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CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

Visla

As I wrung my hands together over and over again, glancing as the sun disappeared over the horizon, I tried to calculated how much time had passed since the crash and then since I left Dretis. A day since the crash maybe? A few days since I had last seen Khol. Either way, it was all a day too long.

Too many days had passed. I could tell something was wrong. The crash wasn’t an accident. I just knew it. I couldn’t believe that something like that just happened because the fates wanted it to.

I couldn’t forget the feel of the way the sun hit my bare skin while I was being pulled from the shuttle. The skilled pilot had somehow maneuvered the shuttle over an open body of water causing it to crash into the water and then float to the nearest shore, but not before it began breaking up. As we, along with the debris, began drifting to shore, the inhabitants of the planets noticed. Thank the fates and lucky for us, they weren’t hostile.

Myself and those who survived were kept in housing unit of a medic post. The inhabitants of the colony who found us spoke their own language as well as some forms of broken English. When asked what race they were, they replied—Zedreks. I’d heard of the alien race before. They were human-crustacean-hybrids, cousin to the Spakians—whose features were a mix of scorpions and arachnids. Their eyes were black as night and they even had a third eye in the center of their forehead. Their colony—Torchan—was almost always shaded out by a never-ended eclipse.

As for the casualties of the crash, only half of us made it out. Two hordesmen and the second maid were missing and it was determined that they were lost somewhere in the water. Either drifted away or drowned. The shuttle driver expired from his head injury after we were rescued and a warrior died in the ship, presumably from a snapped neck. Mesandreia complained of a headache the size of Xalxa 5. And Trest’k, despite the fact that his medic bag had sunk and his right arm being wrapped to his chest, tried his best to help the Zedreks and their nurses.

The Zedreks carefully skirted around the three remaining Tirizar hordesmen as they treated injuries, especially when they growled. The injuries were life-threatening but having shards of metal stuck in their scales made it difficult for Aurrakians to heal. The hordesmen had no choice but to sit still and let the Zedreks care for them. The Zedreks seemed more curious about them than anything else. After all, the Zedreks were sentient and they seemed very peaceful and eager to gain knowledge. I noticed that there were humans in their midst acting as nursing assistants to the Zedrek medics who were caring for us. Although the Zedreks spoke broken English, the nurses sometimes were able to translate for us.

Unable to lie down on my back anymore due to nausea, I had sat up from my cot. I was still early on in my pregnancy and both the Zedrek medics and Trest’k detected no harm to the fetus. My left foot was wrapped in a bandage since it had been sprained on impact. My chest of belongings somehow survived the crash and a hordesmen named Huvos, with injuries and all, had dragged it from the shore to my cot. Even now, Huvos sat not even one foot away from me. Despite his resolution with guarding me, I could tell he was getting weary. Although the medics assured me it was daytime, little sun filtered through. A native Aurrakian would have little chance of survival on this side of the border long-term.

Mesandreia was lying in the cot right beside me. When I looked at her, she reached out and asked, “Are you okay?”

I nodded. “Yes, Mesandreia. You were out longer than me. I was worried. How are you feeling?”

“Like I have a hang-over. I could really use a drink right about now,” she replied, grinning. Her head was wrapped in a bandage. “Are we stuck here? How bad is it?”

“The Zedreks are picking apart what’s left of the shuttle. They’re trying to find out what happened. There aren’t any builders here at all,” I said. “We’re not even close to Xtarra and the Zedreks do not have space flight technology. Their leader forbids travel.” I sighed.

“It’ll be alright, Visla. What do you mean they forbid travel. I saw humans. How did they get here if not by travel?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. This is a strange place.”

“Si kosiri ta,”Huvos offered.

“Huvos says that traders come here,” Mesandreia translated.

Mesandreia didn’t yet know that I could interpret, speak, and write the Aurrakian language well, but I was grateful that she was kind enough to tell me.

“Huvos, is it possible that we could find another ship?”

“It’s possible. If two of us stays, one of us can go by foot to raid for ship,” Huvos exclaimed, speaking of the other two hordesmen resting on cots.

I exhaled. I couldn’t ask them to go now hunting for ships in their current condition. We were up against a rock and a hard place. We couldn’t just stay here either. Huvos and the others would only weaken.

“We could try contacting the King, but then that would be dangerous. No one’s supposed to know where we are,” Mesandreia offered.

“The Zedreks have a communication station. I saw the tower when we were being brought up the shore. If not Khol, I can try reaching Thanu or one of the other commanders. Our driver is dead, so he could not say, but I am almost certain the shuttle had been messed with before take-off. No ship has ever crashed this way. Not in a dozen years.”

I nodded. “I think we should at least try to reach someone in Dretis if it’s safe. Khol should know. I think he’s in more trouble than he realizes.”

“I agree, my lady. It is why he sent you away until things settle down.”

Nausea started swelling up inside my belly again and I started worrying again. “What if something has happened to him? Something terrible?”

“We’ll get you to Xtarra. When we’re there, we’ll have all the tech we need to communicate with Khol and the others,” Huvos said.

I sighed. I hope he was right.

But then again…nothing seemed right at all.

“Huvos?”

“Yes, my lady.”

“The Zedrek in charge…can you point him out to me? I need to ask them something.”

Huvos bit his bottom lip and hesitated a few moments before standing, “Yes, my lady.”

I watched Huvos’s retreating back as he went off to do as I asked.

Khol would probably never forgive me for what I was prepared to do but there was more at risk now than ever before.