Discovery at Nerwolix (3 page)

“You guys talked about that?” Tucker raises
a brow.

“It came up… yeah.”

“What…” he clears his throat, “what’d she
say?”

“It does not matter what she said,” Qippert
exhales. “The princess will marry a miyon. It is tradition.”

“Unless she breaks it and marries a human,”
I say.

“It is not possible. The queen would never
allow it.”

“…unless she does.”

Sampson and Qippert were about to say
something but Werzo beats them to it, making his way back to the
spit for another piece of roasting Carring. “But Tucker’s bound to
Nerwolix,” he tears a chunk free, “how would it work?”

“We don’t even know where she is,” the Rogue
Leader frowns, pacing the room. “She could be off planet by
now.”

“The princess will be found,” Sampson
assures. “On my honor as a Fychu, I will locate Ariana and restore
her home.”

“Just remember I’ll need a place to crash at
the FH,” Jace cups Tucker’s shoulder. “I need to bring the mayans
somewhere.”

“Can’t stay with
them
?” Able
laughs.

“Nope—separate sleeping quarters.
Remember?”

“It sounds like I have missed much this last
week,” Blovid looks over at Sampson, “secluded up here in the
cold.”

“We’ll remedy that in the morning,” Clarence
winks. “Get you back to civilization.
Warm
civilization.”

“I have not met with Hozfin in ages. I look
forward to our encounter.”

“When was the last time you spoke with him?”
I ask.

“Oh…” Blovid sits back, considering, “must
be some time now…” he pauses, blanching as he looks to Sampson.
“Could it be since…?”

But the Fychu simply nods.

“What?” Werzo asks through a mouthful of
meat.

Silence fills the air.

Finally Blovid starts, keeping his tone
soft, easy. “The last major transgression that occurred on
Nerwolix. A little over a hundred and fifty years ago.”

“What happened?” I look between Blovid and
Sampson but neither meet my eye. Another long quiet moment fills
the space, weighing it down with grief and anxiety.

“Reid,” Sampson finally breaks the tension,
motioning for the tunnel out. “Would you mind making sure the first
exit is secure? I’m not certain it was entirely closed upon our
arrival.”

Reid nods and moves to a stand. He extends
his hand to me. “Want to come with?”

“Sure.”

“You two don’t get lost now,” Jace grins as
I’m pulled to my feet.

With a wink, Reid threads his fingers in
mine and leads us back down the tunnel and toward the first small
room. The silence behind us continues and once everyone has
disappeared into the quiet, I lean close to him. “What was that
about, do you think?”

“Obviously something happened.”

“Sampson didn’t tell you?”

Reid shakes his head. “He’s actually a
pretty private person.”

“Did he ever tell you about a girl?”

“A girl?” Reid laughs.

“Like… a wife or something? Someone he
loved?”

“No…” he glances to me. “Why?”

“Vix said something about it once—when we
were leaving Camp. He was praying under the Rinzal tree. She said
he was praying to find
her
.”

“I don’t know,” Reid frowns. “Sampson never
mentioned anyone.”

“Have you ever asked him?”

“We mostly talk about Arizal stuff. Sampson
never gets into anything personal.”

“I’ve tried bringing it up a few times but
he clams up.”

“Maybe we should stop trying. Maybe,” he
spins to me as we enter the first room lined with torches, “it’s
not our business.”

“But don’t you want to know?”

“Right now?” he smirks, shaking his head as
he walks me back to the wall. “Right now I’m focused on something
else.” He has me against the rock, his hands on either side of my
face. “I’m focused on
my
girl.”

I’m lit up, and it has nothing to do with
the torch inches from Reid’s hand.

“Hey…”

“Hey what?” he lightly kisses my neck,
sending my pulse into overdrive. His hands slide to my hips as I
place mine on his shoulders, squeezing.

“We can’t do this,” I close my eyes, growing
dizzy as his lips trail down my skin.
Oh
but I want to. We
really haven’t had a moment alone since that night on Nerwolix,
when I asked Reid to make love to me. I wish I could do it again,
ask him again. Right now. I wish I could feel him inside me, moving
like his life depends on it, because I’ve been craving it. Craving
the feeling of his hands on me and his breathlessness and the
sounds he makes when he’s losing control.

“Do what?” his mouth moves to my throat.

