Lliaa had done it to him.
While I lay chained in the cockpit, Lliaa had told me how my father rejected her son for malformations of birth. Rather than seek medical treatment for Voor, Father had covered up his birth records and disavowed any connection to him—and Lliaa. In afit of rage, Lliaa had carved the malformed skin from her own infant son’s body. Voor survived, but at a terrible cost.
Lliaa claimed that love for my father had made her commit the atrocity, but I did not believe her. I knew love, knew that emotion could never cause someone to viciously harm another. Whatever obsessive feelings Lliaa held for Father, love was not among them.
“I will grab the woman. You keep Voor occupied but be careful.”
I nodded in affirmation of Timber’s whispered orders. Splitting the two would divide their attention and give the director a chance to apprehend them easier. I gripped my weapon tighter and moved to jump between Timber and Voor once she had Lliaa restrained. I knew he would retaliate against any attack on his mother, so I had to act swiftly to keep him from harming Timber.
Everything happened at once, the barn exploding in activity.
Voor took an aggressive step towards Director Hall, who took aim and fired. His wounded shoulder, still healing from Timber’s shots in the cabin, jerked back, and he howled in pain. Timber rushed Lliaa, grabbing her and pressing her gun to Lliaa’s temple. I leapt forward and planted myself between Voor and Timber. I pointed the tip of my short spear at his chest and roared in fury.
I thought it was over. Surely with Voor shot and Lliaa held at gunpoint, the ordeal was finally over.
I was wrong.
I watched the next events unfold in agonizingly slow motion, paralyzed with shock and fear.
Voor recovered quickly from the gunshot. He shifted his grip on the knife and threw it. The blade hit Director Hall’s chest with a dullthud. The director fell to the ground in a heap, and Timber cried out as she discarded Lliaa to go to her side. This wasenough to leave Timber open to attack, and Voor pulled another knife from his belt and launched it at her.
I tried to stop it. I swung my spear at the flying blade, catching the hilt with my tip as it sailed through the air.
Though I managed to knock it slightly off-course, I did not stop it from hitting Timber. She screamed as it hit her in the back, sinking into her shoulder. The impact spun her as she fell, and she landed short of the director’s body.
“Timber!”
My shout echoed off the rafters of the barn. Voor laughed as Timber groaned on the ground. Blood bloomed on her shirt, spreading rapidly from the point of impact. I did not know enough about human anatomy to know if she had taken a vital hit, but from what I did know, I worried about the amount of blood I saw.
“Such fragile things, humans,”Voor said.“A Xalanite would not fall so easily.”
I growled and took a step towards him.“You will pay for that.”
Voor grinned savagely.“I think not.”
A heavy impact with the back of my head sent my world spiraling. I grabbed my head and stumbled, dropping the Xalanitef’jin. Voor laughed even harder at that. Behind me, Lliaa cackled. I heard a loudthunkas I turned to see her drop a piece of farm equipment spattered with my blood.
Damn! I had forgotten she was there.
My vision blurred, and I struggled to remain conscious. I had not yet had time to recover from the blow to my head at the lake. The throbbing in my skull, which had decreased to a dull sensation, now exploded into a piercing agony.
Lliaa faced me, yellow eyes blazing.
“We are doing you a favor, Prince N’kal. The woman would just betray you eventually, as all lovers do.”
“I do not care what my father did to you; it has no bearing on Timber’s actions. Do not presume to ascribe his actions to Timber, nor your own. She is more loyal than any Xalanite I've met, stronger than any womanorman I've met of either species, braver certainly than you.”I pointed at the discarded equipment.“Timber would never strike such a cowardly blow.”
Lliaa scoffed.“She drew a gun on an unarmed woman. Isn’t that just as cowardly? At least you were a threat with your f’jin.”
I rolled my eyes, a human act I'd picked up. That small offense seemed to anger Lliaa even more. She snarled at me, her fingers curling into claws. Voor chuckled at the exchange.“He amuses me, Mother. Perhaps we should let him live, if only to provide entertainment.”
Refusing to let him goad me, I focused on my next move. Voor and Lliaa stood between myself and Timber, the only obstacles in my way. If I could just distract them …
Another gunshot echoed in the barn, and Lliaa’s face became a mask of shock. She looked down at the growing spot of black blood on her gown, centered under her delicate throat, which now sported a spurting hole. Her hand shot to her neck, but she was too slow to staunch it. She gagged on her own blood, twitching as she fell to the ground.
Voor ran to his mother, but I knew it was useless. Nothing he could do would stop her death.
With Voor distracted, I sped to Timber, who still had her gun pointed at the other Xalanites. Despite her own injury, her aim had been true, and I didn’t doubt that she'd make short work of Voor if he tried to attack while I tended to her.
