Page 49 of Synnr's Ride

Hanna snapped them in close, but didn't vanish them. If Rexx caught up to her, she'd need them. "My name is Hanna. I'm Ap—I'm Zulir. You're not on Earth anymore, and I have no time to explain." There was a crash from downstairs and Hanna winced. She hoped Jori was winning. "What's your name?"

"S-Sarah," she stuttered from behind chattering teeth. "How—"

Hanna looked around and grabbed a piece of canvas that was sitting on top of more crates, and cursed when she saw they looked just like the one Sarah was in. But they weren't moving.

If there were more humans there, they were still unconscious, and she'd have to deal with them later.

She handed the canvas to the shivering human, who wrapped it around herself tightly.

Weapons were bad enough, but this was even worse. Apsyns, some Apsyns, didn't see humans or other aliens as rational beings. At best they rose to the level of pets. But most Apsyns didn't travel out of the solar system, so any import of humans came through the black market of Osais.

There was another crash. Sarah whimpered.

"Okay, I need you to focus," she told the young woman. "My partner is down there fighting a nasty guy. I'm getting out of here to call for help. I'll take you with me, but you need to be quick and quiet, got it?"

"How can I understand—" Sarah sputtered, stuttering over her words.

"Later." Hanna didn't have time for this. She held up a hand. "Stay here for a second."

Hanna darted back to the window to get a lay of the land. Then she cursed a storm.

She rushed back to Sarah. "Okay, new plan. You stay here and hide in..."

"I'm not getting back in that coffin." Her voice had a surprising level of steel considering the fear in it.

"No, you're not. But if you hear anyone other than me or someone telling you he's Jori, you stay hidden and you run out of here as fast as you can. Got it? There's a transpo stop just down the street, it's a small structure, three walls, roof, right on the side of the road."

"A bus stop?"

"Sure." Anxiety surged through Hanna. "But give me a few minutes. I'll do everything I can to come back for you."

Sarah nodded tightly and melted back into the shadow. Hanna closed the lid to the crate and turned and ran.

* * *

Jori could handle this. He had to ignore the bleeding from his lip, the way his side hurt if he took too deep a breath, and the fact that at least one of his fingers was broken, but he could handle this.

Rexx wouldn't go down.

The man was bleeding in more places than Jori. He was dragging his leg behind him, unable to put all of his weight on it. But he wouldn't fall.

And he had a disgustingly pleased grin on his face, like the punishment of the fight only made him stronger. He barely bothered with his spark, instead relying on his fists and feet. The kicks were fewer now that Rexx had one leg out of commission.

But he was good.

Jori had to handle this.

He blasted out with his spark, but it glanced off Rexx's shoulder as he dodged out of the way, some supernatural sense of when Jori was about to attack alerting him.

Was Hanna gone?

If she was safe, he didn't have to keep holding back. If she was safe, it wouldn't be such a big loss if he had to bring the building down. It wasn't his best plan, but one wrong shot of his spark, one accidental hit of the crates of explosives, and the place would blow.

Jori surged in close and swung his fist, putting all of his fury into the blow. The impact was a sickening flesh and bone thud that reverberated through both of them and sent Rexx reeling.

This time he didn't dodge when Jori hit him dead center with his spark. He dropped.

His chest didn't rise. He didn't twitch.

---