The Eeplings were very tactile little creatures, crawling all over her, patting her, and cheerfully eeping to each other.
“Have you made any progress in contacting their parents?” she asked Zura.
“My understanding is that we succeeded in sending a holovid to their colony,” Zura replied. “We showed the Eeplings here playing, and gave our planet’s coordinates. Unfortunately the only way to speak with an Eepling is by using a universal telepath, and we don’t have any here.” Her comm beeped, and she said, “Excuse me," and got up and walked off to answer it.
The Eeplings suddenly seemed agitated. A chorus of shrill cries pierced the air. Violet looked around and saw that they were pointing into the woods. She squinted and saw the tall, dark shape of a Vulfan, mostly concealed by underbrush, watching them from a distance. As if realizing that he’d been spotted, he hurried off and vanished into the forest.
Was that the leader of the Wor-Lan guard?
She walked over to Violet. “I think I saw Voljaki in the woods just now,” she said. “It looked like he was watching us.”
Zura gave Violet a sidelong glance. “I am sure he was not watching us specifically,” she said. “I am sure that he was just passing by. Perhaps scoping out the terrain for future training exercises.”
That was odd. Zura hated the Wor-Lans…didn’t she? But right now, it sounded as if she were making excuses for him. If Zura hadn’t seen Voljaki, how could she say that Voljaki hadn’t been watching them?
Perhaps Violet was just being paranoid – having multiple near brushes with death would do that to a woman.
A flutter of suspicion rippled through her. Was it possible that Voljaki or Zura were in any way involved in the attempts on her life? It wouldn’t make sense…but then the attempts on her life made no sense anyway.
When she thought about it, it seemed as if it would have to be somebody from Ilyria who was behind the attacks. No human could have followed her from Earth to Ilyria, and she’d been attacked in both places.
She didn’t want to think that it was Zura. But what was the Thorolf woman hiding?
