Page 65 of Akur

Akur grunted again, glancing at her only briefly. They’d been walking for maybe an hour and a half, and he hadn’t looked at her properly in that entire time. “It hasn’t led us into their clutches yet…but you are right, human.”

“So I am,alien.”

He grunted again, and she could see the ghost of a smile when he glanced back at her this time. “Constance.”

“Akur.”

He started walking again, his own gaze scanning upward at a roof she couldn’t see.

“How much longer do you think?” He reached back almost instinctively, not really paying attention as he helped her over a large fallen stone. The warmth of his touch shot up her arm. He was heating up again.

Somewhere far behind them, another boom rocked the stone walls.

“What do you think those explosions are?” Heat left her as he released her and kept on moving.

“I do not know, but they know we’re down here. They know we haven’t left.”

She swallowed hard. “So they’re hunting us. Do you think that Tasqal—”

“No. They would have found us already.”

She nodded, even though he probably didn’t see it as she was walking behind him. For the next few minutes, they trod in silence. Climbing over exposed bedrock, squeezing through areas that seemed impossible to traverse. And they kept on going.

The tunnels seemed endless. Whenever she caught a glimpse of it, Constance tried to keep track of their progress using the map, but even if she could read it, the markings were difficult to decipher in the dim light. More concerning was the way Akur’s temperature was rising again. She could feel the heat radiating from him even several feet away.

“These tunnels,” she said, breaking the tense silence between them, “they all look the same. Are you sure we’re heading the right way?”

Akur’s pace didn’t slow, but she caught the slight tension in his shoulders. “The markings change. Each section has its own designation.” He gestured to the wall. When she frowned at the spot, he brought the map closer, shedding light on the old stone. There were faded symbols etched in the rock. “We’re nearing the central hub, about halfway to that citadel.”

Another explosion rocked the tunnels, sending tremors through the stone beneath their feet. She was in his arms, scorching heat enveloping her as Akur pressed her against his chest before she even knew what was happening. He shielded her as debris rained down.

Every breath she took was like humid air. Akur. His heat…

Should she even mention it?

“You’re getting hot again,” she whispered. “Is it…is what we did wearing off already?”

He growled low in his throat, the sound echoing in the narrow space as he almost reluctantly released her. “No.”

That was a lie if she ever heard one. She was opening her mouth to point that out when he went still.

“Something about these tunnels…” He shook his head as if trying to clear it. He was back to not being able to think straight. His heat was affecting him, and he was lying about it. “The air feels wrong.”

“Wrong how?” She stumbled over some loose stones, and his hand shot out to catch her again. The heat of his touch sent tingles up her arm. Images of what they did in that room came shooting back like missiles through her memory.

“Like we’re being herded again.” His golden eyes scanned the darkness ahead. “The explosions…they’re too precise. Too calculated.”

“Herded again? You think someone’s directing us? That Tasqal said—”

“What that Tasqal said means nothing.” His voice had gone harsh. “They are manipulators. Masters of deception. Even the truth they speak is shaped to serve their purposes.”

He turned, pushing through the darkness, and she caught up to walk beside him as the tunnel marginally opened up. “But you believed him about some things. About the orb, about what they plan to do to Earth.”

“Because those things align with what we already know.” Another explosion shook the tunnel, closer this time. “But his motivations…those I trust less than a starving umu in a nursery.”

“A what in a what?”

A sound that might have been a laugh rumbled through his chest. “Never mind. The point is—” He stopped abruptly, head tilting slightly. “Do you hear that?”

---