“Most likely didn’t land anywhere near here and the ones that did still had to survive.There were almost sixty of us in the Kwin’s personal shuttle, and we lost eight the first month.”Jiith’s tentacles flared weakly.“I can say firsthand that sytos were not built for this planet.The sun is harsh, and the heat is brutal.We weakened quickly and struggled to find food for months.”
“Pity the Kwin wasn’t one of the eight,” my mate muttered.
Jiith let out a harsh laugh.“The Kwin had the privilege of resting while we found supplies, the sun barely touched her skin.Some of us hoped we’d accidently poison her with bad food, but she went through three tasters before we discovered what we could eat and what we couldn’t.”
I peered over the car and saw the patrol moving away from us.
“They’re leaving, we weren’t seen,” I sighed and rubbed a hand over my face.“The plan doesn’t change, we still need to get to camp, and so far, we have no reason to believe they're on our trail.”
“But if they are, there’s more of them,” Jessa said.“We should hide for the rest of the day and walk at night.”
“Percer sows hunt at night,” Jiith pointed out.
We were silent as we weighed our options and Jessa groaned.
“This sucks.”
I looked at the two thirds of our party most likely to suffer if we pushed hard.
“Do either of you feel able to walk through the night?”I asked, hating that it was our best option.On my own I could handle a single patrol.But could I defend all three of us without someone getting hurt?That was less certain.
The safest thing was for all of us to get to camp as quickly as possible.
“I could do it,” Jessa said.“It’ll suck and I won’t want to walk for a week, but all of this is bad anyway.”
We both looked to the weakest link.Food, water and rest had pulled Jiith closer to health than death, but he was still weak.
His face twisted but he nodded.“If I pass out, drag me behind you.Anything is better than dying at the Kwin’s hands.”
“Then we walk until we reach camp,” I decided.“I don’t care how many sytos have joined the Kwin, they’re no match for a band of free turochs.”
23 Jessa
It may shock you tolearn that a short, sequin covered, party dress is not good hiking wear.The polyester lining was hot, the skirt kept riding up dangerously close to my butt, and the sequins had chafed my underarms raw.I deeply regretted not changing into the gross mildewy clothes I’d found in the trailer.
A stranger's old pit stains would have been preferable to the constant scrape of sequins on my arms.The too big shoes I’d taken had given me blisters on my heels and ankles and felt like they weighed ten pounds each after a full day of walking.At least now that the sun was down, it wasn’t so miserably hot, but I was struggling to keep up with Tovis.
