The Krik shrugged. “Take it or leave it.”
Sudden laser fire shot down from above, and the Krik reacted like a scalded cat, spinning to face the caves, and letting out a screech.
Rose said nothing, although she was tempted to say it looked like Sazo intended to leave it.
The Krik rounded on her, and she lifted up both hands. “I didn't do that.”
“Tell him if he does it again, you die.” He shoved her and she stumbled back, only just able to keep her footing.
“Tell him if you die, then I will have nothing stopping me from destroying everything.” Sazo's voice was low. “The spacecraft, the caves, and whoever is coming to fetch whatever it is they've loaded into their hold.”
Rose swallowed.
“What did he say?” The Krik grabbed the front of her jacket and shook her, and she batted at him, sick of being manhandled.
She jerked out of his hold and clenched her fists. “He says if you kill me, there will be nothing stopping him from destroying everything. You, your ship, your caves and whoever is coming to fetch whatever's in those boxes in your spacecraft's hold.” She took a breath and spoke the stone cold truth. “Your very existence depends on keeping me unharmed.”
Of course, it was probably too late for that now. Just the threat to her life would have done it, let alone the pushing and shoving.
These Krik were dead men walking.
She just needed to be sure she was walking too, by the end of it.
“There are other hostages in the caves, we don't just have you.” The Krik said it slowly, like remembering a get-out-of-jail-free card.
“I'm afraid they're a bit more expendable where he's concerned,” Rose said with an apologetic shrug.
The Krik turned to respond, but before he could speak they heard shouts and other noise, and the spacecraft engine started up.
“Sounds like your spacecraft is fine, so it was just a warning shot,” Rose said, and the Krik grabbed her upper arm and pulled her the last few steps into the clearing.
Rose risked a quick look at the tree she'd used earlier, and made a face she hoped Dav could see. Sweetpea had been hiding under her hair for most of the walk, but now she emerged onto Rose's shoulder, and looked at the tree, too.
The Krik who was holding her arm called out in his own language, and there was a lively back-and-forth with another Krik standing beside the spacecraft.
The ground next to it was scorched.
Sazo had been absolutely accurate with his shooting.
She would expect nothing less.
Whatever had been discussed, some of it must have been an order to put her in the cave with the others, and she was dragged over to the entrance.
As she was pulled along, the night lit up as a second shot came down, this time on the other side of the ship.
With a cry, Sweetpea leaped from her shoulder, and Rose tried to turn to see which way she went, but the Krik's hold on her tightened.
“Tell him to stop.” The order was screamed at her.
“Stop restraining me, let me go, and he will.” She pulled her arm out from under his grasp.
“You're our way out.” The Krik shoved her, and she landed on the ground in the entrance to the cave.
“Are you all right?” Sazo asked, and his voice was tightly controlled.
“I'm fine,” she murmured.
“How many Krik are in the cave with you?”
She knew if she said none, he would light up the spacecraft like New Year's Eve fireworks and Dav could take his chances in the firestorm. “Four.”
The device in her pocket suddenly became a lot more comforting.
“Dav?” she asked Sazo as one of the four Krik guards dragged her deeper into the cave.
“He's unhappy,” Sazo said, and there was a dry humor to his voice, sort of a self-deprecating tone, that made her think he was mellowing a bit. Taking himself less seriously. Realizing he and Dav shared a few things.
It was better than the icy calm from earlier.
“I bet.” She struggled to her feet, dusting the back of her pants with her hands, and looking around. “I . . .”
She shuddered, and something of what she was feeling must have come out in her voice.
“What is it?” Sazo's tone had sharpened.
“Spiders.” She was not a squeamish person, but this many spiders was enough to freak anyone out. “Lots of spiders.”
“Move.” The Krik guarding the cave shoved her toward the back, and she followed a wide path that had been cleared of webs, although she saw above her head new webs were already being spun.
The members of the exploration team were penned in against a cave wall, surrounded by a waist-high wall of crates like the ones the Krik had been carrying to their spacecraft.
“Rose.” Jia Appal rubbed at her hair in frustration at the sight of her. “Was that Sazo shooting?”
“Yes.”
The guard pointed to the small gap between the boxes, and Rose slid through.
“Hey, you don't look Grih,” he said, as she stepped into the light the Krik had set up to shine into the little corral they'd created for their prisoners.
“Yes, I am,” Rose said. “What else would I be?”
He studied her for a moment, and then shrugged. “Your ears are wrong,” he told her, and then walked away.
“There's nothing wrong with my ears,” Rose muttered, almost amused at herself with how indignant she felt. She suddenly wondered if her and Dav's child would have pointy ears like him, or round ones like hers.
It set off another sudden round of emotion, and she had to close her eyes to compose herself.
“Rose, are you all right? Did the fuckers hurt you?” Kila asked, worried.
“I'm okay. They just shoved me around a bit.” She straightened her jacket and then slipped her hands into her pockets, and closed her right hand over her weapon. “Sazo is threatening to blow up their spacecraft if they hurt us.”
Jia raised a brow at the 'us', but didn't contradict her.
“Rose.” Dav's voice was suddenly in her ear. Sazo must have set up a relay for him. She waited for him to say something else, but her name was obviously weighty enough.
“It wasn't my fault,” she said. “They were waiting for me when I got back to my camp. They heard the hover.”
Jia watched her quizzically as she spoke.
“Dav,” Rose mouthed. “He's not happy.”
“He's here?” she mouthed back.
She nodded.
“Are the others in the cave with you?” Dav asked, and she had the sense he was trying to put his emotions aside and be practical.
“Yes. Everyone's here, and there are four Krik guarding us.” She spoke with her back to the guards, as if she was having a quiet conversation with Jia. “This place is full of spiders.”
“Tell Dav they're similar to hyr spiders,” Kila said. “But their silk seems to have a couple of different properties. I don't know how the Krik discovered them, but they've been harvesting the silk and packing it up to be transported out.”
Rose's hand crept up to her shirt's neckline to finger the bra beneath. It was made of hyr silk, the amazing fabric that contracted to fit the person wearing it exactly. Clothes made from it were some of the first gifts Sazo had ever given her. “Did you hear that?” she asked Dav. “They're harvesting something very like hyr silk.”