Did she have a small knife hidden on her person? Then he saw a flash of what looked like a black Talin claw, but he dismissed it. He couldn’t be seeing things correctly.
All the Ossisos were startled by Amina’s actions, giving Myrum an opening. Before he could move, Gis appeared in the hallway.
He was running hard toward them. “Stop!”
As much as he was grateful to see help arrive, he didn’t think this single Ossiso had any training. He could end up being more of a liability.
“No, Gis,” he shouted. He tried to wave him off. “Don’t get any closer. Run! Alert the ship's authorities."
Gis ignored him and kept coming. “Everyone stop, right now!”
To Myrum’s shock all the attackers that were still able to move backed away. Amina was still tangled up with the screaming, bleeding Ossiso.
Myrum rushed over and plucked her off him and moved away from the group. Somehow Amina had knocked the other twounconscious, so he moved in that direction. If he could get back to the shop, maybe he could get the attendant to call for whatever kind of security the ship had.
He tossed Amina over his shoulder and turned to run.
“Put me down!” Amina growled. He felt something sharp pierce the seam between two plates in his back. Not enough to make him bleed, but the threat was there.
“Quiet,” he said. “I’m getting us out of here.”
“Please, let me explain,” Gis said, ignoring their masked attackers and jumping in front of Myrum to stop his progress.
“Is that Gis?” Amina asked, trying to move her body in such a way that she could see what was in front of him. “Damn it, Myrum, put me down!”
“You’re not in any danger,” Gis said, refusing to move out of Myrum’s way even when he growled. “There was a plan in place that I wasn’t aware of. It was a plan based on wrong information. I came here to stop this as soon as I found out.”
Amina picked another set of keratin plates in his lower back and dug in. This time she wasn’t as nice about it, and he felt the edge of one plate painfully separate.
With a gasp of pain, he lowered Amina to the ground, surprised to see her hands were empty. For a brief moment he forgot about Gis and the Ossisos.
He reached back to rub the spot. She’d only lifted the plate a little, so it would heal, but how did she do that without a knife in her hand?
“Don’t ever do that again!” she snarled.
“I’m the one who’s wounded,” he whined, hurt that she was angry when all he’d tried to do was protect her.
Amina’s expression went from enraged to worried. “Hurt? How bad? Where?”
“I can get you medical care,” Gis said, reminding both of them they weren’t safe yet.
Amina turned on him with a scowl. “Why were we ambushed? Explain now!”
Gis looked over his shoulder at the other Ossisos and said something in a language Myrum’s INT couldn’t translate. The others were quick to take their wounded and move far away.
“There was little knowledge about the reason for your visit,” Gis said. “We speculated that it was to get Lorse to persuade his father to accept more Talin military help. The Council of Souls is divided, and one of Lorse’s parents is close to Higlush, the deciding vote and leader of the council.”
“That's the opposite of why I’m here,” Myrum said before he could think better of it. He probably shouldn’t be giving away the truth of his secret mission.
He’d warned Holian he’d make a horrible mess of this.
“Yes, I realized that when you came here on an Ugarian ship instead of with a full Talin envoy,” Gis said, talking fast as if worried they’d walk away before he could finish explaining. “I assure you, there was no plan to hurt you. All they were going to do was subdue you and ship you back to the Talin Empire in a sleep pod. The ship and crew that brought you here would be told you decided to leave on a different transport and their mission was done.”
Amina made an angry sound. “Except Helmen and the others would never leave without me. You have no idea who you messed with when you came after us!”
“You were to wake up in your room with no memory of what happened here,” Gis explained. “I know they were going to try very hard not to physically hurt either of you.”
“There are too many points of failure in your plan,” Myrum said. “Any first-solar military student could tell you it was very likely to fail.”
