Page 40 of Warrior’s Mate

Maelis understood before anyone said the word. These were slavers, not distant rumors or reports from somebody else's world.

They were here, in Wasaytu. She opened a channel to Kaiven.

"Did you hear that?"

"Yes."

His answer came clipped and low.

"They're broadcasting surrender instructions."

"To civilians."

"I know."

"Kaiven—"

Gunfire cracked through his channel. Maelis flinched. Then his voice returned.

"Stay on the network."

She hated the command. She obeyed because it was the right one. She rerouted the two moving civilian groups away from the grain complex. If Sargans were close, sending more people here would only create a larger target.

"West group, divert to irrigation vault six. South group, hold below Orchard Ridge until I clear a route."

A coordinator beside her said, "What about the people already here?"

"We move them if Kaiven tells us to."

"And if he doesn't?"

Maelis looked toward the lower corridors where hundreds of civilians waited in darkness.

"Then we make our own decision."

A blast shook the outer wall. Dust fell from the ceiling. Someone screamed. Maelis's comm went dead.

"Kaiven?"

There was no answer. She tried again and got nothing, and for one terrible second the solmatu recognition became a weapon inside her.

Her body knew him and wanted him, yet offered no useful answer to the only question that mattered now: whether he was still alive. Maelis closed her hand around the edge of the console until her fingers hurt.

Then she forced herself back to the map. The roads the military did not know were still there, the tunnels still existed, and the people still needed her.

Fear could wait.

"Open the western grain conduit," she ordered. "We're preparing a secondary movement route."

The coordinator stared at her.

"Captain Daratu said hold."

"Captain Daratu said stay on the network."

Maelis brought the infrastructure map onto the main display.

"That's exactly what I'm doing."