you here to take us offworld?”
“I plan to, yes.” He gazed at the sky painted so many breathtaking colors by the setting sun. “Why did you not return to the Haile?”
“I tried but couldn’t make it past the buvarre. Amet’s attempts to reach me were as futile.” Her gaze turned distant, darkened with sadness. “I expected to die alone.”
Illan couldn’t dwell on the past, not when nothing could be verified. “Tell me, is Amet a nizena?”
She frowned, her joy fading. “Why do you ask?”
“I am assuming a mother would return to her daughter if she is in pain.”
She paled. “Is Ziamee unwell?”
“She was injured badly many years ago. Twice.”
“I—didn’t know. She’s been limping for twelve years, but he said it was her lack of shoes.”
How deep did the lies go? What had Amet hoped to gain? His deception wasn’t what interested Illan. “The only explanation for Amet’s ability to shield this from you is that he has the gift.”
“I can’t say if he hid something from me. How would I know?” She narrowed her eyes. “It was by sheer luck I discovered the truth, so perhaps he’s a nizena.”
The low hum of the kuta approaching ended the conversation. She grinned as the shuttle landed, and yet her eyes held sadness hardened by anger.
The door opened to Ziamee leaping out and rushing toward them. She threw her arms around Illan, taking him by surprise. “Thank you,” she whispered, her words sending a spark of happiness through him. When she stepped back, tears dewed on her eyelashes. She faced her mother. “Mudya.”
“Little one,” Faerar said and dragged Ziamee into a hug. “I’ve watched you grow up, more beautiful than you know.”
“Why?” Ziamee demanded without pulling away. “Why did you leave me? Us?”
“Come, it’s time.”
“Faerar.” Amet’s voice held a warning note.
“To Hikos’s abyss with you,” Faerar snapped. “What other lies have you spun? I chose to abandon you both? I died? How could you, Amet? Did you tell her you broke the beacon? That you never wanted to leave this world?”
“Padya?” Ziamee glanced between them.
Amet’s face flushed, fury stiffening his shoulders. “You gave me no choice, going on about how a rescue was coming and giving her such false hope.”
“So you made sure we were stuck here.” Faerar rested her hands on her hips.
“And when were you going to tell me she’d been wounded?
” She charged across the distance between them and slapped him across the face.
“Her shoes made her limp?” A tear slipped over her cheek.
“And the fool that I am, I believed you. What else have you hidden from me?”
Ziamee leaned into Illan’s side, her trembling shoulders bowed. He looped his arm around her, pulling her close.
“Do you want to leave?” he whispered.
She shook her head. “I need to hear it all.”
“All this time, I thought a buvarre had shredded my rope.” Faerar’s eyes widened, horror paling her cheeks. “You did it and hid it from me. You…trapped me up here.”
Ziamee whimpered and curled into Illan’s embrace, burying her face in the crook of his neck.
“I was hoping some time away would make you realize what mattered,” Amet said, his tone almost too quiet.
“For twelve years, you imprisoned me. Cost me time with my daughter, made her think I’d died.” A sob escaped Faerar, but she pushed on. “Why, Amet? I thought you loved me…us. These aren’t the actions of an honorable male.”
Amet tried to speak, but she glared him into silence.
“I cannot trust a word out of your mouth. Despite your best efforts, a rescue has arrived. Ziamee and I are going offworld. You…” Her chuckle was cold. “Can stay and think about what you’ve done.”
“I have a say—”
“Do you?” She arched a brow. “Does he?” She glanced at Illan.
“I go where Ziamee goes,” he said. “Ohara, what would you prefer to do?”
Ziamee pulled out of his arms but trailed her fingers down to Illan’s fingertips and kept them there. “Padya, why?”
“I wanted to stay. It would take more than a lifetime to document this world. With you here, we might finish. But Faerar kept you hoping we’d escape this place. That kind of negativity wouldn’t do. So I protected you, trained you to survive, loved you enough for the both of us.”