It didn’t take us more than a few minutes to come up with a basic plan, although we had to pause on two different occasions while I spat fireballs at raptor noses. They seemed to wander off after that; I couldn’t hear their heavy breathing, at any rate.

I mostly stood guard while Aeria did as much as she could. She tied another length of cord across the floor before going back to stacking rocks for a short wall.

If Draven came in, I would aim my fire at his face and blind him if possible, although he would probably be expecting that tactic after the captain’s fate and my earlier attacks. If he tried to shield his face, he wouldn’t be able to see me or anything else coming at him. We were also hoping that he would trip over the cords in his distraction.

Aeria had shown me a tendon on the back of the knee to target. If I could cut it, he would be unable to use that leg. There wasn’t much room in this cave, but the close walls would hamper his spear more than my wings.

We waited in our perspective places, uneasy and apprehensive.

Aeria glanced at her wrist comm for the thousandth time. “The good news is that Taureen will be back in three hours if we can hold out that long. If he can find us, that is.”

“I have a tracker on me. It’s a special one that he should be able to track no matter where I am or what kind of blockers might be around.”

She sighed in relief. “That is good news then.” She glanced at the entrance uneasily. “It’s disturbingly quiet out there.”

Her observation was a good one, although I had already been wondering what Draven was up to. He was taking a lot of time, and that generally wasn’t a good thing if a Kymari was planning an attack.

I jumped down and started to crawl towards the entrance for another look.

“Don’t go out. He is probably waiting just above the entrance to strike.”

I considered that for a moment. “I will keep that in mind. I can move faster than he can drop down.”

I heard her grit her teeth in frustration at my stubbornness. “He is more likely to launch his spear at you the second he sees you.”

I ignored her warning and kept creeping forward with a wary eye above me. Taureen will probably kill me later if he gets all of the details. Hopefully, she will keep some of this quiet. I peered out and blinked in confusion. The raptors were nowhere in sight, but Draven was still on the ground.

I eyed him up, but my time with the Kymari had taught me one thing over and over again. Kymari are endlessly patient. His spear was still in his lap as well, and I knew that if we left the cave, he could very well throw it at Aeria like a javelin. I backed up slowly and returned to my perch. Aeria waited for my update as she kept stacking stones, putting smaller ones to the side to use as projectiles.

“He is still where he was last time. I don’t think he has moved.”

Aeria frowned. “Is he doing anything with his wrist comm, wires, or black boxes?”

I shook my head. “No, he is slumped on the ground as if playing dead, but I can’t see your knife wound and my few scratches doing more than simply slowing him down.”

Aeria gazed at the entrance unhappily. “No, it would take a lot more than that to cause serious injury. He is likely waiting for us to come out.”

That was my exact thought as well. I jumped to the other side of the opening where I could just see the area above Draven. If he stood up, I would be able to see him.

I settled down and curled my tail around me while maintaining watch. “Then we wait.”

~

It wasn’t even a minute later that a shuttle dropped into the clearing, and a dozen heavily-armed Kymari guards got out.

I scrambled to my feet, glancing back at Aeria with wide eyes. “Are these new arrivals friends or foes? If they are enemies, we are about to have our hides handed to us if they realize that we’re in here.”

She quickly came forward and peered out. In theory, all Kymari should all be on our side, but considering what we had just gone through, we were being understandably cautious. We watched as half of them put Draven on a stretcher and loaded him into the shuttle. Another shuttle dropped out of the sky and more guards got out, most of them heading towards the far treeline.

I perked my ear tufts and raised my head slightly. “That is Tran. This group must be on our side. I know that Tran wouldn’t let anyone hurt either of us.”

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

“And there is Vick and Tkael too. I guess that is our cue to leave.”

I jumped onto her shoulder, advising her, “You might want to put that leash back on. Otherwise, Tran might have some words for you. Remember, not a word to anyone about the fact that I can talk.”

She nodded and clipped my leash on before ducking to exit the tunnel. I dug my claws into the fabric of her shirt to remain on her shoulder, glad she had the protection of the hidden shoulder pad to shield her skin from my claws. She stood up with a sigh of relief after being crouched over for so long in the tunnel.

She barely took two steps before someone spotted her. The fighters quickly closed in on us, although they didn’t seem aggressive or upset. I hissed at one who got too close, and he backed up a few steps.

Tran pushed through the group. “Thank goodness you are alright. What happened?”

Aeria glanced at the blood-stained grass. “Draven tried to kill us. How did you know where we were?”

“Taureen checked his wrist comm and realized that Tasha was deep in a park, far away from any trails. From what I heard, he was quite worried when he was unable to reach your wrist comm. Speaking of that, I had better let him know that you two are okay before he blows up again.”

