His battered state was the reason she wasn’t hurt. She touched the side of his face. He’d suffered to protect her. “Garikkkk.”
“Don’t worry.” He gripped her wrist and squeezed.
Shouts poured from the other guards who spotted them. Heart pounding and mouth dry, Saedra didn’t know what to do. Garik pulled them into a brisk jog as he dodged and navigated the walking paths. Customers and shop owners stared but no one intervened. The hold Maurin had over Quantoon was iron clad. No one wanted to risk his wrath. Saedra hoped Garik had a plan or knew some way to hide in the marketplace.
Two guards raced toward them from the front. Garik jerked her to a halt and turned. Another guard popped up from a side street. Garik’s grip shifted from her wrist to her forearm as he moved backward, tugging her along.
“Give it up, assassin,” one of the guards growled as he edged toward them.
“This won’t go well for you,” Garik returned in the low deadly voice.
Goosebumps pebbled Saedra’s flesh up and down her arm. Sweat dampened her palms and her pulse thumped madly. She hadn’t heard him use that tone since the night she’d freed him from his cell.
The guard, who’d spoken, grinned. “It will go very well when we take you both back to Maurin.”
Terror shrieked through Saedra’s spine. Her father would come up with an unimaginable punishment for this. Going back was looking more and more like a death sentence. Her fingers tightened around Garik’s hand.
“He will never touch you again, Saedra,” Garik murmured so only she could hear.
Calm descended over her. It was as if he read her mind. Though the odds were against them, his relentless stare toward her father’s guards gave her strength.
A man with darkish blond hair stepped into the small side street where they all stood. The newcomer wore a long, brown jacket which stretched to the top of his scuffed boots. There was a worn gauntlet visible on the arm he held up while his other hand was shoved deep into the pocket of his black pants. Though he carried no weapons she could see, Saedra had the sense he was a dangerous new player.
Green eyes glittered as his gaze moved over Garik, assessing, then the guards, dismissive. “What’s going on here?”
Saedra felt Garik tense. She tipped her head in his direction. His face was an unreadable mask. Before she could attempt to decipher the meaning of the blank expression, explosions went off on the right. Reflex had her crouching. Garik burst into motion and wrapped an arm about her shoulder, hustling her to the side against the wall of a rickety lean to with barrels of grain stacked inside. “Move! Go, Saedra!”
Another explosion went off but this time was met with a blast of firepower from Maurin’s men as they scattered to seek cover. Every sound had Saedra flinching. Garik placed a hand on the middle of her back and shoved her forward past the fray when she would have slowed to look behind. “Don’t stop.”
The snap in his voice had her instinctively following the command. Now was not the time to play offended at the abrasive rasp. Behind them a mini-stand off of some sort was taking place. The guy who’d interrupted launched from the roof of a stall and landed in front of them with a thud, one knee braced on the ground.
He surged to his feet and the long visible cable connected to the gauntlet on his wrist retracted with a sharp click. He studied Garik with in interesting curl of his lips that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Lucky I recently had a hyper-drive installed on my ship and decided to arrive early, Denikon.”
Garik stiffened, his arm a tight clamp about Saedra’s waist. Tension rippled along his frame. “Was it luck, Xyman? Or are you here to profit?”
Now Xyman’s lips twisted into a pale facsimile of a smile. “We have history, Garik. I would never take credits from Maurin for your recapture.”
Garik snorted. “You left the Guild, why should I trust you?
The two men eyed one another as if they were enemies. Saedra was undecided. Anyone who helped them against her father wasn’t quite enemy status in her book. She waited avidly for Xyman’s response. Instead he shrugged his broad shoulders beneath the long coat and slip his hands casually into his pockets. “I guess you’ll have to decide that.”
“Can you get us off Quantoon?” Garik huffed beside her. His tone contained sarcasm when he added, “With our history and all.”
At that Xyman laughed outright, his green eyes losing the dead look. “You turned out exactly as I hoped, Garik Denikon. The Guild has a way of dong that for those of us who’ve lost a bit of our soul.”
Chapter 15
Garik’s frenemy, for lack of any other description, navigated them through the market place with no trouble. They walked the streets, shoulders back in broad view of everyone and not a single customer or shop keeper stopped them nor did they see any more of her father’s guards.
They arrived at the shuttle/transport station with the same minimum fuss. Garik kept one hand at her waist the entire time and Saedra clenched her fingers in the fabric at the bottom of her shirt to hide their shaking.
Xyman pointed to a sleek black shuttle at the far end of the station. “That’s me over there.”
Saedra wasn’t sure of the make and model but it looked like the type of space craft capable of great speed. The double mounted plasma cannons located on the lower front dip of the nose made it very clear it wasn’t just a pretty ride either.
Looking over her head, Garik scanned the transport bay. He shifted his hand to cup Saedra’s shoulder and slowed down her instinct to follow Xyman who had his back to them as he faced his ship. There were maintenance workers with data pads going from ship to ship.
“Nevo?” Garik muttered.
Nevo didn’t turn. “Yeah?”
“You picking up on what I’m getting?”
Nevo snorted and rocked back on his heels as he tipped his head to the side to smirk at Garik. “Absolutely. Feels like the start to a party.”
Saedra had no idea what they were talking about but when she focused her attention the uneasy quiet of what was usually a hub of activity began to stir a sense of self preservation within her. No sooner had she parted her lips to beg Garik if they could leave, men flowed forward from the exits on both sides of them. Armed men wearing a very distinct and familiar uniform.
What made chills ice down Saedra’s spine was the tall, gold skin man with the piercing eyes who entered last on the left. Every step his massive boots made reverberated against the metal floor of the station. Stars, stars, stars. He shouldn’t be here. Her heart thrummed a determined beat and perspiration immediately broke out on her forehead. How did he find them so quickly?
“Well, this is a nice welcome, Lord Maurin,” Xyman taunted, not looking the least intimidated as he shifted his stance. “You shouldn’t have.”
Her father shot a glare in his direction before turning a hard stare toward Garik. Saedra’s breath caught in her throat when his gaze finally landed on her. His brows lowered and an intense rumble started low in his chest and rolled forth.
“You don’t stand a chance in holding us here, Maurin.” Garik’s statement caused her father’s dangerous growl to break off.
He faced Garik. “How did you get out, assazi?”