In Enemy Territory - Shannon West Page 0,77

hovering beside them. “We’re ready now. Take us to the transport.”

They were herded onto the transport like cattle, pushed and shoved as angry voices shouted at them on all sides. Kylon was glad Rasc was still mostly dazed and not fully conscious for this part because the treatment would have made him furious, yet it was no worse than Kylon had expected. The so-called transport was, for the prisoners at least, nothing but a large bay in the bottom of a small ship, with no seats or comforts of any kind. They all scrambled to sit down before the ship took off, knowing it would be a rough ride and would no doubt toss them around. The air currents over the bay that separated the island from the mainland were unstable, which also caused the rough currents and choppy seas. Kylon pulled Rasc between his legs and motioned for Setin, who was hovering next to him, to have a seat beside him.

“He’s going to be pretty mad, your worship, when he wakes up all the way.”

“Yes, I know, but it couldn’t be helped. He was about to get himself killed, and it was the quickest way to stop him.”

“You may be right, sir. But I doubt he’ll see it that way.”

“No doubt,” Kylon sighed. “He’s a stubborn person. I’ve heard that humans often are.”

On the other side of him, Pax gave a short laugh. “You should have thought of that before you took one as your nobyo.”

“What makes you think he’s my nobyo?”

“Isn’t he?” Pax said, bracing himself with his hands as the transport began to rev its engines. “You could have fooled me.”

The ship seemed to go straight up at first and then took off quickly for what was supposed to be a short trip to the island. From what the others had told Kylon, it only took a half an hour or so to get to the place, and most of that wasn’t because of distance so much as the fierce air turbulence. Ships going to the island had to fight the unstable winds over the bay between the mainland and Zargoff Island, and Kylon wondered again why the commandant chose to live so far from the prison. There was a great deal about the commandant that made no sense. He wasn’t at the prison often, which might have made a difference. But it still seemed odd to live in such isolation.

Kylon assumed the commandant and the prince, who was still playing the role of ambassador, were on a different shuttle, but he heard the commandant’s voice come over the speakers of the ship, saying something in rapid Gatifreyan.

“Did you get any of that?” Kylon asked Setin.

“Not much of it, your worship. He has a different accent than I’ve ever heard. I don’t think he’s strictly a native speaker.”

“Really? Well, did you understand any of it?”

“Something about a possible rough landing, ‘as they trained for,’ or ‘as they planned for.’ Something like that.”

“What could he mean by that?”

“I don’t know, but I don’t think I want to find out,” Setin said, and Kylon gave him a sharp look. Maybe he was right—maybe they’d badly miscalculated this whole thing. And if they had, the fault would be mostly his.

There weren’t any windows in the bay, but the prisoners were able to tell when the ship went out over the water, as the air suddenly got bumpy and rough. Rasc was awake now, though he said he still felt dizzy when Setin asked. He apparently wasn’t speaking to Kylon, but he hadn’t moved far away either, which Kylon counted as something of a win. He wondered if Rasc had heard Pax joking about him being his nobyo and hoped he hadn’t. This was going to be difficult enough to explain as it was.

Kylon knew for sure now that Rasc was his nobyo, if he’d had any lingering doubt. He had been desperate when he thought Rasc was about to be hurt and had thrown himself over the short distance between them, just to protect him with his own body when the guard threatened to strike him. He would have done so even if it had meant his own death. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to keep Rasc safe, and the thought alarmed him a little. This would take some getting used to.

He sighed and put his head back against the bulkhead behind him. Rasc felt good in his arms, held close like this. Still, Kylon was a little worried