“Sir. We’ve covered the full grid. No life-forms detected. Scanners are reading clean. No indication anyone has moved through those woods recently.”
Morra went still. “Run it again.”
“I ran it twice.”
I held Aila close and took in what I was hearing. If the villagers weren’t in the forest and they weren’t in the village and the boats were burned, then they weren’t anywhere these scanners were going to find them.
Others came. In the night.The big question was: who?
The math was there but I couldn’t finish the equation. Fifty-seven armed personnel scanning the forest and finding nothing. I had no idea where Maive was. That settled over me cold and heavy, and I stood in the center of a burning village with a child in my arms and answers for exactly no one.
Morra reached down to his thigh holster. He drew the weapon slowly, as if he had all the time in the universe. He walked toward us and stopped close enough that I could see my own reflection in his face mask.
“One more time.” He raised the barrel until it pointed at the center of my chest. “Where are they?”
Aila’s arms tightened around my neck.
“They were supposed to be in this village.” I kept my voice flat and even as genuine worry curled under my ribs. “I am just as curious as you are. That is the truth.”
“That’s not an answer I can use.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
He looked at Aila, then back at me. “You noted earlier about the discharge radius of a blaster.” He tilted the barrel slightly. “It’s still a valid observation.”
I shifted Aila and turned so my body was more between her and the weapon, as much as I could manage. It wasn’t enough.At this range and angle, it wouldn’t matter. I pulled Aila close and closed my eyes.
The light went out.
Not likethat, thankfully. Between one moment and the next, the village dropped into full shadow. I opened my eyes. Morra’s weapon hand had lowered slightly. He was looking up.
I looked up.
A warship hung directly overhead, hovering between us and the sun. Dark-hulled, enormous, and close enough that I could discern the make and model. It was a Deadnight XI battleship. My first thought was more Rivonok forces arriving. My second thought arrived when I glanced down at Morra’s ground team.
They were not preparing to receive reinforcements. They were breaking for cover in every direction. Morra pivoted in a full circle, shouting at them to hold position. Nobody held anything.
I set Aila on her feet.
“The shuttle,” I said. “South clearing.Run.”
Delightful child, she ran.
Morra was still shouting when I hit him. One punch, full weight behind it, at the hinge of the jaw. He dropped. I pulled his weapon before he finished falling and snatched up mine, which I’d placed on the ground. I came up with one in each hand.
I took a quick look south. Aila had reached the clearing and was hauling herself up through the open hatch with both arms. I hit the remote seal on my wrist comm. The locks engaged, sealing her inside, safe from Morra’s scattering forces.
With that worry aside, I crouched beside Morra. He was on the ground, working on figuring out which way was up.
“Current situation,” I said. “You don’t know where my people are, and I don’t know whose ship that is.” I glanced up at the warship, which hadn’t moved. “So, I’d just stay down there if I were you.”
Morra muttered something unintelligible, but stayed where he was.
The warship lowered a landing shuttle from its belly. It dropped fast and set down dead center in the square. The ramp came down. The entrance was packed wall-to-wall with armored figures.
Guild mercenaries.
I recognized the gear before I recognized anything else. My stomach dropped.
