Looking northeast, to where he’d seen theMevirax’ssignal, he approached, though he kept the hovercraft low to the ground once he cleared the Pass of theKokillix. They always met him near the shore of the vastLopitaxSea and there was an outcropping of dunes where he could hide the hovercraft.
He navigated to one, landed, and then exited. He made the rest of the distance on foot, plunging through thick, soft sand, snagging a fewobiraxifruits from the spindly bushes he passed. His female might enjoy them, hopefully better than thekekevirmeat.
Only threeMeviraxhad come. Jaxor’s lips pressed together when he saw Tavar among them. The leader of theMevirax, the one whom he made the original agreement with. For him to journey all this way did not bode well for the trust he’d placed in Jaxor, trust that had taken him a long time to build up.
The other twoMeviraxwere Laccara and Kilan. Laccara was one of their females, the next one slated for the Jetutians to heal. She was mated to Kilan, Tavar’s warrior general, of sorts.
Jaxor knew why Tavar had brought Laccara. As if to remind him what was at stake.
They were sitting around a small fire, waiting. They’d burnedtillialeaf to make the large plumes of smoke and the air seemed grey around them. Grey and thin. The first thing that Jaxor did when he stepped towards them was go to the fire and crush the burning leaf with his foot.
Tavar stood, gazing at him.Observing. Jaxor hated it. It made his skin crawl.
“Where are the females?” Tavar asked, straight to the point. He spoke in the old dialect, one that had taken Jaxor time to pick up. TheMeviraxwere not an ancient line of people. Tavar was the youngest—and last—son of the male who led the original rebellion against Jaxor’s own sire, Kirax’an. And yet, they adhered to the old customs of the Luxirians, to the old language, passed down among very few.
Jaxor had to tread carefully. Tavar was intelligent, not easily fooled, though the older brother he’d taken power from had been.
“Cruxan, one of Vaxa’an’s Ambassadors, has them. He ambushed me in the forest before our meeting.” Tavar’s gaze flickered down his bare chest, at thekekevirwounds adorning his flesh. They could pass for blade marks and Jaxor wouldn’t correct his assumptions. “I am tracking them south.”
“Then why are you here?”
“I needed to refuel,” he said.
“They could already be back to the Golden City by now,” Kilan commented, frustration coloring the male’s tone. His hair was plaited,wixabeads threaded throughout. Jaxor’s stomach jolted when he realized his own hair was now shorn. Surely that would seem suspicious to Tavar, who had only seen him a handful of spans ago. His eyes cut through Jaxor, narrowing. “You failed. You failed Laccara. Now the possibility of our child is lost.”
Jaxor’s eyes went to Laccara, standing next to her mate. Her hands were clasped in front of her, looking every bit the docile Luxirian female, but Jaxor was not fooled. He’d learned long ago that mostMeviraxfemales were just as cunning and vicious as their males, if not more so.
“I have not failed,” Jaxor told them. “Our plan is only delayed. Cruxan is on foot with the females. His hovercraft was damaged. He will try for one of the outposts before risking the Black Desert back to the Golden City.”
Jaxor could feel Tavar’s unflinching gaze. When the Jetutians had first approached theMevirax, it had been to Tavar’s older brother. The previous leader. His brother had almost run through the Jetutian messenger with his blade. Jetutians and Luxirians had a long, ugly history. The most recent attack on their females was still fresh in the Luxirians’ minds—and always would be.
But Tavar saw opportunity where his older brother had seen only hate. Tavar had pushed his brother out as leader within the rotation, sowing doubt and rumors among theMevirax. After Tavar had taken control, his brother was never seen again.
Jaxor held no doubt in his mind that Tavar had killed him. His own brother.Thatwas why Jaxor would never trust him. To his people, he seemed a just, fair leader who was restoring hope andlife. Jaxor believed that Tavar wanted the females cured of the virus that had left them unable to conceive—but Jaxor knew it waspowerthat theMeviraxleader craved most of all, and that he would give anything for it.
And what was more powerful thanMeviraxfemales giving life, once more, while the females in the Golden City and the outposts could not? It would shake the very core of their society. There would be uprisings, more rebellions, probably bloody. TheMeviraxwould grow more powerful, drawing in new factions from all over Luxiria, with the promise of restored health, a restored future. Already, there had been whisperings through the outposts.
Tavar wanted to be Prime Leader of Luxiria. Tavar wanted Vaxa’an dead and the Golden City under his rule. He believed he could get it, if he played the Jetutians just right. If he could steal away the vaccine that would heal Luxirian females and use it as a bargaining chip for the throne.
That was why Jaxor could not allow Tavar to claim the cure for himself and himself alone.
Tavar believed that Jaxor only wanted revenge on Po’grak, the Jetutian who had ordered the attack on Luxirian females, the war commander of their race. And that was true. Jaxor wanted to run him through with his blade, one he’d crafted with his sorrow and grief. Only then would he feel like he had avenged his mother. Only then would he feel like he could breathe again.
Only then would he feel like he could look his blood brother in the eye again.
But there was more at stake. The future of their race, one that hopefully wouldn’t be under Tavar’s rule.
It was a roundabout, twisted plan.
But his plan hinged on Tavar’s trust in him, while Jaxor wondered if theMeviraxleader was even capable of it.
“I will get the human females back,” Jaxor said, looking him in the eye, if only to buy him moretime.
“Vow it toOxandri,” Laccara finally said, her voice hard and unyielding. “Give blood toOxandriand if you go back on your word then she will strike you down.”
Jaxor saw the flash of impatience on Tavar’s features, though he hid it quickly. Most of theMeviraxrevered and prayed toOxandri, the Fate of Sacrifice, and her alone.
Jaxor’s jaw clenched, but he looked at the dagger that Kilan pulled from the sheath attached to his leg.
