The quiet one introduced himself as Warrior TorIS. The oldest man—the one who’d given her a hard time earlier—said his name was Warrior RusEN, and the new man she hadn’t seen before introduced himself as Warrior FinlEY. FinlEY explained that he had been keeping watch, making sure that no one had followed her and CristOF to the island.
“I wasn’t here when your story was explained. Could you tell me how you came to be on an island full of traitors?” FinlEY asked with a hint of suspicion in his voice.
Tera told how she had gone to the park alone and that two men had cornered her, asking questions about CristOF and his mission. Then she relayed how they kidnapped her from the Kiljor prime city, and told him about the elders she’d met.
She’d felt uncomfortable until CristOF came out of the shuttle wearing a new shirt. He sat down next to her and took her hand in his possessively.
“You never met the men who took you before?” FinlEY asked looking into her eyes.
CristOF growled at him. “She is not to be interrogated by you or anyone else. She has suffered enough.”
FinlEY glared back at CristOF. “She might have valuable information or she might have given the rebels information. It is my job to find that out.”
“She was struck by those bastards. Who knows what they would have done to her had I not seen her being brought in.”
“Warrior CristOF, I’m not trying to be an asshole. She is the only person who has seen this new rebel leader up close and can positively identify him. I need to question her for every bit of information I can get out of her!”
The two of them were standing inches from each other glaring each other down. Tera had to do something to defuse the situation. She didn’t want to see CristOF fighting with his own teammates.
She placed a hand on CristOF’s bare chest. “It’s okay CristOF. I’m happy to tell what I know, which isn’t that much.” She turned to face FinlEY. “What do you want to know?”
“Did you recognize anyone?” FinlEY asked.
“No, they were strangers. I don’t know their names but I did hear them on the shuttle saying a name...LazarUS. I’m sorry CristOF I forgot all about that.” Tera turned to look at CristOF with an apologetic expression.
“It’s okay Tera, you’ve been through so much,” CristOF reassured her.
FinlEY continued questioning her. “Can you describe what they looked like?”
“Yes, if I had a piece of paper and pencil I could probably sketch them. I’m not great at art but I could do something.”
SimON pulled out his digital tablet and handed it her. “This has a drawing program on it. You select basic features like hair and eye color, shapes of faces, noses. Move two fingers on the screen apart to make the features larger and bring the fingers back together to make the features smaller. Press twice more to restart if you make a mistake.”
Tera took it and sat down on a nearby rock. It took a few tries to get used to the program but once she had the first image complete she smiled and held it up. “This is the first of the two that took me.”
SimON came over and pressed the save button. “Draw as many as you can and hit this button to save each drawing.”
Tera felt grateful to have something to offer. She wasn’t a leader, a tracker or a warrior. This was something that she could do to maybe help the mission and keep a civil war from happening. She would do anything to help CristOF.
Completing the last drawing and saving it she held it up for everyone to see. “This is the leader. He may be the one they call LazarUS. The man on the island didn’t introduce himself to me and thankfully CristOF rescued me before he had a chance to...interrogate me.”
CristOF took the digital tablet from her and looked at the image of the male. “I didn’t see his face but I saw his profile. SimON, when the others arrive, may sure they are given the images. It will help them identify the enemies among the prisoners.” He handed the tablet over to SimON.
“Yes, sir.”
Tera smiled up at him. “So now what? We go attack the island and capture the bad guys?”
He frowned at her. “We will be going, you will be remaining here. I’ll have a warrior and a medic stay with you. We’ll leave this shuttle behind in case you need to be taken off the island for safety reasons.”
She stood up and placed her hands on her hips. “Wait, you can’t be serious. You’re just going to have me stay here? While you’re off fighting…”
“Leave us,” he ordered his team.
Tera could hear the other men leave but she couldn’t look away from his handsome face. Her heart skipped a beat at the thought of him in danger again. He was just recovering from being stabbed. And this time she wouldn’t be there for him. Truthfully, she knew she couldn’t be that much help, she hated violence, but the waiting and worrying for his safety was going to kill her.
Tera turned her back on him and started to walk away, but strong hands gripped her shoulders, firmly but gently making her turn back to face him. She had to let him do his job.
“Sorry, you’re right,” she said. “I would only be a liability. Hell, you were on your way back to your team and would have been here hours ago if you hadn’t had to take the time to save me.”
