I push upright.
Hrad is crouched next to the blanket, staring at me.
Then I hear it. It’s Erica. “Please don’t hurt me. I don’t know what you want.”
“Tablet? Where is it?” I whisper and hold out my hand, listening to Erica. In amongst her pleading there is information.
Hrad hands me the tablet, and his fingers remain on my hand.Five warriors. Hugh is dead. I have not responded to her.Charlie’s team is also silent. So either they all turned off their comms to sleep or they have been found.
Shit.I need to respond to Erica, but that means speaking aloud.Is it safe for me to respond?
He tilts his head and grimaces. I’m going to take that as a no.
We need to let her know we have heard and are coming.
Hrad nods and makes a kind of whistle that could be an animal sound.
There’s silence for a second, before Erica responds. “I don’t understand. Say again.”
It’s clear that she’s talking to us. Hrad makes the whistle again.
“If you’re close. Please hurry,” she pleads. “No, don’t take it.”
There’s a rustle and her device goes quiet.
“Shit.” I murmur. “We need to move.”
Please don’t speak.
I glare at him.Fine. We need to do something.
There are five warriors. I cannot take on five. Two if they are unmated. You need to call Charlie’s team back, and we need to leave.
Leave?We cannot abandon Erica. What will happen to her?
Hrad is silent for several seconds.Without the whisperer, she won’t be able to communicate until she learns the language. They will be curious and worried about the stranger on their land.
He’s too fucking calm.They killed Hugh.
I run my hand over my head. Fuck. How did this all go to shit so fast? How did they discover we were here? I want to scream my frustration. I want answers.
Hrad stares at the ground, a frown pinching his eyebrows together. If they find him, they will kill him for being banished. And if they find me, will I share Erica’s fate?
What will they do with the ship?
Is it smarter to leave while we still can?
What happens when I go home and report the loss of my entire team?
I get up, needing to move, and stalk around our tiny campsite. We should’ve kept walking through the night, then we would’ve been there when the warriors arrived and perhaps the four of us could’ve fought them off…
Killing the people we want to learn from is not a good start.
Hrad grabs my arm, and cups my cheek.We can go to the settlement. I can talk to them.
My heart thumps against my ribs. “No. They will kill you.”
I bite my lip, realizing I shouldn’t have spoken, even though my words were soft. But he’s right. I can’t go to the settlement by myself, and he is the only one who speaks the language.We need a plan.
