Page 44 of Guardian's Destiny

She tried to stand, and I was sure she would bolt away from me, but her leg buckled underneath her. I grabbed her underneath the shoulder and helped her out.

"Thank you," she managed weakly underneath a short coughing fit.

"Don't thank me yet." I felt bad, but we still needed two hostages.

I wasn't sure if she was in shock or had decided to trust me—big mistake—but she never asked where we were going when I led her straight to where Moddekdum's still unconscious form rested.

"Moddekdum," she cried out and became more animated since she had cried out for help. "He's unconscious. We need a healing wand."

I hated myself for lying or, at the very least, deceiving her, but a cooperative hostage was better than one fighting me,especially since I would have to support her and carry the unconscious Moddekdum up the hill.

"We'll get him taken care of," I promised. "Let's get up that hill," I pointed, "the air should be fresher there."

Just then, I picked up a humming sound and watched in stunned amazement as hundreds of drones descended on the house, spraying a reddish liquid down that not only killed the flames but didn't seem to leave any residue like foam or water. Handy.

"Up the hill?" the Ohrur questioned the wisdom of my suggestion, which I had to admit was nonexistent.

"Yeah, come on," I summoned up all the enthusiasm I was capable of, and with a shy smile, she allowed me to continue supporting her. I kneeled down and slung Moddekdum over my back. Thankfully, the Ohrurs weren't very tall or heavy; it felt like carrying a sixteen-year-old kid. Still, carrying him and supporting her wasn't easy.

"Oh no!" The Ohrur pointed in the air, where I made out Vraax's ship flying in a big loop straight for us, followed by eleven jets now. He must have shot a few down because I doubted there were only eleven on his tail.

"It's alright," I smiled at the Ohrur encouragingly. "It'll be alright," I promised. And swore it would be. I didn't care about Moddekdum, but I would be damned if I let any harm come to this woman, girl. She looked more like a girl than a woman, but I had zero idea about Ohrur anatomy.

"Oh, there's help," the woman waved down the hill, where three Space Guardians just dismounted what looked like hovering bikes. They hadn't seen us yet, and I preferred to keep it that way.

"Down," I hissed at her, dragging her into a crouched position while still trying to mount the damn hill. Had that thing grown since I first saw it on a map? It sure felt like it.

"Why, they can help us. They have healing wands." The distrustful gaze she had first bestowed on me in the room of the burning house returned.

I didn't want to stun her with the blaster, but I would if she kept trying to give our position away.

"I need you to be still," I told her, holding up the blaster.

Her green, slanted eyes widened as she looked back from the blaster to me.

"You are not a good person," she stated.

I had heard the same expression in different languages and words so many times before that it shouldn't have bothered me, but it did.

"Never said I was," I snarled back. "Let's go," I pushed her up and forward.

VRAAX

I watchedSloane longer than it was sensible to do so. The third shudder going through the ship finally got my attention. With a curse, I brought the vessel up in a steep ascent, trying to shake the jets. They probably weren't meant to go into space, or at least not deep into it, but I was sure the Ohrurs would put up a forcefield that would stop me from returning, and I would never leave Sloane down there by herself.

Cloaking the ship would be useless; the Ohrurs had the same technologies as me, maybe even one more advanced, and would still pinpoint me, so I didn't try. Instead, I sent the jets on a mighty chase, deployed decoys for their missiles and beams, and took sharp left and right turns that left my vessel groaning. Their jets were definitely more maneuverable than my spaceship.

I reached majestic mountains, where again, the jets would hold the advantage of being smaller. But I had more experience in flying evasive maneuvers, and when we came upon a narrow canyon, I turned my ship sideways and watched two of the jets crash and burn as they hit the walls. I wasn't proud of it because they were Space Guardians, like me, but it couldn't be helped.

Coming out on the other side, I found a large overhang. I brought the ship up to it, and like with the transporter before,I had the vessel hug the overhang. This time, I activated the cloaking device. As I hoped, the other eleven jets brushed by without seeing me. But they would be back once they realized the ship's heat signature was still here, even if they couldn't see me.

It didn't matter. It bought me enough time to return through the canyon and get a good head start. Good enough that this was my chance to return to the hill and pick Sloane up. I only hoped that the stubborn female had listened to me and would be on top of the hill. Knowing better, I prepared myself to exit the ship and go in search of her.

It wouldn't be easy and would take time, but we could sneak away and hijack a freighter or ship and make it out of here and to Darlam.

I activated the self-implode sequence on my comm. Once initiated, it would blow the ship into so many tiny pieces the Ohrurs wouldn't be able to identify it. If they hadn't done so already, which I prayed they hadn't. The longer they believed I still worked for them, the better it would be for Sloane and me.

I did deactivate the location mapping on my comm just in case. I had a few ticks before the jets would be back on my tail and before we reached the hill. I used that time to arm myself quickly and returned to the bridge just in time to hear the alarm of the jets going through the canyon.

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