I signed up for.” Bly's voice was just audible.
“It's not what any of us signed up for. Are you going to whine about it, or are you going to help get us out of here alive?” The sharp words weren't from Virn, they were from Clin.
They seemed to settle everyone, focus them.
“I want my weapon returned.” Dray spoke up into the silence. “I want Lucy and my hands untied, and I want my weapon.”
“No.” Virn didn't even glance back at them.
Krian shot, and a bark of pain sounded. Suddenly Bly and Clin, on either side of him, shot at well.
There were some howls and then silence.
Bly squinted into the darkness. “It's run away. But was it just one, or are there more of them?”
“The young males are usually on their own. If that's what that was, we're all right.” Rua didn't move from his shooting stance.
“I'm not trusting that. We need to find Graven and then go.” Krian lifted his shockgun a little higher.
“Agreed.” Virn looked back at Lucy and Dray. “Pack up everything as fast as you can. We're leaving.”
Dray gave a nod, and Virn swung back to guarding the circle.
“Look for anything useful to pocket,” Dray whispered quietly in Lucy's ear.
She nodded. That's where her mind had gone, as well.
She rolled mats and stored them, and found Clin had been being an asshole when he'd given her and Dray one to share. There were at least two spares in the storage holds.
Never mind. He would experience karma. She would make sure of it.
She would be karma's handmaiden.
Chapter 25
Dray kept an eye on the Tecran while he gathered blankets and used his remaining focus to scan the contents of each storage hold as he stuffed them inside.
There was nothing obvious to take that would help Lucy and himself, or if there was, he didn't have the time to look thoroughly enough.
He accepted it, accepted speed was the more important thing now, and hoped he'd get another chance to pry and see what he could find.
Lucy started to hum, and he flicked her a quick look, stunned that she could create that kind of music in the situation they were in.
Suddenly, one of the Tecran shot their weapon again, and the sound of a kol's answering rage had Dray scooping up the last few items and throwing them into the nearest storage hold and slamming it closed.
A howl went up, and it felt as if a kol's jaws closed around the back of his neck.
He rubbed the spot, his eyes on Rua, who'd been the one to shoot.
“You done?” Virn's tone was pitched higher than usual.
“Yes.” Dray's fingers itched for his shockgun.
One of the Tecran must have it with them as a spare, because he hadn't seen it in any of the storage holds.
“Time to go before that howl brings his friends.” Rua said what they were all thinking.
They climbed on quickly and rose up, the Tecran taking the hovers to their highest elevation, and as they began moving forward, the front and side lights flickered over the scrubby ground and illuminated four sets of eyes.
Dray felt Bly shudder in front of him as one of the kol leaped up at them.
It couldn't reach, but Dray could see its thick ruff, its massive teeth bared as it jumped.
When Krian turned his hover back, Bly went stiff.
“Form a line, Graven has to be here somewhere.”
Dray wondered if Bly had forgotten about his teammate, but if so, he didn't balk at the order, he turned his hover as well, and shone his light at the ground.
The kol followed them, howling, leaping and snapping at them from below.
Dray didn't think there was a chance Graven had survived.
“He's here.” Virn shouted. The hover didn't descend, which Dray assumed it would if there had been any chance the soldier was alive.
Graven was far enough from the camp that Dray guessed he'd been dragged away.
Bly caught up with Virn and Dray peered down. Graven lay on his back, eyes open and unseeing, his body savaged.
The hovers congregated above the body. No one said a word over the snarls of the kol below.
Then Virn revved his hover's engine and roared off, and one by one, the others followed him.
Dray saw Krian was the last to leave, and he looked over his shoulder to watch him, but when the kol that had followed them began savaging Graven's body again, Krian, too, turned and followed Virn.
It was at least a few hours before dawn, so they flew high. No