Page 26 of A World Enough

“Then my people would be unstoppable. Power to manipulate time, open up every inch of the multiverse and beyond. It doesn’t bear thinking about. It would eclipse anything Abnobians have ever done, from the times we were destroying planets, to the great rebellion and more,” Ninti said.

“What if the wolf has no bad intentions?”

“That is for you to find out, my warrior,” Ninti said. “If I could only get hold of my contacts at the heart of the resistance. But Davor has soldiers everywhere.”

“Do you think the portal guardians know what is going on?”

Ninti sighed. “Greydon from communications says no. They’ve been monitoring audio.”

Kartog kissed her nose. “You just keep being the epitome of an Abnobian Goddess and leave everything to me.”

“Thank you, Warrior.”

Chapter Seven

Camber held up her hand to signal Brogan to stop. They were coming up to the junction of two corridors. They had been taking their time, inching their way towards the space dock hangar.

It hadn’t been easy. One thing Brogan didn’t know was that as Map Keeper, she could picture spaces in her head and scan the space for the movements of others.

Her teachers told her it was called head mapping.

That was what she was guiding them with. But since the close encounter with Brogan in the storeroom, her head mapping was clouded. Touching Brogan made her feel like there was a shoal of miksoma eels inside her, and a jolt of electricity shot straight from her chest at the scent of Brogan’s neck when Camber put in the translator—she’d had biggest urge to both lick and scratch her nails down Brogan’s neck.

Camber hadn’t experienced anything like that attraction on such a deep level before. In fact she was quite innocent when it came to love and relationships.

From birth she was hidden, taken from place to place, and taught life skills as well as the normal things like reading, writing, and maths. But that upbringing also taught Camber to trust no one, to always run for safety.

That kind of thinking was difficult when mixed with adolescence. It made for an angry, confused, but innocent young woman.

Camber remembered finding some books in an abandoned library, in a distant land. They were romantic fiction, of lands and customs she didn’t understand.

She loved falling asleep at night wherever she was hiding, dreaming of that person, the one that would turn her heart and world upside down and fight to keep her safe.

Those books were at the bottom of her satchel, and she hadn’t thought about them in years.

She jumped when Brogan touched her shoulder. “Where to, Camber?”

This was why attraction was a bad idea. Her mind was cloudy, and she was distracted. Vorka had trained her to always be ready for everything, but this wolf was slowing her down, both mentally and physically.

“Wait,” Camber whispered.

She closed her eyes and tried to picture the scene and let her mind mapping work. Then Camber saw it.

“Behind that gun cabinet.”

Brogan did as she was told.

Camber had seen two Drazani coming down the corridor across from them. This was another test for Brogan. It would be so easy for Brogan to step out and hand her to them on a plate, but in truth Brogan could have done so before they entered the underground base.

The Drazani walked by, and she caught some of their conversation.

“Our brother guards have been ordered to Danus while we pick up a Derag Due and take them to find the Map Keeper.”

The other said, “A cohort of our guard would find her more quickly than a failed vampire bounty hunter. Is Danus under control?”

“We’ve to a keep a close eye on that planet…” Then their voices trailed off as they went through the door.

Camber turned to Brogan and whispered, “Could you hear what they said about Danus?”