Page 31 of Claimed By Brothers

“It’s probably why they use the barges,” Alicia says.

We continue our trip up the plateau wall, climbing along jagged rocks jutting out, much like mountain goats would—except we are nowhere near as light and as nimble, which makes our work way harder. Finally, we reach the top of the plateau and take a moment to look around. To the east, the Cloud Mountains rise in the distance. There’s a row of hills and flatlands with lush shrubbery stretching between us and the ridge where Umok’s starship crashed. To the north, the river snakes its way upward, its water steaming and glimmering under the milky light. To the west, the red desert. Somewhere beyond, dotting the horizon is a forest. We never made it that far during my walks with Binzen and Izzo, but I’m told that is also Fire Tribe territory.

“Everything east of this river is contested and dominated by the Sky Tribe, so we’ll need to be even more cautious,” Jewel says.

In the northern distance, I spot twinkling lights. The Mal clan’s town rests alone on the plateau. Across, having held onto their patch of otherwise contested land, is the Hadana clan. I wonder how Cynthia feels about all this. Kai and Maur may not have claimed her as their mate, but even I could see the stolen glances and the goosebumps she got whenever they were close.

“How are you feeling?” I ask her.

“Jolly good,” she shoots back with a dry smirk.

“Don’t you miss the Hadana twins?”

Cynthia frowns and looks away, choosing to focus her sights on the Cloud Mountains. “All right, Jewel. What’s our next course of action?”

“We stick to the shadows, as always,” Jewel replies.

I’d try to talk to Cynthia more about this, but she’s right to change the subject. It’s not doing me any good to think about my mates. She’s got it easier, in my opinion. We continue our journey, ever careful and quiet, stopping every hour to drink some water and eat some of the dried meat and fruits we packed. We need all the energy we can get for the remainder of this trip since the mountain is still half a day away. Soon enough, the twin suns will be rising, and the Fire Tribe will be looking for us.

“Man, I think I overestimated our ability to survive out in this heat for so long,” Alicia says after a while, panting and sweating her heart out.

I’m not doing well, either. I feel weak and boiled, left in the pan for too long. My knees are heavy, and I’m pretty sure I might puke the little I managed to eat along the way. Jewel is the strongest and most able-bodied among us, leading the pack with unwavering persistence. I can see the sweat dripping down her nape and seeping into her short brown dress, but her legs keep going, her eyes always forward.

Cynthia needs another break, though. We stop just a couple hundred yards away from the Cloud Mountain ridge where we crashed, hiding behind a patch of trees. The shade helps us cool down, if only a little, as a hot wind rises from the south. The purple leaves rustle above our heads, making it harder for us to pick up any other sounds, but we have to rest for a few minutes.

I break out my water bottle and chug some of it. My lips sting a little, cracked by the constant exposure to particularly ardent suns.

“All right, so the crash site should be just up there,” Jewel says, pointing to the ridge. “Where’s the ship, though?”

As soon as she asks, all four of us stand and stare. There is evidence of the damage the ship did when it slammed into the mountain ridge. Stones were shattered, trees were broken, and about a third of the whole side collapsed under the impact. It’s all there except for the actual vessel. We can see the charred marks of the explosion but nothing else. Shivers travel down my spine as I try to understand what happened.

“Where did it go?” I mumble. “It was completely destroyed, wasn’t it?”

“We saw it,” Cynthia says. “When we climbed out of the cargo box. It was up here, burning and smoking like crazy.”

Alicia gasps. “Maybe the Sky Tribe retrieved it.”

“What would be the point?” I ask. “It’s not like they could fix that kind of damage.”

“They probably needed whatever parts they could salvage,” Jewel says. “Given their current state of war against the Fire Tribe and the societal collapse that followed the plague, they probably don’t have enough resources to build new starships from scratch. Or that kind of knowledge, so they have to make do with what they’ve already got in their hangars.”

“And they probably buried the bodies, too,” Alicia replies. “Funeral rites are a thing here on Sunna, much like back on Earth.” She looks at Jewel. “There should be some Sky Tribe settlements beyond the mountain, right?”

“Yeah, that’s where we’re going,” Jewel says. “But we may have to go around the mountain instead of across. If there were Sky Tribe people up there retrieving the ship, then they could still be in the area or close enough for their spotters to see us. We’ll have to stick to the trees and the hillsides for longer.”

I’d hoped it would get easier from here, not harder. But the universe keeps showing me that maybe, just maybe, I did wrong by leaving Binzen and Izzo’s side. Every inch of me suffers in their absence—it’s a dull kind of pain that gradually intensifies as the distance between us grows. I’m worried it will become unbearable to the point where I will be hindering our mission. What if I have to stay behind? I shake the thought away and shove the water bottle back into my bag.

“Come on, we have to keep moving,” I remind them.

We get out of the shade and head for the next hill, but as soon as we’re out in the open, dozens of Sunnaites emerge from the surrounding clusters of trees and shrubs, their spears and crossbows aimed at our heads. We freeze on the spot, recognizing the black leather and dark blue satin of their uniforms. I’ve seen this style before on the starship that brought us to Sunna.

“The Sky Tribe,” I whisper, my blood running cold.

This is our worst-case scenario coming true much earlier than we’d anticipated. Not even a day out of the Fire Tribe’s grip, and we’ve already fallen into the enemy’s clutches. It’s embarrassing, really.

“Well, shit,” Cynthia snaps. “Why didn’t we see this coming?”

“It was only a matter of time before you’d show up,” Umok emerges from between two men, his four horns glinting in the sunlight. Except one of them is broken; its sharp tip is missing and bandaged tightly in some kind of white silk. He carries burn marks and cuts from the crash, but he definitely can still walk and talk and kick our asses. “I couldn’t go back to my city and my people without my prey, however, so I called for reinforcements and stationed us out here.”

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