Page 24 of Stone Awakened

Amar was a clever boy because he shuddered forlornly and tucked his face into my neck. “Mommy and daddy are gone, but Aggy is coming back?” The tiny voice just about broke my heart, but I rushed to promise him that she would. I would move mountains to make it so, and since I suspected I knew where they’d taken her, I’d make damn sure my brothers and I would locate her come morning.

“I see,” Uron said a little hoarsely, “What do we do? How can we get her out?” And the show of support was, while not entirely surprising, valued all the same. I gave him a nod, indicating respect for that solidarity, then started walking across the courtyard.

“We wait for the morning, I’ll think of something by then,” I said, while I was glad the male was choosing to side with us. I wasn’t going to trust him with our plans. I would not mention the impending arrival of the Vagabond.

It took a while for the boys to settle down and relax back into play that afternoon, but I’d dug out a colored piece of rock with my claws and they’d made drawings with it on the courtyard walls. That had kept them busy for a while, and then Uron had invented a game with a ball he’d located somewhere in the bottom of a bin of old practice gear.

I send the young Rummicaron off to the barracks when I went to tuck the boys into bed, I wasn’t sure if I could trust him not to try to hit up some Roka but at this point, that was his choice. I couldn’t babysit him forever, I had other things on my mind, his physical addiction was gone, so it was now all about the mental strength not to chase that high again.

Showing up for my evening shift to guard the grand hall with the safe, I was at my best, trying to gather as much information as I could. It was a good sign to notice that the Crimelord was sitting on his throne, interacting with the ones tasked to break the safe. He wasn’t with Aggy, and Aggy wasn’t here, so she had to be locked up in the cells. As long as she was locked up, she was technically safe. I hated the thought of her alone in some cold damp cell, but we needed to wait for my brothers to arrive before I risked breaking her out.

I listened in on every conversation the Crimelord had, and kept my eye out for the bastard Or’tal, but that one never showed. It was making me antsy not to run into the head guard, of everyone to watch out for, I knew it had to be that one. I was also certain it was him that had gotten Aggy thrown in a cell, he was in charge of security here, and he’d finally dug up the details that brought Aggy’s cover tumbling down around her ears.

When I left the grand hall at midnight, I was antsy for a fight, eager to get rid of some of the anxiety coursing through me. That was a dangerous state of mind to be in, I’d cautioned many a male against it before they headed into the arena. Tonight, I strode to the armory, my fingers itching, if I ran into Or’tal, I’d give the bastard a piece of my mind.

It was as if my prayers were heard, a lucky star, I saw the male exiting his office just as I’d returned my laser rifle. My Kertinal deserter partner had already jogged away to the barracks, eager for a drink, and I’d been so kind as to return his weapon for him, making sure it was disabled in the process.

“You bastard,” I said as I spotted the green and black striped mane in the night glow of the wall sconces. My clawed feet dug into the stone floor as I closed in on the male, who had the audacity to simply pause and turn to look at me. He didn’t look worried as I reached him, not even when with flared out wings and my head leveled so my horns were right in his face, I slammed him by the throat into the nearest wall.

“You bastard,” I repeated, furious that he was such a cold asshole and had locked Aggy up, for all he knew, she was about to be killed. After he had held his mouth on what he knew so far, banking on cashing in a favor, it was mighty stupid that he’d done this. I wasn’t about to do him any favors now if he asked it of me.

His green eyes glowed in the dark and the green lines that like cracked porcelain webbed across his skin had started to give off light too. Their luminescence was a warning that though he looked calm, the male was ready to explode into action. I knew Kertinals, I knew the ins and outs of all the types of opponents, I or any of my trainees had had to face on the sands, and I wasn’t impressed.

Kicking at his ankle with a clawed foot, I put him out of balance, while with a hand I grabbed one of the spiraling horns rising proudly from his forehead. I dug in a finger at the base, where they were surprisingly sensitive, tilting his head till it was at an awkward angle, and the pain was etched in lines across his face. Yeah, not so smug now.

To his credit, the male didn’t cry out when I dug into that bundle of nerves, and he didn’t fight back either. Staying in that unbalanced pose, something fierce glowing in his eyes as he let me hold him in that headlock. “What has crawled up your fucking ass?” he growled out in that deep, sub-harmonic voice, two layers of bass harmoniously forming one deep sound.