“Busted!” Able laughs.

Reid’s head drops to my shoulder and my eyes
jet open, finding the other Rogues in the room with us, smirking.
After a long second, he pushes back, meandering toward the boys
with a sigh. I try suppressing my blush while Reid runs his hands
through his hair, pacing a foot away from me.

“Sorry, Boss,” Jace grins. “Sampson wants a
minute alone with the other Dofinikes.”

“What more is there to discuss?” Able hooks
his hands on his hips under the white Carring hide. “We’re heading
back to Nerwolix tomorrow.”

“Yeah,” Werzo rubs his hands together,
holding them over a nearby torch, “not soon enough.”

“They’re talking about Ariana,” Tucker
mutters.

“About her disappearance?” I ask. “Or about
you two?”

“Both, I think. So…” he gulps, inching
closer, “what’d she say about me?”

“Looking for some gossip there, Rogue
Leader?” Jace laughs.

“I want to meet this princess,” Able says.
“I’ve never seen Rogue Leader get like this over a girl.”

“She’s cute,” Jace nods.

“And Booker,” Able turns to him, “what do
you think? You’re always so quiet. You think this princess is
something special?”

“She’s pretty, yeah.”

“She’s
beautiful
,” Tucker whispers,
lost in thought as he stares into nothing, some scene playing
behind his eyes. He directs his attention to me again. “Well?”

“Uh…” I stumble, quickly trying to remember
what it was she’d said about him. “Yeah… she said you were good
looking, but quiet.”

Tucker winces.

“But…” I start, feeling obligated to
reassure him, “that was only one time and in the beginning, before
the toxin was even released. We didn’t really talk much about you
after that… sorry. Mae and Pratt were mostly quizzing her on
marriage laws and your name came up.”

“Wouldn’t it be cool if Rogue Leader did end
up marrying a princess?” Werzo laughs. “That’d be sweet. All the
Hunnis we could drink!”

“You could make little mer-babies!” Able
smiles.

“Yeah,” Jace turns to Tucker with a huge
grin plastered on his face. “Would that even work? Does she
have…?”

“Don’t go there,” Tucker shakes his
head.

“I’m just saying,” Jace smiles. “How
would—”

A thunderous explosion erupts behind Booker
as a herd of furry blue creatures swarm through a hole in the rock
wall. They’re scurrying on four legs, skinny wooden devices in hand
and already firing.

Reid throws me behind him, blocking me with
an outstretched arm. I’m in the closest thing to a corner, watching
over his shoulder as the hip-high creatures pour into the cave in
waves, aiming their tiny wooden weapons at us and shooting with
great fervor. Blocked by Reid’s body, I have nowhere to go, nowhere
to move except this tiny space behind him. One of the short blue
creatures races for us and just as I take a step forward, I’m
pelted in the shoulder, slammed with magnetic force into the wall
behind me.

Whatever hit me stings immensely, but the
pain is tolerable. It’s when I try to move that panic sets in. I’m
stuck. As in, cemented to the wall. It’s like the Fiminer we used
on Harrizel, except instead of keeping me attached to the ground,
I’m trapped to the wall behind me. Still trying to pull myself
free, more panic rises when the same blue creature pulls out a
small blade. But Reid pummels into him, smashing him against the
wall before he gets within feet of us.

“Boss!” Able cries, pinned to the rock
further down. “Behind you!”

One of the creatures launches himself at
Reid but he ducks, grabbing the back of the fur and slamming it
face first into the wall. He does it again and the thing falls limp
to the floor.

Sampson rushes in, followed by Blovid and
Clarence, just as Werzo flies back to the rock. Booker goes to move
but is hit in the stomach, drawn to the same wall, inches away from
the other Rogue. Just as Tucker starts for them, all three
Dofinikes morph into their true form, scurrying around the room,
knocking the small blue creatures to the ground in the center of
the floor. A few attempt climbing the walls but Sampson—I think
it’s him—knocks their legs free, and they fall to the pile with
their shaking brethren. Clarence catches the last one which tries
rushing for the hole in the wall, but he’s whipped back, thrown
into the rock next to me, and it slides down into a motionless
lump.

Reid is in front of me, examining my
shoulder. His brows pinch together in confusion and panic.
“Sampson! What is this?”

