Chapter 15
Calypsta
Somewhere in the Jungle
Kendra stood atop Reyne’s ship, shielding her eyes from the glaring sunlight with her hand.
They had crashed into a vibrant jungle teeming with life.
The air was rich with earthy aromas and a symphony of sounds created by unseen creatures.
Towering trees loomed like guardians, their trunks twisted and gnarled and covered in hairy roots.
Dense foliage stretched towards a deep azure sky where misshapen clouds drifted in soft waves.
In the distance, sweeping green mountaintops rose and fell in sharp angles.
Entranced by the untamed beauty surrounding her, she twirled, absorbing every shade of green, unique fragrance, and fascinating sound. It was all new and wonderful. She let loose a breathless laugh. "This is paradise.”
“Paradise to you, maybe," Reyne's lips compressed into a thin line. “To me, it’s a damn nightmare.”
Jarred by the sourness in his tone, she assessed the chaotic damage to his ship.
Beneath the broken limbs and leaf debris, the nose of the mangled vessel was wedged between dense foliage and freshly disturbed earth.
The left wing was twisted around a massive tree trunk.
Behind the wreckage, a path of snapped branches and downed trees indicated the erratic trajectory the ship took as it violently plunged through the dense growth to the jungle floor.
She gasped. “How did we survive?"
"To be honest, I'm not quite sure.” He massaged the back of neck. “When I regained consciousness, you were sprawled on the floor. I'm guessing the impact knocked you out cold. Don't you remember?"
“The last thing I remember was skimming the tops of the trees and switching to manual, after that...I...ahh...draw a blank."
His arm dropped and he stared at the twisted wreck that was once his ship. His expression held a hint of sorrow as his head shook side to side.
“I’m guessing it can’t fly?”
His sharp laugh was humorless. “Not a chance. It's damaged beyond repair.”
“I would say I’m sorry, but unlike you, I was taught not to lie.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to be sorry,” he replied, his lips tugged at the edges. “Especially since it was your fault.”
“What?” she shrieked. “My fault? How dare you cast the blame for this on me?”
“If you hadn’t drugged me…” Reyne turned away with a casual shrug.
“After you drugged me.” She spat at his retreating back. “And you liked it. Being drugged. You told me so.”
“Did I?”
The wretch had the gall to look over his shoulder with a hint of a smirk. He hopped down onto the ship’s right wing with a resounding thud that startled a roosting flock into instant flight. The colorful birds protested noisily as they littered the sky in search of a safer resting place.
Reyne gestured to her to follow.
“I still think we should stay with the ship,” she argued for the sake of arguing. She had never been in a crash before. She didn't know the rules.
He dropped to the side, throwing his legs over the edge of the mutated wing. He leaned forward, assessing the ground somewhere below. “I told you we don't have enough supplies, and the ship is leaking fluid that could be flammable. It's not safe to stay here.”
“Flammable?” Her hand flew to her throat.
“Can’t you smell the machine lubricant?”
She inhaled and did notice a slight metallic tang lingering in the air. Great. Now they were in danger of blowing up. With a reluctant sigh of resignation, she trailed him onto the slanting wing. “Is it safe down there?”
“Not sure, but I suppose there is only one way to find out.” He pushed off the edge and disappeared into the tangled vegetation below.
When several minutes ticked by without hearing from him, she dropped to her knees and peered into the thick layered greenery below the wing. “Reyne, where are you?”
To her immense relief, he moved into partial view between twisting vines, about ten feet down. “It’s safe. Jump to me, I’ll catch you.”
Jump? He must be crazy. Kendra shook her head from side to side.
“Come on,” he prompted with an impatient wave of his hand. “We haven’t got all day.”
A refusal died on her tongue as a dark shadow moved across her, then the ship. She glanced up just in time to witness a large, winged creature soaring overhead.
The raptor let out a piercing shriek and flapped its massive blue-black wings to gain altitude. Another shriek rent the air when a second creature joined the first, its wing-beats fierce as it tried to catch the first one.
An icy chill raked her spine when they began to circle above her in unison, two hunters in search of prey. She glanced back down to Reyne, offered a silent prayer, then pushed off the edge. She landed safely in Reyne’s waiting arms. “Did you hear that?”
Reyne settled her on her feet. “Of course. I’m not deaf.”
“They are raptors of some kind. Like a Taleari hawk, only much larger. I’m not exaggerating. They are huge and scary.”
