They exchanged panicked glances, but Jasmine grabbed coats from hooks by the door and thrust them at her sisters, as one of the women shoved a book down her sweater. “I promise I’ll explain everything once we’re all safe.”
Then we were outside the shop and hurrying away. The village remained unnervingly quiet as my raiders hurried us through the frozen streets toward where we'd landed the ship. Even the shouts and blaster fire were gone.
I kept my battle axe ready, my eyes scanning constantly for movement, but there was nothing but empty streets and shuttered windows and a terrible, heavy silence. The plan had been to use our seemingly small landing party as bait, but maybe the Zagrath had already come, killed the leaders, taken Skye, and gone.
Kolt and his raiders should have found Skye by now. They should have met us returning to the raiding ships, which was when our reinforcements would arrive. But maybe there were no Imperial soldiers to draw into our trap, after all.
Then Venik appeared suddenly from a side street, running toward us with his dark hair flying behind him. He slowed as he reached us, breathing hard. “I caught up to Kolt. The woman on the execution list is not in her dwelling, but there are signs of a struggle.”
Jasmine's sisters gasped. Jasmine herself went pale, her hand reaching out to grip my arm for support.
"We can't leave without her," she said, her voice tight "Wrexxon, we have to find her. We have to?—"
I took her by the elbow, more gently than I wanted to, given the circumstances, and I urged her forward. "Kolt will find her. He never fails. But I need to get you to safety first."
Even though Skye was human, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that my battle chief would put his prejudice aside and do everything in his power to save her. His duty to me and to the horde outweighed even the most tightly held grudge.
"But—"
“You promised you would obey me.” I snapped, as I kept moving, practically dragging her along, her sisters hurrying to keep up. Venik fell in behind us, covering our retreat.
“What of our other horde ships?” I hissed to him, turning my head slightly.
“They should be here, Raas.”
He was right. They should be swooping in to surround the Zagrath who’d emerged to surround us. Instead, there were no Zagrath and no horde ships.Tvekkinghell, what was happening?
Then the hush that had enveloped the village shattered. Blaster fire exploded from behind us, and I whirled to see Imperial soldiers approaching at a run. Pushing Jasmine’s head down to keep her low, I forced her to run with me as even more Imperial soldiers spilled from the doorways of the buildings to each side.
My heart slammed against my ribs, even as I felt a rush of satisfaction. Part of the plan was falling into place, although not the most crucial part.
Venik and my other raider bellowed from behind us as they blocked the incoming blaster fire with the blade of their axes,the sounds blending with screams from Jasmine’s sisters. I used my own battle axe to deflect more blaster fire, spinning and sweeping my weapon wide to keep the humans from being hit.
A few Imperial soldiers caught the ricocheting blaster fire and fell, but more fighters took their place, uniformed Zagrath rushing from the buildings like ants erupting from an agitated mound.
The ship was just ahead. It should have been surrounded by horde ships with Vandar rushing off to join the fight, but if we could just make it inside, we could get the humans safely off the planet. Then the rest of my ships could swoop in to close the trap.
I dared take a small breath of relief, exhaling it along with a string of curses when more Imperial soldiers emerged from behind the vessel followed by a commander in an impressively decorated uniform. His face was not only weathered, but it looked like one side had melted off.
Tvek. Where were the rest of my ships?
I immediately moved to shield Jasmine with my body, positioning myself between her and the threat as Venik covered her and her sisters from the rear. The commander smiled a mangled, malicious smile that was more unsettling than any grimace as he waved away the soldiers that had been chasing us from the village.
“Go,” he bellowed. “Take care of the others.”
I jerked at this, my instinct to keep my raiders from being ambushed doused only by my confidence that the raiding ships meant to be landing to surround the village would be descending at any moment. Besides, it was more important to keep Jasminefrom the Zagrath, I reminded myself, as I attempted to block any view of her with my body.
"Relax, Qeth’rex," the leader said, his voice smooth. "We're not here for her." His eyes flicked to Jasmine, then away quickly, as if dismissing her. "We're not here for any of the humans, actually."
My entire body stiffened, as if bracing for the blow I knew would level me.
The commander's smile widened, raw pockmarked skin stretching unnaturally. “We're here for you."
Chapter 39
Jasmine
The sight of Imperial soldiers wracked me with cold, paralyzing terror that I hadn't felt since I’d watched my parents being dragged away by uniformed Zagrath who’d looked indistinguishable.
