A body falls in the field. The relay groans and sputters as the hoverpad bursts under the force, and the machine collapses like the distant farm buildings. I crawl out from under Sidius’ body shield, drop to the dirt, and take off running. Osiris is my closest friend. I can’t leave him behind.
“Jorusk!”
I look back. Sidius throws a fresh shield at me as hail from the Talhuskin ships overhead closes in. I catch it and keep running.
Sidius’ launcher races across the land to escape the frosty green wave of death. He watches me, wearing the look of a broken man, like he knows I’m running to my death.
“You shouldn’t risk it!” he says in my ear com.
I’ll never forgive myself if I let someone else die when I can do something about it, especially Osiris, our one half-breed Drath-human. But most Drathious are not open about such feelings. I used to be. I was different, peaceful. Some would even dare saygentle. But years of battle have worn me down. It hasn’t done that to Osiris.
He is my last tether to who I used to be.
I open the red shield Sidius gave me and attach it to the chest of my armor.
“This wasn’t yo— fault.” Sidius is wrong.
The ice storm is beginning to affect our signal without the use of our relay.
“I’m almost to Osiris. Coms breaking up. Jorusk out.” I just don’t want to listen to him try to make me feel better. I don’t want to change how I feel. I want to change the situation.
The Talhuskin I killed had infiltrated an Amphiran ship. He let the enemy Denarso on board to take females. Genesis Amphirans are allies, and they were in the middle of their own civil war, fighting for freedom. The Talhuskin was a royal. I revived an old war when I killedKalihtaniswith his own talons.
The assault of hail falls harder, smashing into my shield. I pick up my Pyraforce brother, sling him across my shoulders, settle him atop my wings, and run for shelter.
Osiris is covered in red-orange blood. He mumbles incoherently.
“Stay with me.” I stagger under his weight as I run through the damp rows of crushed plants. Ice bullets slam into the dirt, making the ground uneven and soupy. Mud sprays up as I charge for the closest shelter, a wrecked silo.
Another field destroyed. More food is gone. More hard work. More credits. And all remaining hope.
Irkalla is the only city left with an intact shield. Xibalba is a frozen wasteland. It’s the only way Talhuskins have found to kill us. Only the shock of an icy,poisonedgel that hardens post-impact can stop our Infernos, and we can survive in space without star suits. When our Inferno is gone, life fades. It is a blistering cold and sickening death.
My priority now is not a mate; it is holding my world together, even if it means risking everything.
“Jorusk…” Osiris mumbles. He’s barely warm, but I know it’s not from ice. He’s bleeding out.
I lay him down under the shelter of a twisted metal frame and convoluted panels. The fields are destroyed, the crops gone, like he will be soon if I don’t do something quickly. Resting him back in a pile of spilled grain, I glance through an opening as thehail fire bullets punch into the warm dirt of our planet and melt, further turning the fields to slushy mud. The ice will build until we are all entombed in it.
There is no negotiating with Talhuskins. They want us to serve them or die. We chose freedom…and death.
I try to give Osiris warm water from my canteen, but he shies away from it. He looks down and grimaces at the radiant orange blood that leaks from beneath his ribs. I dig through my medical pack as the hail pounds harder on the metal. Finding a bandage, I dump a coagulant pack over his wound and press the bandage to him.
“Don’t bother. I’m so cold already.”
“Osiris, if you die on me, I will take my next chance to visit you in Magmium just so I can kick your ass.”
He laughs weakly and looks away with pain and denial in his eyes. “We all have a time, brother.”
But I am no ordinarybrother. I keep myself hidden to help those the elite soldiers never will. Osiris is a kind Drathious, like I used to be. Like we all used to be before survival turned us into animals.
Aura knows I am different. He told me to be myself. But I do not need extra attention when I’m already trying to patch up what I’ve destroyed.
“Jorusk, please.” Osiris gasps. The rattling breath that leaves him shatters my reservations. I am losing him.
“Yours is not today,” I tell him.
“Don’t be an ember. Just let me go. I’m tired.” He gazes skyward and rests his head back in the grain.