Tran tried his comm and frowned. Aeria snorted, as if faintly insulted that he thought she hadn’t tried to use her wrist comm.

“There is a blocker in the area,” she replied with faint reproach in her voice. “Otherwise, you would have heard from me quite some time ago.”

Tran shook his head, disgusted that his comm was blocked. “Let’s get back to the city then.”

Aeria nodded and followed him into the large shuttle. This one actually had a driver, not just a robot pilot. With a few words, the shuttle took off.

Tran kept trying his comm until he sighed in relief. “There, I sent him a message that you are both unharmed and were near a blocker. I didn’t mention Draven since he would flip, although I did say that we were heading straight back to his place. He will probably have the communication stream up and waiting.”

Aeria sighed and rubbed her forehead. “How badly did he react when he couldn’t find me?”

“When he couldn’t get through to your comm, he checked with your family and several of your friends. None of them had seen you. Considering that Tasha’s tracker was nowhere near a trail when we have been seeing more sicora and crawler activity, to say that he was worried is putting it lightly.”

“He called my parents?” She winced.

“He hoped that you had gone to visit them.”

Her shoulders sagged. “They are going to kill me.”

“Doubtful.” Tran didn’t seem overly worried about that particular fate.

The shuttle door opened, revealing that we were right in front of Taureen’s house.

As we started walking toward the door, Tran murmured, “You might want to wait until he is back before mentioning Draven or the raptors.”

She glanced at him in disbelief. “When he learns that I withheld knowledge from him, he will kill me.”

“Doubtful. Once he calms down, he will realize that the event was long over when you spoke with him and delaying the information simply made it easier on everyone around him.”

She composed herself as she opened the door. I could see the screen with Taureen’s face on it from where I sat. I trilled a greeting and tugged lightly on my leash with my jaws.

I focused on Taureen and kept my voice innocent. “We went on an adventure and do we have a story for you when you get home. We visited that big park by the wall. I wouldn’t mind going there again one day when I can go off-leash. It looks like a really interesting place.” I tilted my head. “By the way, I’m still not sure if you can hear me or not.”

He nodded his head slowly. “I see you made it back in one piece. Why didn’t you respond to my calls?”

I was positive that his polite and collected expression was a mask that was covering an entire frenzy of emotions. I was equally positive that the nod was also a confirmation that he could hear me. That boggled my mind; it shouldn’t be possible. Aeria unclipped the leash, and I promptly flew over to land in front of the laptop.

She sat in the seat behind me. “We visited one park, and I didn’t think to check my comm while we were there. The guards are looking for the blocker that must be in the park. I wasn’t aware that there was something wrong until a shuttle with fighters came looking for us.”

He exhaled heavily in worry. “Please don’t go off the main trails with Tasha again. If you go out, take Tran or Vick with you.”

“I plan on staying here until you get back.”

“Thank you.” He glanced to the side at something we couldn’t see, before looking back at us. “I have to disconnect the link before the navigators have my hide. The communication stream is stronger than the signal from the beacon, and it’s causing them unnecessary difficulties due to the interference.”

“We will wait for you,” Aeria reassured him,

I blinked. “See you soon.”

He nodded before disconnecting.

“Well, that went better than I had hoped.” Aeria started removing my harness, the quick movements of her fingers betraying her nervousness.

Tran chuckled without humor. “Just wait until he gets back.” Tran apparently had an odd sense of humor...

She groaned at the thought of Taureen’s reaction.

With my harness off, I curled up beneath the heat lamp and grinned as I told Aeria, “Just let me butter him up first. Once he is relaxed and I’m on his lap, you can break the news to him. He won’t be able to throw a fit without having to move me.”

She glanced at me, as if surprised that I was still talking to her now that we were out of immediate danger.

“Any idea how much longer it will be until he is back?” she asked Tran.

I wanted to know that detail as well and perked my ear tufts up in interest.

“He will be here in under an hour, and the shuttle already has orders to drop him off here.”

She blinked in surprise. “That is earlier than planned.”

Tran shook his head as he turned to go. “The shuttle left after no one could find you. I also highly doubt that the Elders are ever going to ask him to leave Tasha after his argument with one of them.”

“He argued with an Elder?” Her voice was shocked as she stared at him in disbelief.

Tran chuckled deeply. “Oh, yes. And he won hands down. No Elder at the meeting could refute his words either.”

I blinked. That is quite impressive. I wonder exactly what he said to pull that one off? Just before he walked out the door, Tran said, “He also set quite an example as to why handlers should never be separated from their bond animal.”

Then again, perhaps ignorance is bliss. The look on Aeria’s face also spoke volumes. Tran left, and dead silence reigned in his wake.

I rested my chin on the warm sand and bespoke Aeria in a contemplative tone, “This could get interesting.”

She gave me a look of pure incredulity.