She nodded. Her sword rested on her back, safe in its scabbard.
“Did you pay the weapons shop?” She’d asked him to pay for the sword and knife she’d stolen.
“I did. They overlooked your theft because they were ecstatic to get a recommendation from the overlord.”
They walked side-by-side down the hall.
“When do we leave?” she asked.
“I know you are eager to find Poppy, but we need to plan, first.”
He led her into a large room with huge windows that flooded the place with light.
Grumpy Thadd was there. She traded a hard stare with the man. She wondered if he ever smiled. There were two other guards—one male and one female. The man had long brown hair in a braid, was slender, but all muscle. He’d be fast. He had multiple daggers in a harness across his chest.
The woman had short, blonde hair and held herself tall, her hand on the hilt of the sword at her hip. Swordswoman.
“Mal West, I believe you met my captain of the guard, Thadd, and these are two of my elite fighters, Trist and Carvia.”
“Hi.” Mal lifted a hand.
Rhain moved to the large, circular table that dominated the space. He waved a hand and a 3-D projection of rough terrain appeared on the surface.
“We’ve triangulated where the other large piece of your ship fell.” He swiped the projection and then zoomed in.
“This is your crash site.” Thadd pointed to a glowing, gold mark. “And this is the other crash site.”
It was a red dot, near a mountainous area.
“The Badus Mountains,” Rhain said.
“Horrid place,” Carvia murmured.
The projection zoomed in, and images appeared.
Mal sucked in a breath. They showed dark rock and pools of lava. She watched as a geyser shot molten rock into the air.
“It’s very dangerous,” Rhain said. “Millennia ago, our system was hit by the Radiance.”
She nodded. “A huge solar flare.”
“Yes. Massive radiation cascaded through the Sarkany System. Andret, the planet closest to the sun, had its atmosphere burned away. The advanced species that lived there was killed. The planet is now a lump of rock. Here on Zhalto, the composition of the core of our planet strengthened the magnetic field.”
“It offered you more protection.”
He nodded. “It didn’t stop the Radiance, but yes, it offered some protection.”
Mal pressed her hands to the table. “Some still got through.”
“Yes, the worst of it was what caused the Barrens. It irradiated animals, killed millions of Zhaltons. The animals left behind mutated into wild beasts. Zhaltons on the rest of the planet were also affected by the flare. They were changed. We gained the ability to manipulate energy from our magnetic field.”
“So the Barrens is a tough landscape filled with monsters.”
“Right. Getting to the crash site has an added complication.” An image appeared in the projection.
The man wasn’t tall, maybe a few inches taller than her, and lean. He held himself ramrod straight. His head was shaved, except for a black strip of hair down the center of his head.
“This is Krastin. The one directing the hexids and coordinating the attacks on my people.” A muscle ticked in Rhain’s jaw. “He’s made a base in the Barrens, near the Badus Mountains somewhere.”
Mal pulled a face. “So, to find Poppy, we have to head right into the heart of Krastin’s base.”
“Yes.”
God. Her chest was tight. Was there any way Poppy could have survived? Could she have survived the crash, and the Barrens?
Mal had to find out. She had to at least try. It wasn’t in her nature to give up and just stay safe.
“So, what’s the plan?”
“We work together. We check out the second crash site, and pinpoint Krastin’s base.”
Ah, so he didn’t really want to find Poppy. “You need to find him.”
“I want to crush him.” Rhain’s tone darkened. “Make him pay for killing my people.”
His tone made her shiver. All right. “When do we leave?”
Thadd straightened. “We are readying a flyer now. We’ll fly in, straight over the crash site. Several fighters will come with us.”
“Let’s go,” she said.
Soon, Mal found herself on a huge landing pad on the upper level of the palace. She was wearing metallic armor on her torso—thanks to Carvia. It was made of a flexible metal that was surprisingly comfortable.
She had a birds-eye view of Citadel. It really was beautiful.
She turned to look at the flyer.
It was beautiful, as well. It spoke to her pilot’s heart. She saw two pilots in sleek flight suits circling the flyer, doing the Zhalton equivalent of pre-flight checks.
“Ready?”
She turned to Rhain. She hadn’t heard him, but she’d sensed him. Crap. Tavith was right. She was changing and becoming more sensitive to the planet’s energy field.
He was in his armor—a dark bronze, with that interesting medallion set in the center of it.
“I’m ready.”
“Then let’s go.” He waved her aboard the flyer.
Inside was plush and comfortable. Curved seats filled the main cabin. The two pilots settled in seats in the cockpit, readying for take-off.
Hard-edged fighters followed them in. Trist leaped aboard, his long braid whipping behind his trim body. He smiled at her. Carvia followed and nodded. They all carried different weapons—ones that they could charge with energy.
Mal needed to practice more with that. She could bury her head in the sand about her growing abilities, or embrace them. She sighed. Rusty had another saying about that. If you go through life with your head in the sand, then all people will see is your ass.
“Prepare for take-off,” a pilot called back.
Mal leaned forward eagerly, watching the pilots manipulating the controls. She saw a blue glow from the cockpit screens and from the pilots’ hands.
“They use energy to control the ship?” she asked.
Rhain nodded. “Some Zhaltons are attuned to machines. The energy interface lets them control all parts of the ship quickly and seamlessly.”
Energy flared, raising the hairs on her arms.
The flyer lifted off and flew out over the lake.
Wow. Mal pressed close to the window. Citadel flashed past below them.
Then they were soaring out over the mountainous ring that formed the city. Green fields spread out before them, dotted with flowers.
“You have so many flowers.”
“One of our main crops here on Zhalto.” He pointed past her, his body brushing hers.
And of course, every part of her took notice.
She looked at the farmland. “What do you do with them?”
“They’ve lots of uses. For beauty and medicines. Some are edible, some are rich in energy. We can harvest that energy as a power source. We export some to other planets and systems.”
“That’s incredible. Our flowers on Earth have far fewer uses.”
He cocked his head. “Do you miss Earth?”
“It’s home. What I know. My job was decent, and I got to fly. I’ll miss my favorite watch, and the sword collection my stepfather left me. There are a few you’d even like.” She sighed. “I’ll miss peanuts.”