Page 17 of Dark's Savior

Aly opened her mouth then closed it, unsure what to say. "I...you go on. I'm going to finish my drink."

Julian’s brows rose, his tired eyes looking on her with slight uncertainty. "I can stay here with you."

Aly shook her head. "No need, Captain, I'll be fine. I'll probably be done before you even get to the elevator car. Really."

Julian frowned then nodded his head. "All right. Well, suit yourself, Smith. Just don't start any bar fights, hm?"

Aly smiled and nodded then watched them go. She took a few more sips of water then left the table, but she didn't make for the entrance. Instead, she snuck to the back. She could see it had grown quiet at tables; miners stared in awe at the back wall where the nillium and his companion sat in near darkness. Aly hid behind one of the pillars to stare at them herself. She looked to the nillium first, and her heart did a little jolt. Then her eyes peeled over to the one who sat beside him, and her heart dropped.

It was a vrisha. Plain as day. There was no mistaking it now, from this close. She had seen the footage. They all had. From the leak of information the Grayhart Foundation had given to them. This one's skin, however, was more a purplish hue then the telltale red of the pictures she had seen, and its horns were shorter and its body slimmer. Aly wondered if it was possibly female.

Then it opened its mouth and spoke and there was no wondering.

But what was she doing here? And did she know what had happened? Did she know how to get home to her planet, or was she stuck here just like them?

Endless questions wracked Aly's brain, but none of them gave her the courage to go up to the table and start asking. What did get her to eventually leave the pillar and approach the table was something much stranger and more troubling but much more wanting in her mind. And it didn't involve the vrisha.

Chapter Seven

Ryziel didn't wait long for Xilya to show up, though he did receive a few snide remarks about their meeting place.

"Your mythical status is waning, Nihl Ryziel," she said upon their meeting. "Since when did you feel the need to meet at Shadowpoint, of all places?"

Ryziel looked at the vrisha female with a sharp gaze. "Don't mistake my meeting you here as a need to interact with others."

"Hard to believe, when you want to meet in a place filled with workers," Xilya said bluntly. "Is it because you haven't left the bottom in weeks, and being alone down there with just the urk drove you mad?"

Ryziel gave a tiny, bitter smirk. "Not quite. And, for the record, I never cared if they saw me. It’s not like these people don't know I exist."

"Yes, but as the monster who hides in the lower levels, not some silion simpleton that comes crawling up just to quench his thirst."

Ryziel would have laughed if that hadn't stung a little.

"Maybe I'm just not myself, all right?" And wasn't that the truth? Ryziel rubbed the base of one of his receptors.

Xilya looked at him curiously, her spiked tail flicking to the side. "I see. Very well. But you are buying."

They entered the place and went straight to the back, where it was darker and there were fewer wandering eyes. As they passed, Ryziel saw the faces of other miners drop, a few choking on their drinks; their eyes followed them and the whispers soon followed. Ryziel didn't care.

They sat at the very back table, under a small floating lantern that gave off the faintest orange light. They got two Nuri sent to them right away, and Ryziel ordered a smoking pipe filled with red bluym to relax him. Once in his possession, he filled the pipe and lit the bluym then took a deep drag. Red smoke curled out of his nose and mouth as he exhaled, and the effects were almost immediate. He hadn't taken bluym in some time. Not since he found the ship, really, and rarely even before. But he felt he needed its softening effects to loosen his nerves, even if the drug brought a bad taste in his mouth.

"So, let's get to it, as I assume we didn't come to chit chat and drink our senses away." Xilya carefully took up the cup in her clawed fingers and drank her Nuri in one swallow. She set her cup down then opened the bag at her side, taking out a small red sphere with black etchings and setting it firmly on the table. "The map is accurate, you will find. And I was told by the urk that there were loads of tython and byril in the area also. He gave us a good price for the trade, so I took it, but we can always get more if need be, since they hadn't harvested all the minerals; though he warned they are in largely more dangerous and rarely explored territory, mainly Yurza's Keep."

Ryziel grunted and took another drag. "So, the map can guide us to the low-level chambers too?"

"As the urk said, yes."

Ryziel's eyes narrowed on the red sphere before him, thinking. Yes, this was good. If the map could get them into those inner chambers, they could use a tracer to search farther in, and, just maybe, they would find a specific energy signature that would lead him to the one mineral he needed most. The one to power the ship.

Ryziel took the red sphere and placed it in his own bag at his waist. "I'll look it over with Nar. We will plan a route then get everything ready to go down. Likely, we’ll be ready to go in two mooncycles. Maybe less."

Xilya huffed. "You aren't seriously considering taking that urk with you?"

Ryziel met her gaze. "Don't have much choice. Neither you nor I can get into some of those cave systems."

"Except one bad trip might cost Nar his legs again." Xilya pointed. "And that's assuming you don't run into anything foul."

"I'm aware," said Ryziel. "Are you coming?"

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