Page 62 of Warrior
I struggled to stand, but Daicon swept me up into his arms and headed down the tunnel at a jog.
“What about the other guards?” I worried in a whisper.
“There are no other guards.”
He said the words without emotion—just a simple statement of fact. What he’d had to do to protect me and the children.
“I take it you stole the ship?”
“The younglings are aboard waiting for us to return.”
"I can walk, you know," I felt the need to remind him.
Daicon lifted me just enough to press his lips to my temple. “I may never let you walk again.”
I feigned a scowl but didn’t hide my happy hum. A hum that stopped abruptly when we exited the tunnel onto a pale gray tarmac.
Bodies of guards littered the floor, a ghastly edging to the pathway that led to the sleek black ship.
“Kida!”
Ewok rushed across the tarmac to meet us, tears hovering in his button eyes.
"I'm okay, sweetie." I tapped Daicon on the chest, and with a grunt of regret, he sat me on my feet.
“We did it, kida!” George called from the doorway, backlit by a bevy of small, smiling faces.
I climbed the ramp, grabbing the tiny hands that reached out to greet me. Over my shoulder, I heard Daicon chuckle at Ewok’s questions, a sound filled with a mix of relief, pride, and love. I turned back, the corner of my eye-catching movement where there should be none.
The twisted body of a guard lay on the side of the ramp, crumpled and bloody. He moved, uncurling with the speed of a striking snake, but instead of fangs, he struck out with a blade... toward an oblivious, tiny darling.
“Ewok!” I screamed, knowing the warning came too late.
Not too late for Daicon. Moving so fast my eyes couldn't follow, he put himself between the Ewok and the guard. He grunted with aggravation before his fist met the top of theguard's head with a resounding thump. The guard’s eyes rolled back in his head, and he fell.
“Are you okay?” I snatched Ewok into a hug, running my hands over his back and torso.
"I'm fine, kida." Ewok hugged me back.
“Areyouokay?” I reached for Daicon, but he caught my hands, bringing my knuckles to his lips.
“We need to go.” He spun me and urged everyone from the threshold and into the ship. "I didn't kill all the guards; we must be gone before they wake up.”
This ship was about half the size of the one that brought me to the moon. Like the other ship, the nose formed the cockpit, holding the dashboard, pilot, and co-pilot's chair. The vessel's body divided into two parts, both of which had seating that looked like a school bus. In the back was an area that appeared to be geared like a kitchen, and on the other side, a small, enclosed section.
Please let it be a bathroom.
"Strap everyone in. It might be rough for a few minutes," Daicon said, before disappearing into the cockpit.
It was like herding feral cats, but the children finally settled, maneuvering themselves into the harness sprouting from each seat. I could have settled beside George, but I wanted to be with Daicon.
As I stumbled to the cockpit, the ship jerked and rumbled under my feet. The interior was darker than I expected, the only light coming from the console in shades of orange and purple. I stepped beside Daicon's chair, my foot slipping on a wet spot. I glanced down, but all I could make out in the darkness was a dark, wet spot, at which I rolled my eyes. Kids were kids. They'd been on the ship alone for no more than ten minutes and managed to spill something. Little darlings, I’d clean it up later.Right now, I was more interested in the rousing guards that stood between us and freedom.
"Sit down and strap in, sweetling," Daicon's concentration honed on the instruments in his hands—a half wheel and bank of gauges that reminded me of an airplane. The minute my butt hit the co-pilot's chair, the nose of the ship swung left, the faint pings of blaster shots echoing off the hull.
In front of us lay freedom behind a massive door.
I squeaked at the conglomeration of metal and concrete. “How are we going to get through that?”
