Twisted Metal Heart - Eve Langlais Page 0,43
said thanks.”
“Hold on, you’ve seen him? He survived?” She shoved her hand into her shirt and retrieved Alfred, whose eyes glowed in the dark.
“He lived. Barely, and only because of me. You should have given him a neural implant while you were fixing him. He’s none too smart.”
“He survived. That takes intelligence.”
“Or luck,” Alfred declared.
“You think the fact you’re smart is why you survived?” she quipped, heading for the distant glow of her fire.
“You’re trying to trick me.”
“Would I do that?” She gasped then laughed. “Admit it, you are lucky, Alfred.”
“Not that lucky. I don’t have a body.”
“What if I said I brought you a present?”
The tiny ball drone fit in the palm of her hand, big enough she could only just grip it. Once she moved his mind—so to speak—over to the drone, Alfred didn’t mind at all his new shape. On the contrary, once he realized he could fly, he shot up into the sky. She let him. She needed sleep, and besides, with Alfred here, she had someone watching over her.
In the morning, she woke to fresh meat placed beside her fire. A perfect laser hole through its feathered head.
“I brought breakfast,” Alfred declared.
She glanced over at the ball drone and wasn’t at all surprised to see he’d activated the hologram aspect. He appeared as a bird, one she assumed was indigenous to this area. People tended to notice metal things in the sky but ignored the wildlife.
“Where are we?” She wasn’t one to travel above ground when she could be under. At times she wondered which was safer.
“We are actually not too far from the city.”
“After I eat and clean up, we’ll head in.”
“We’ll need transportation.”
“We have wheels.” She waved a hand to the racer.
Alfred snorted. “You take that thing into the city and you’ll draw attention. Or is that your plan? Short-lived escape from your mother. Do you miss her?”
The acerbic words had her lips rounding. “Alfred!”
“Too much? I blame all of Titan’s complaining. He really dislikes the queen.”
“He’s not alone,” she muttered. “Speaking of, see any sign of him?” Because part of her discovery last night was that the last time Alfred had seen Titan, they were stuck in the tank, drowning.
Then the tank was ripped open, and they were yanked along with the current. At least Alfred was. He spent some time caught in a curve of the wall, enough of an indent that it took the bump of something to knock him loose. Then he was caught in some roots when the water receded where she ended up later finding him.
“He’s probably dead,” she said morosely. Which made no sense. She’d assumed him dead before.
“Considering he’s cheated it twice before already, I wouldn’t be so sure.”
Alfred, the voice of optimism? The time submerged might have messed with his circuits.
“Well, if he is alive, then he’ll be in the city. We need to get there at once.” She had a vague idea of throwing herself at the mercy of its king and asking for asylum. But what if he sold her back to the Emerald queen?
Perhaps she should go in quietly. Check things out. Get a feel for the vibe in town. She’d heard interesting rumors, and while she’d never met the king in person, she’d heard of him. He was interesting to say the least.
She placed her hand on her belly. Given her condition, which had taken a beating in the last day, she might want to find a place to hunker down and have her child. If the king couldn’t be trusted, then she could at least lay low and acquire some supplies before moving past the Marshlands into Sapphire and taking a ship somewhere. Or there were the Diamond lands to the north and Ruby lands to the northeast. There was also that dead space to the south that used to be home to the Lazuli. She didn’t know much about that area other than they’d withdrawn after some kind of catastrophe.
“You might be right about the racer being too flashy.” She sighed as she eyed it. “But what choice do I have? I don’t want to walk for days.”
“I think I found a place you can trade it,” Alfred announced. “I scouted it earlier.”
The tiny village was a three-hour drive away in the wrong direction, and the perfect vehicle belonged to someone when she found it. He traded for her racer without even arguing.
The vehicle she acquired was rudimentary but tough. Four rugged wheels with deep absorbing rubber tread.