“Don’t worry about them. I’m sure they are harmless. And even if they aren’t, they can’t reach us under the cover of the canopy.” Using his machete, Reyne began hacking at hanging vines, trying to clear a path through the thick tangled vegetation.
Don’t worry about it? Yeah right.
A liar Reyne may be, but he had spoken true when he said it was hot. Not just hot, the heat was suffocating with humidity so dense, you could practically see water vapors hanging in the air. She was already bathed in perspiration.
How was she going to survive several days of this sweltering hell—especially with someone she wanted to gut with a knife?
Sweat dripped down her face and into her eyes. “I’m starting to agree with you. This is a nightmare.”
“Well, it certainly isn’t a dream come true.”
She wiped her brow and flicked perspiration off the tips of her fingertips.
“What did you mean about being vulnerable because of your armband?” Kendra positioned herself as close behind him as possible without fear of accidentally being hit by his fierce swings.
“You know, the one you said Odin stole from you.”
Reyne stopped whacking and lifted his bicep, covering his wide tattoo with his palm.
“The armband he stole is my shield; it protects the implant from exposure. I’m guessing that’s part of the reason why Odin seized it.
He knew it would weaken me.” He resumed chopping thick unrelenting vines.
“Odin is cunning. I admired him for it. I should have seen that coming.”
An annoying insect buzzed around her head and landed on the back of her hand. Smacking it, she winced with disgust, and she flicked its squashed remains off her skin. “Weaken you how?” she asked, unsure if she truly wanted the answer.
“You mean your tutors didn’t teach you that?” Reyne tsked several times. “All twelve Ramachii have special metal implants that, upon contact with air, will create an acid that will dissolve the metal, killing the bearer instantly.”
She shooed swarming insects away from her face with a frantic wave. “But…but, that’s barbaric.”
“Indeed,” he agreed, swinging again. “Keeps the implant from falling into the wrong hands.”
“Odin barely spoke of Talear, or the rebellion. Only that he had been betrayed and the rebellion destroyed by Mordrick’s evil minions.”
“Minions?” He made a noise that sounded like a snort.
“Odin’s words, not mine.” Kendra pointed out. “What happened between the two of you?”
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Please.”
“No.”
Ever since learning about Reyne’s involvement in the rebellion’s downfall, curiosity has gotten the better of her. What could make Reyne betray Odin? Her Odin. She couldn’t fathom it. Odin was like a father. “Why not?”
“Leave it be.” Reyne insisted with an icy retort obviously meant to silence further questions. “It’s in the past, and I have no desire to revisit it.”
“Fine. Why did you steal my moonstone?”
Reyne swung the machete wide, throwing severed vines flying in all directions. “Do you always ask this many questions?”
“Yes. Always.”
He released a deep audible sigh. “I would think that is rather obvious, but since you insist on pestering me.” He paused while he whacked several vines to shreds. “I needed to give you a reason to see me again. Your moonstone seemed like a logical choice.”
“What did you plan to show me on your ship? A pair of shackles?”
“Yes.” He glanced at her over his shoulder. “And a gag.”
“A gag.” She bristled, her palm itching to mar his cheek.
“Yes. A gag. In fact, I wish I'd had the foresight to bring one with me,” he muttered with a deep chuckle. “Would come in handy right about now.”
He wouldn’t dare gag her. Would he? He most certainly would.
She grabbed a half-rotted, slimy log protruding from the thickets lining their makeshift trail and hurled it at the back of his head. It struck his skull, breaking apart, fragments of decaying wood splattering to the ground around his boots.
With an angry grunt, he spun on her, the machete raised in the air. Reyne took a menacing step towards her, reminding her of a fierce warrior about to strike down an enemy in the heat of battle. She held her ground.
“Let’s get one thing straight, Kendra…”
“That’s Princess Kendra to you,” she snapped.
Reyne’s lips twisted into a grin, then he threw back his head and laughed. “Alright, let’s get one thing straight, Princess Kendra. Before you go on thinking that provoking me is a good idea, consider that you need me a lot more than I need you.”
“Not true.” She thrust her chin in the air and settled her knuckles on her hips, elbows out.
“Without me, you won’t be able to claim your damn water.
And yes, I heard that before I passed out.
” She hated knowing that she was being traded again.
First, for some unknown technology her father wanted—now water. It was beyond humiliating.
They eyed each other for a several beats.