The Fychu makes his way over as Clarence and
Blovid address the others. Scanning my shoulder, he gestures to
Reid. “Step back.”

Reid moves to my other side, watching as
Sampson lifts his green hands and rubs them together. Closing his
eyes, five long seconds pass before he swiftly scrapes my shoulder
clean with his talon. There’s a sharp burning and suddenly,
something sizzles on the ground.

I nearly fall to the floor with it, but Reid
catches me.

“Fallon,” the Fychu says. “Fallon—look at
me. Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. What was that?”

“A Pwebole,” Qippert approaches, assisted by
Vix. “The inhabitants of Larupip.”

“But what hit you,” Sampson steadies me, “is
a nitnit. It’s a non-lethal magnetic device used to pin
predators—or in this case, prey—to its corresponding target.”

“Little bastards,” Werzo kicks one of the
unconscious ones.

“They are not violent,” Qippert frowns as
Vix helps him move closer to the pile of blue fur in the center of
the floor. “I wonder what motivated the attack.”

“Hey,” Reid holds my face in his hands.
“We’ll get some Tregmint on it tomorrow, okay?”

I nod, trying not to wince at the amount of
pain still throbbing in my shoulder. It would only upset him.

Blovid, still in true form, stands over the
shaking lot as the rest of us move in on them. Now that we’re not
under attack, I can get a better look at our assailants. Basically
knee-high balls of light blue fur, they have six skinny limbs—two
arms and four legs that end in little hands and feet which resemble
a monkey’s. Two wide, white eyes shift in the center of their furry
face with a deep cobalt snout protruding a few inches below.

“Well,” Blovid probes, “you seemed to have
failed whatever mission you set out on.”

They ramble to themselves in a buzzing hum
of indecipherable tones.

Sampson shakes his head, “One at a time
please, and in English.”

The one closest to him shifts between both
sets of legs. “Pweboles meant no harm, Fychu,” he says in a nasally
voice.

“I beg to differ,” Clarence laughs.

“
Pweboles
meant no harm. Pweboles
would
never
willingly harm the Fychu or any Dofinike.”

“And what vendetta do you have against the
humans?” Blovid asks.

“None, sir.”

“None?” Blovid zips back into human form,
Sampson and Clarence quickly following. “Then why attack them?”

“They were the first ones the Pweboles
saw.”

Clarence exhales, running his fingers over
his brows. “We’re going to be here all night.”

“You are not making much sense,” Blovid
sighs.

“What is your name?” Sampson asks.

“We are Pweboles.”

“But
your
name… you are called?”

“Pobo, if it pleases the Fychu.”

“Okay, Pobo,” Sampson starts, “now please
explain why you attacked.”

“Pweboles needed to.”

“Why did you need to?”

“Pweboles follow orders. Always have.”

“So it was ordered?” Clarence looks around
at the others before focusing on Pobo again. “Who ordered it?”

“Pweboles agreed to terms as requested.
Pweboles
meant no harm, but Pweboles must complete as
requested.”

“Yeah,” Clarence laughs, “that’s not going
to happen.”

“But Pweboles
must
complete
task.”

“And that is to kill us?” Sampson asks.

“It is not Pweboles’s desire. It is not
Pobo’s
desire.”

“Then why must it be done?”

“Pallooloo.”

“Pallooloo,” they all ramble in their
nasally voices over one another.

“What is a Pallooloo?” Able asks.

“
Who
is Pallooloo,” Qippert says. “It
is their king.”

“These clowns have a king?” Jace laughs.

“Is Pallooloo who ordered this?” Sampson
narrows his eyes on Pobo.

“Pallooloo wishes the Fychu no harm.”

“Then why are you here?”

“Pweboles follow orders. Always have.”

“Can I kill him?” Jace glances around.
“Seriously? I can do it real quick. No one would miss him.”

Sampson shakes his head, stroking his chin
in deep thought. He drops to one knee, bringing himself face to
face with Pobo. “I need you to listen carefully to me,” he takes a
deep breath. “Was it Pallooloo that ordered this?”

“Pallooloo wishes the Fychu no harm.”

Sampson frowns and takes a calm breath. “Is
Pallooloo safe?”

“Pallooloo is in grave danger.”

“Why?”

“Pweboles attacked. Pallooloo taken.”

“By who?” Sampson asks. “
Who
took
Pallooloo and who ordered this?”