“Aggy!” I snapped at him, “She’s rotting in a cell right now, why?” I demanded, expecting him to understand what I was asking. The male's eyes went wide, a show of surprise that didn’t look feigned, and I became aware that the male’s barbed tail had risen, but now it dropped down harmlessly. I cursed myself, he’d been ready to strike with that thing, which was tipped with actual metal, and worn in a ring around the base of his barb.

“She’s in the cells?” he said, his eyes flicking down the darkened hallway in the direction the stairs to the cells lay. “Fuck,” he cursed next, and the vehemence in that voice made me certain that Or’tal hadn’t been the one to rat out my female. So then who? I wanted to get my hands on whoever had done this before this was all said and done.

Letting go of that sensitive horn, I slammed the male into the wall a second time, just to let him know I was in charge. Then I eased up and stepped back, “If you didn’t do this, then who?” I asked him, my eyes also going to that dark hallway. She was down there, not that far from where I was, it wouldn’t be hard to break into those cells, I doubted anyone was even guarding the entrance.

“No, don’t even think about it,” the Kertinal across from me growled out, and he stepped into the hallway, blocking my way towards my female. I bristled, instinctively wanting to fight him for impeding my path. My wings flared out, making me a bigger opponent, my skin cracking and itching as my battle-form tightened fruitlessly around me.

“If she’s in the cells, it's because Carator has decided so, you try and break her out…” he said, and his hand went to the gun holstered on his thigh. The threat was clear, he’d shoot me if I tried to break out Aggy. Was I going to have to try anyway? Or’tal knew far too many of our secrets, even if he only implied that he did with barbed words and sharp looks. I should kill the male and hide his body.

“One shot,” he said, as if reading my mind, “I know you’re suffering from the Crumbling. Don’t do it, brother.” He leaned heavily on that last word, making it sound like an insult but it worked. I shivered, my wings pressing back against my spine. I had more to think about than Aggy, as much as it hurt. Worse, I was no match for a male like Or’tal, he was in his prime, and he was the most lethal male on this planet right now, I had no doubt about that.

Growling deep in my chest, I took a last look at the dark hallway behind him before I sighed and stood down. I didn’t want to give up now, I wished I could return Aggy to the boys, and hide all three of them until the Vagabond got here in a few hours. Since that was impossible with a male like Or’tal standing in my way, I stepped back, indicating my intention to obey his warning.

He lowered his shoulders a little, his hand twitching near his gun, he didn’t move those fingers, but it was clear he was standing down too. “Go to your boys, Sunder,” Or’tal said, “You’re not going to like tomorrow, enjoy what you have while you can.” It was a threat more than it was kindness that he said that, something was about to go down tomorrow, a warning about what Carator was going to do to Aggy. I would need to be ready.

Turning on my heel, I started running, then I dropped down on all-fours and ran even faster, searching for the nearest open door so I could fly.

Chapter 16

Sunder

“Jett,” I warned quietly in the early morning hours. I’d woken the boys a few minutes ago and rushed them to get dressed, I’d taken food from the barracks that they were stuffing down their little mouths in a rapid tempo. “Remember to breathe in between bites kid.” I was rewarded with a toothy grin and a view of the half-chewed food still in his mouth. Thankfully there were no choking incidents.

I wanted to be out of here with them both before Uron showed up, though the young male had expressed the desire to rescue Aggy, I wasn’t about to reveal the extent of my plans. Not that my plans were all that extensive, unlike how I’d normally approach a mission such as this, I was winging it far more than I liked. Aggy’s presence for one had definitely thrown a wrench into things, but I was grateful for that now.

“Let’s go,” I said, lifting Amar in my arms and turning for the door. Jett was hot on my heels, his wings shivering noisily at his back, he was so close to twitching into his battle-form, that he was breathing hard to contain himself. I opened the door to find Uron on the other side, standing there in a uniform that looked slept in, his eyes a little bloodshot. At first, I thought that meant the kid had dropped off the wagon and used Roka last night, but his clothes didn’t smell of the foul brew.

“Uron!” Jett exclaimed, peeking around my hip from beneath my wing and waving with one hand, a smile on his face. It was easy for the kids to forget how disinterested and disengaged Uron had been only a week ago, now he was one of their play buddies, someone they’d relied on for safety when Aggy and I hadn’t been there.

Uron narrowed his eyes at me, the wheels turning in his head. “Today’s the day then?” he said, instantly leaping to the right conclusion. I shrugged, but Amar exclaimed in that quiet voice of his, “Sunder is saving Aggy.” The Rummicaron nodded at the kid as if wholeheartedly agreeing, a grin twitching into place around his mouth.