Page 20 of Barbarian Daddies

“What’s going on?” I whisper.

Maur and Kai exchange nervous glances. “I didn’t know they had any functional birds left,” Maur grumbles, then curses under his breath.

“Birds?” I ask just as I spot one flying overhead. I only catch a glimpse of the contraption, but I quickly recognize the structure and purpose of the device. It’s a drone, albeit differently designed from what we have on Earth, made of steel and crystal elements, with blinking lights and four propellers that allow it to hover when needed.

“Don’t say a word,” Kai hisses.

Another flies by. And another. Then three more. By the time they’ve passed our position, I’ve counted ten, and my blood runs cold as I begin to understand the implications. I glance over to the other trees and notice our fighters are also hiding, motionless and quiet under the thicker crowns. Yet I find comfort in Kai’s strong arms, a promise that I’m going to be okay as long as I stay close to him. As long as I breathe him in.

Minutes pass in heavy, tense silence as we wait for the collective hum to subside.

“Birds. That’s what we fucking needed,” Maur mutters.

“We call them drones,” I say as Kai helps me down from the tree. “I suppose they’re piloted remotely?”

“Precisely,” Kai says. “They carry weapons, too. Laser-guided weapons.”

“And you didn’t know they had any?”

“We didn’t think they had any left,” Maur replies. “We hit one of their military depots south of Sapphire City about a year ago. It held an entire fleet of birds, among other weapons and ammunition. Clearly, they managed to save a few.”

Dahlen exhales sharply. “It means we’ll have to be even more careful at night. That’s when they send them out. In the daytime, they’ve got jets. Besides, the closer we get to the city, the greater the odds they’ll have sentries posted on high ground.”

“Which is why the ridge forest is our best bet,” Maur reminds us. He looks up once more, nostrils flaring as his pupils dilate. “They’re gone for now, but they’re likely to fly overhead when they’re called back to base.”

We settle under the tree for the next hour, wrapped in blankets and the darkness of this patch of woods. “Why didn’t we see drones back at the river?” I ask after a while.

“Their remote controls don’t have such a broad range,” Kai says. “Which means the ones we saw tonight came from this side of the mountains. We’ll need to be careful before we even approach the ridge. They’ve clearly widened their defensive field since our last attempt to retake the city.”

“When was that?”

“Shortly before you and your friends were brought to Sunna,” Maur says. “It was a nasty affair.”

“We lost many men,” Dahlen adds.

I’ve seen the Hadana clan’s cemetery one too many times. Almost every month, we attend a funeral there, and that’s just from minor territorial skirmishes and recon missions gone wrong. They’ve had to leave men behind, too. They buried them in the desert or burned their bodies because they couldn’t carry them across greater distances. It’s dirty business, this civil war on Sunna. I only hope I can help put an end to it if I develop a cure for this wretched plague.

Late into the night, I’m awakened by rustling sounds.

For a moment, I fear the worst until I feel Kai’s hand gently taking mine. “Come on,” he whispers. “We want to show you something.”

“What?”

“Just come,” Maur breathes in my ear before he gets up.

I leave my safe spot and blanket by the tree, the campfire long dead and the last of the embers turned black and follow the twins deeper into the woods. I can barely see, but Kai holds my hand and guides me across the gnarly roots and between sprawling shrubs before we reach a small stream, its water trickling playfully over rounded black rocks. I’m breathless at the sight.

Thousands of tiny fireflies hover in the air, their light casting a twinkling glow across the crystalline stream, like miniature lanterns. I see the water flowing from a massive, jagged stone, making its way down toward the plain from where we came earlier today.

Pink and red grass sprouts everywhere, sprinkled here and there with white and yellow wildflowers. It smells wonderful—like a lush summer, the kind I’ve never experienced on Sunna before.

“When the war is over, we’ll travel more,” Kai tells me. “You’ll get to see more of this.”

“Sunna may be mostly deserts and volcanoes, but it’s got little slices of paradise, too,” Maur says, a broad smile stretching across his lips. “Although anywhere the three of us go is a slice of paradise, be it rocks or flatlands or endless sands or this.”

“It’s incredible,” I mumble, basking in the beauty. “It’s like something out of a fairy tale.”

“Come here, my love,” Kai pulls me close and kisses me deeply.

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